40 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Junuary 



1918 



demurrage charges and that they would not receive the personal atten- 

 tion they had previously received from railroad men to their troubles 

 and worries. 



The greatest danger, in his opinion, in govcrnnient oiicratiou of 

 the railroads, lay in granting authority to fix rates and charges. 

 He said that Director-General McAdoo claimed such authority now, 

 but that ho could find no warrant in law for such and that ho did not 

 believe it would ever be granted. 



He urged continuance of the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association, 

 declaring that there had never been a time when it could be so valuable 

 to its members in keeping them informed and in protecting their 

 interests as now, and declaring still further that the government 

 needed thi.s organization. He particularly emphasized that govern- 

 ment control opened the way for the settling of problems and issues 

 which have hung in the balance for years, and he likewise emphasized 

 the very high regard in which the association is hold by the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission because of its constructive attitude. 



Summing up, he gave the members the following injunction : 



First: See to it that there shall be no return to separate owner- 

 ship and that the railroads of the country shall be operated as a unit. 



Second: See to it that those in charge of the railroads shall never 

 have the power to fix rates and charges without public hearings. 



Third: Maintain your association for your own good and for 

 the good of the government. 



Mr. Norman declared that there were many worries and many 

 losses ahead of the lumbermen, but he urged that they bear these 

 without flinching and without complaint. He asserted that ' ' Germany 

 had to be beaten on the sacred soil of France or she had to be beaten 

 in the United States," and that, if she were not beaten, none of the 

 things heretofore counted worth while would mean anything. He 

 therefore urged that the lumbermen support the government in every 

 possible way and that they bo ever on the alert to stamp out sedition 

 and treachery in their own communities and to defeat the propaganda 

 of the pacifists. He believed that he mistook the measure of the 

 patriotism, loyalty and manhood of the members of the association 

 if they did not rise to the heights demanded and if they did not forget 

 dollars and profits and material things in supporting the men who 

 have joined the colors and offered up their lives as a supreme sacrifice 

 on the altar of their country in order that liberty and democracy and 

 freedom and civilization might be saved from overthrow at the hands 

 of the Prussian bayonet 



"We must win the war, else wo are lost.'' 



Such a burst of applause greeted him when he li:id concluded his 

 address that he had to rise in acknowledgment of tlie ovation. 



President Stark announced the following auditing committee: D. F. 

 Houer, chairman; J. S. Williford and LoRoy Halyward. 



It was unanimously voted that the association appeal to the Inler- 

 state Commerce Commission for an early decision in the case involving 

 rccla.ssiflcation of lumber and lumber ])roducts, .Sl.'U; that the com- 

 mission be asked to adhere to the principle of varying rates for 

 varying minima, and that counsel bo employed to argue this case 

 before the commission. Following adjournment of the regular meeting 

 the board of governors employed Mr. Norman to represent it in this 

 hearing, which came up at Washington January 18. 



Under tlio head of "General Traffic Discussion," Mr. Townshond 

 informed members of the association that all priority orders had been 

 withdrawn and permits for shipments must be secured from the 

 director-general. 



He also told them that dunnage allowances were wholly inadequate, 

 but informed them that the ruling issued by the Illinois Central 

 requiring that all lumber shipped in open cars should be bulkheaded, 

 had been modified so as to apply only to dressed lumber. 



Mr. Townshend also said that he had called on members of the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission and on Represontati'"e Sims of Ten- 

 nessee during a recent visit in Washington and that they had advised 

 him that they were in sympathy with the abrogation of the safety 

 appliance act so as to enable lumber firms owning equipment to use 

 this on the main lines of the railroads with a view to relieving 

 shortage of equipment for handling logs to their mills. 



On motion of W. B. Morgan, Morgan Veneer Company, President 

 Stark requested Mr. Townshend to ascertain as soon as possible the 

 attitude of the government toward terminal switching charges under 

 the regime of government control. Mr. Morgan added that all the 

 railroads in his territory were still charging their usual rates for 

 terminal switching services. 



The question of canceling present transit arrangements on raw 

 material to permit manufactured product to move out over any road 

 without regard to originating carrier was left to the board of gov- 

 ernors to handle. 



At the meeting of the governing board following adjournment, 

 Elliott Lang was re-elected treasurer and J. H. Townshend was chosen 

 to succeed himself as secretary-manager. 



gstMiaM35gw}!3twroa 



Operations Seriously Menaced 



Logging and manufacturing operations are at practically a com- 

 plete standstill in Memphis and the Memphis territory. 



The mills, despite the telegram sent to Washington by the newly 

 organized American Hardwood Manufacturers' Association, point- 

 ing out that the manufacturers of lumber produce large quantities 

 of fuel wood, in the way of slabs and other refuse, which is essen- 

 tial to the welfare of large numbers of people in the mill districts, 

 are requested by the fuel administrator to observe the suspension 

 rule until the five-day period closes. They will not be able to over- 

 come the handicap of the most serious weather experienced in the 

 Mississippi valley in a generation or more. The ground is covered 

 with snow and ice to the depth of more than a foot as far south 

 as Clarksdale, Miss., and Tutwiler, Miss., and some of the larger 

 companies attempt to make no secret of the fact that, if all the coal 

 in the world were available and if there were no fuel order in the 

 way, it would be impossible to get the necessary labor to move the 

 output of the plants from the saw under present weather condi- 

 tions. And, what is perhaps the most unfortunate phase of the 

 situation, there is no prospect of any letting up in weather severity. 

 It is snowing again at Memphis on top of the present covering of 

 12 to 15 inches, on the level, and the long distance forecast holds 

 out no hope for early amelioration. 



There is not a mill running in Memphis and it is doubtful if any 

 of them will be able to operate, except in a most limited way, for 

 a number of days, even if the weather itself should get materially 

 better. For, in addition to the fuel order and the weather, they 

 have very few logs and little prospect of getting any in the imme- 

 diate future. J. W. Dickson, president of the Valley Log Loading 

 Company, in discussing this phase of the situation recently, said: 



We arc confiniug our loading operations wholly to tlie territory south 

 of Clarksdale and Tutwiler, Miss., and are shipping logs only to mills 

 in that part of the valley region. We are not loading a single car for 

 industries at Memphis. This ban has been placed on Alemphis because of 

 the enormous congestion of freight tied up here through embargoes which 

 prevent it from moving to destinations north and east. There are more 

 than 200 cars loaded with logs on the yards of the railroad companies in 

 Memphis, but they cannot be delivered to the mills until the congestion, 

 behind which they stand, has been relieved, and no more cars will be 

 loaded for this city until these have been delivered to the mills. Futher- 

 more. because of labor and weather conditions, Memphis mills cannot 

 operate any way and the 200 or more cars already in the city will be 

 sufficient to engage them for some days after they are able to resume 

 operations. We are working two of our log loading machines in the 

 territory indicated. The other is idle. The last is true of the loading 

 machine on the Memphls-Marianna cut-oCf of the .St. Louis, Iron Mountain 

 & .Southern. 



It goes without saying that, under present wcatlier conditions, it 



