June 25, 1917 



E. B. FORD. LOUISVILLE. KY., 

 MEMBER INSPECTION COMMITTEE 



D. H. DAi', GLEN HAVEN, MICH., 

 MEMBER INSPECTION COMMITTEE 



JESSE C. REMICK. MOBERLY, LA., 

 MEMBER INSPECTION COMMITTEE 



increase in freiglit rates on lumber means a vast sum of money and liiglier 

 cost of lumber to tlie consumer, and will result in the increase of substitutes 

 for it. We all know from experience that under normal business conditions 

 our low grades are the slowest and most difflcult to move at a profit, and, 

 consequently, as timber becomes scarcer the percentage of lower grades 

 increases. We all realize the financial condition the railroads find them- 

 selves in : their stocks and bonds have not been favorites with investors 

 or lenders. State and federal laws have added a large increase to their 

 operating expenses. The automobile and auto truck, electric car and 

 electric express have made big holes in their freight and passouger jre- 

 ceipts, but notwithstanding all these handicaps, I do believe with the 

 minimum of risk^and expense in transporting lumber, it should not be put 

 on a wholesale parity with general merchandise, and if all the facts are 

 presented to the Interstate Commerce Commission, they will see and 

 acknowledge the fairness and justice of our contention. 



OltGAXIZED LaBOB 



I believe every right-minded man believes in organized labor. When 

 properly conducted, they are a powerful influence for good. If not, they 

 become an unmitigated nuisance and constant menace to the business in- 

 terests and welfare of the nation. Probably no industry has suffered 

 more from their arbitrary methods and unreasonable demands than the 

 woodworking industry. National and state legislatures have granted them 

 special privileges, and given them exemption from laws that everybody 

 else is amenable to. They collect large sums of money from their members, 

 employ the best attorneys and are not accountable to anybody or anything. 

 Being a voluntary, unincorporated body, they cannot be reached by civil 

 process. Under the workmen's compensation law, they are, if injured, 

 even by their own negligence or carelessness, a charge upon the employer. 



My state has just raised the compensation of the Injured from ten to 

 fourteen dollars per week, so that we are liable to have to pay fourteen 

 dollars per week for three hundred weeks. Some of our manufacturers are 

 beginning to require of applicants for work, a certificate from a reputable 

 physician that they are sound of mind and body. Many of our largest con- 

 tractors will not take a contract except on a percentage basis. They, dare 

 not take the risk of being at the mercy of some bull-headed labor leader. 



Taxes 



If there is anything under the sun in the war revenue bill, except the 

 air we breathe, that is not taxed, show me, but to my mind, the damnable 

 part is the proposed retroactive federal income tax. It is legalized high- 

 way robbery. Get a copy of the bill and study it. There was never any- 

 thing like it in the heavens above, the earth beneath, or the waters under 

 the earth. On behalf of our association, I have asked Senators Lodge and 

 Weeks to oppose the retroactive section of the income tax. I ask each one 

 of you to ask your senators to do likewise, or on any other phase of the 

 bill you believe wrong. 



The Tariff 



I assume there are many and divergent views in our membership on this 

 subject. My views are the same as the immortal Abraham Lincoln. He 

 was asked what he thought about the tariff. He said, "I do not pretend 

 to know much about it, but I know this, if we buy abroad, they get the 

 money and we get the goods ; if we make them here, we get both goods and 

 money." It cannot be successfully contradicted that under a protective 

 tariff, there has been prosperity, under the reverse, adversity. I am not 

 sure how free lumber will afliect our industry, but it's a fairly safe guess 

 that it won't raise the price on our lumber. 



Gentlemen of the association, I have briefly and perhaps crudely brought 



T. B. COPPOCK, FORT WAYNE, IND., 

 MEMBER INSPECTION COMMITTEE 



OTIS A. FELGER, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., 

 MEMBER INSPECTION COMMITTEE 



J. B. FERGUSON, BATON ROUGE, LA., 

 MEMBER INSPECTION COMMITTEE 



