42 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



November 25, 1917 



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Hitting the Sawdust Trail 



Here and there I liiul that some good institution which happened 

 to have a particular class of lumber that the buyer wants, loads 

 practically every car to the top of the roof. I saw a carload of 

 gum the other day that sold for $1,100, and heard of a burl of wal- 

 nut that sold for $7,500. In printing a picture of the carload of 

 oak on the Anderson-Tully Company yard at Memphis, which con- 

 tains 26,000 feet of 4/4 or 8/4, showing that lumbermen are co- 

 operating with the railroads in loading, and they should. This 

 burden isn't only due to the Wall street end of the railroads. 

 Without the co-operation of all shippers, it is impossible to get the 

 most in the car and thereby minimize the waste of shipping room, 

 and then it's up to the railroads to get enough engines to do away 

 with this obsolete method of moving the cars seven or eight miles 

 a day. Shippers in general are coming through in great shape. It 

 is up to the roads to equal their records. 



It is very gratifying to drop into the various offices and yards 

 and see how enthusiastically the lumberman has taken to this sug- 

 gestion of co-operation with the railroads. Now, in discussing with 

 the President 's railroad committee how to assist the railroads to 

 get equipment, add to the terminals and eliminate the waste mo- 

 tion, they have assured him that the railroads are doing everything 

 they can under existing financial conditions. That is, they do as 

 far as it goes, but if the I. C. C, after hearing the present case of 

 fifteen per cent advance asked for by the eastern lines, admits the 

 justice of these demands or meets them half way, there certainly 

 should be a string on the railroads that would make it necessary 

 that this extra freight rate be put into new equipment and termi- 

 nals, and not be paid in back interest. And, while they are 

 financiers, they have in times past put the money in air instead of 

 into equipment, or upkeep or the construction of new miles of 

 trackage. 



Every lumber committee that has been before the lumber com- 



mission for the hearing has protested against the advance, and I 

 am inclined to agree with them. But if the government's needs 

 are not more than two-thirds satisfied, if the fifteen per cent for 

 one or two years is given the railroads by tlie commission, maybe 

 it will accelerate the movement of commerce which will naturally 

 be held on the side track or along the right of way of railroads in 

 almost as severe a degree as the millions of tons of munitions and 

 other materials that have been shipped to Vladivostok it would 

 practically cripple that long, single track which is still owned by 

 the Ru.ssian government. 



I met P. L. Ryan of Lufkin, Te.x., the other day. He was worked 

 up to the highest pitch. His mill was shut down on account of 

 lack of cars, and he was leading Secretary Towushend a merry 

 ehase in order to get the little fellow's influence to get the car to 

 him so he could get his logs and ship some lumber. I suggested to 

 Eyan that he wasn 't the 'only fellow who is in that fix — that there 

 are a lot of them right in Memphis. But that didn't make it any 

 less important, and as the days go by and absorb the beautiful 

 sunshine and wonderful weather of the fall and we get the rainy 

 season, as Robinson Crusoe "dubbed" it, there will be a lot of 

 Ryans dashing around to the superintendent of transportation and 

 everybody else, from the Lord down, to keep goods moving and 

 business going. 



Therefore, the particular need of every man sanely facing every 

 problem of keeping his to measure up and work like the old fellow 

 himself, in order to keep the commerce of the country moving. 

 Not only because Uncle Sam needs the money, but every institution 

 that permits its business to go democrat will find their cash means 

 getting at a lower ebb, thus affecting the whole people, including 

 the army's needs and support, and laying of the residue of a 

 thousand of the members of the merchant marine that Uncle Sam 

 needs. E. H. D. 



26,000 FEET OF OAK ON CAR. YARD OF ANDERSON-TULLY CO., AT MEMPHIS, TENN. 



