January -."», i;r_'*j 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



{Continued frotji page 20) 

 izetl iu The Five Percent Case, The Fifteen Per Cent Case, and Ex Parte 74, 

 for the imperative reasons there given, necessarily disturb the difference 

 in amounts per unit then existing between rates for long hauls and those 

 for shorter hauls. Uy the same reasoning as that here followed the rates 

 for the longer hauls become unreasonable in proportion as they exceed the 

 former differences, and this will apply on every commodity as well as on 

 all classes. More than that, any scale of distance class rates becomes un- 

 reasonable where the percentage relation between the classes remains con- 

 stant with increasing distance, because the first-class rate grows faster per 

 unit than the sixth class, as applied to hauls of 100, 200 or 300 miles. 



The Commission thus in effect sets up a criterion of reasonableness which 

 Is impossible of application unless it bo assumetl that all rates in this 

 country were reasonable on some past date. August 25, 1920, is the date 

 taken here, although on that date all the general percentage increases had 

 been made except that under Ex Parte 74. Logically we should go back to 

 the fore part of 1014, and starting from that must find that every per- 

 centage increase was unlawful to the extent that it changed the difference 

 in amounts per unit between rates for longer and shorter hauls. It is of 

 the essence of percentage increase that it should do that very thing. I am 

 unable to accept the doctrine that every carrier which has maile percentage 

 increases under our express authorization will violate the law in maintain- 

 ing the rates so established, and this report is bedded on that doctrine, 

 whether consciously or not. 



The finding is particularly unfortunate because it comes at a time when 

 we are conducting a general investigation to determine whether we may 

 lawfully require further rate reductions than those already made, not in- 

 cluding this, and without awaiting the outcome of that inquiry. 



Decision to Influence Widespread Changes 



The lindings in the report an- n-nlly less serious in their immediate 

 effect on carrier revenue than in their prospective effect on future rate 

 adjustments generally. There seems not unlikely an eventual equilibrium 

 of general prices perhaps 50 per cent over the pre-war level. To the new 

 level, whatever it be, an adjustment must eventually be made. But until 

 carriers' costs have been adjusted thereto, the reduction in rates, if it out- 

 runs the contemporaneous reduction in expenses, means progressive inabil- 

 ity to meet the nee<ls of traffic, indefinite postponement of securing addi- 

 tions and betterments which the normal growth of traffic renders indis- 

 pensable, and will only intensify the distress that is certain to come, if 

 and when industry again resumes its normal stride. For this reason it is 

 imperative that reductions which we require should I>e made upon a care- 

 fully reasoned program, and not upon such inadequate and tenuous grounds 

 as we here cite for our action. 

 Eastman, Commissioner, dissenting: 



The reductions which the majority require are not large in amount and 

 are based on the desirability of restoring rate differences as they existed 

 prior to August 20, 1920. While I agree that such restoration is desirable, 

 it does not seem to me that this proves that the rates assailed are unrea- 

 sonable. The southern hardwond producers are clearly in desperate straits. 

 Like the lumbermen of the Pacific northwest, the percentage increase of 

 1920 made it more difficult for them to compete with producers who are 

 nearer the principal markets. They say that if their rates are reduced they 

 will ship more lumber. This might well be reason for voluntary reductions 

 by the carriers, at least for an experimental period, even greater than are 

 now proposed, following the example of the carriers serving the lumber- 

 men of the Pacific northwest. But not everything that the carriers may do 

 voluntarily, as a matter of sound business policy, or that the government 

 might do if it owned the roads, can be required by the government of pri- 

 vately owned carriers. I reach the conclusion with regret that the report 

 of the majority does not furnish sufficient ground for a finding that the 

 rates assailed are unreasonable. 



By the Commission. 



[seal] Gkokgb B. McGintt, Sccretai'i/. 



Pioneer Woodworking Machinery Maker Dies 



One of the outstanding business careers of Cincinnati came to an end 

 with the death of Thomas P. Egan, 74 years old, president of the J. A. 

 Fay & Egan Company, manufacturers of woodworking machinery. Mr. 

 Egan died at the Good Samaritan Hospital, following an illness of eight 

 months. Mr. Egan was born in Ireland. ITis parents emigrated to Hamil- 

 ton, Ontario, when he was a child. Soon after leaving high school in 

 Hamilton, Mr. Egan came to Cincinnati where he learned the woodworking 

 machinery business in the establishment of Steptoe, McFarland & Com- 

 pany. In 1S74 he resigned his position and went into the woodworking 

 machinery business. A few years later he organized the Egan Company 

 and in 1893 consolidated it with the J. A. Fay Company in the J. A. Fay 

 &, Egan Company, which is regarded as the largest woodworking machinery 

 company in the world. Mr. Egan is survived by his widow, four daughters 

 and three sons. All of the sons are connected with the business founded 

 by their fatht-r. 



William B. Wicks Company Incorporated 



William B. Wick and A. W. Ilenneberger have incorporated the William 

 B. Wick Lumber Company of Hamilton, O., for $60,000. These two men 

 will expand the present Wick Lumber Company which specializes in hard- 

 woods. Mr. Ilenneberger has been associated with Mr. Wick for more than 

 a year and is now one of the incorporators of the company. 



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