July 10, 191S. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



Lumber Rate Advance Predicted 



A WIDELY CIRCULATED REPORT, which is apparently well 

 founded, states that the preliminary traffic committee of the 

 railroads will recommend that in the proposed revision of rates on 

 dressed and undressed lumber the present rates shall apply to rough 

 lumber while the tariff on the dressed product shall be five per cent 

 more. If this report presents the case correctly, it is a matter of 

 much importance, and the correctness of the report seems probable; 

 for no one supposes that the railroads would begin an inquiry of this 

 character without a firm purpose to raise the rates if possible. 



By applying present tariffs to rough lumber, and adding five per 

 cent to shipments containing dressed stuff, every change will add 

 to the income of the transportation companies. The result of the 

 changes will be considerable. It is claimed that three-fourths of 

 lumber sliipments contain more or less dressed material and for that 

 reason would be subject to the five per cent advance in freight. That 

 is equivalent to nearly a four per cent advance in the rates of all 

 lumber carried by railroads. 



Several things must yet take place before the proj)osed advance 

 can go into effect. After the carriers announce officially their inten- 

 tion to make the advance, the matter must go to the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission for approval. Not until it reaches that stage of 

 the proceeding will lumbermen have an opi)Ortunity to jiresent their 

 objections in an official way. Thus far the transportation interests 

 have not shown a disposition to consult the lumbermen who furnish 

 the freight, or to receive suggestions from them. At a preliminary 

 meeting of a committee of the carriers in Chicago several weeks ago, 

 representatives of lumber interests were present, as they supposed 

 by invitation, but were informed that what they might wish to say 

 must be deferred to a more convenient season. That convenient 

 season will probably not arrive until the business reaches the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission. 



Payment on Safe Arrival of Cargoes 



THE UNUSUAL CONDITIONS surrounding all classes of ship- 

 ments abroad, to nations at war or those nations which are so 

 located that they are directly affected by the war, have made neces- 

 sary a readjustment of methods and called for a new understanding 

 in many cases between the seller and buyer. It is quite probable 

 that those shipping countries which are more closely in contact with 

 the effect of this conflict due to their geographical loiation have had 

 more serious problems to contend with than American shippers. 

 Nevertheless it is well worth while for any shipper in this country 

 who contemplates or is doing an export business of any proportions 

 to thoroughly understand the workings and application of new 

 rulings which have gone into effect as a result of the unusual risks 

 incident to sending cargoes across the water. 



Bearing on this question is a comprehensive article appearing on 

 another page in this issue of Hardwood Record. Wliile it may not 

 tie applicable to all cases in this country, it contains suggestions and 

 explanations which would effect an understanding of certain points 

 which perhaps are not thoroughly understood by all of our American 

 exporters. 



A Tenable Proposition (?) 



IT IS HARDLY PROBABLE that the lumber trade collectively 

 would subscribe to the proposition advocated by A. J. Eddy, 

 lawyer and author of the book, ' ' The New Competition, ' ' before the 

 members of the Lumbermen's Association of Chicago at a lizncheon 

 a couple of weeks ago. It is nevertheless significant that Mr. Eddy 

 is not a blind theorist but a practical economist, and also that his 

 open price proposition, while originally received with skepticism and 

 almost with ridicule by manufacturers and handlers of other prod- 

 ucts, worked out to the undoubted benefit of those very skeptics. 



The burden of Mr. Eddy's talk was this question of publishing 

 and distributing broadcast to competitors, as well as to consumers, 

 and in fact giving all publicity to price quotations; to the end that 

 a more uniform and more stable price level may be established and 

 maintained on all grades and kinds of lumber. He simply applied 



to the lumber industry the general principles as applied to any 

 industry, and which have actually been put into effect in many 

 instances where it seemed almost impossible that the principles could 

 be adopted successfully. 



The great trouble with the lumbermen has always been that they 

 have mistaken the error of their own methods for a natural and 

 unsurmountable barrier which they have ascribed to "different con- 

 ditions, ' ' to the end that they have not thought to take unto them- 

 selves the advanced ideas and methods which have made for many 

 an industry in the United States a condition of profitable operation, 

 where before there existed a chaotic state of uncertainty as to profits 

 and of almost certain floundering on financial rocks. 



While it is true that under present circumstances Mr. Eddy's sug- 

 gestion really is not practicable, the lumber trade might cogitate 

 his recommendations and might well give heed to his citations of 

 successful adoption of the principle of "open price quotations." 



A proposition which fosters competition based on comparative 

 quality and service is certainly a proposition which would advance 

 the industry which put it into effect, in that it would make impera- 

 tive a closer analysis of economic principles and operation; a rigidly 

 adhered to uniformity of quality, a standardized product and the 

 acme of service. It is true that it would undoubtedly eliminate the 

 unprogressive factor, but it would foster the interests of the men 

 whose methods, whose ability and whose product are worthy of the 

 higliost measure of commercial success. 



Freight Rates on Cherry Lumber 



A SHORT TIME AGO the Interstate Commerce Commission had 

 l^efore it for consideration the rates on cherry lumber. Trans- 

 portation companies have been charging different rates on this com- 

 modity in- different territory, and the announcement has been made 

 that railroads contemplate classing it with costly foreign woods, 

 such as lignum-vitse and mahogany, because its value places it in a 

 class with them. 



Official records by the government do not show that cherry is as 

 valuable as the foreign woods named; consequently, if value is to 

 govern the freight rates, it will be difficult to find a reason on that 

 ground for charging as high freight rates on cherry as on the valu- 

 able foreign woods. The latest available government figures show 

 that, on an average for the whole United States, cherry lumber's 

 value at the sawmill is $31.30 per thousand feet, and mahogany's 

 $109.80, which is three and a half times that of cherry. 



Cherry liunber is cut by 2,202 sawmills, which are located in twenty- 

 nine states. This is proof that cherry lumber is carried from mill to 

 market by a large number of railroads. About twice as much cherry 

 lumber as mahogany is sawed in this country; but if veneer produc- 

 tion is counted, it is probable that mahogany exceeds the output of 

 cherry. 



Manufacturers who use both cherry and mahogany in the produc- 

 tion of furniture, finish and other articles, pay much more for the 

 latter than for the former. If the state of New York may be taken 

 as representative of the whole country, manufacturers pay three times 

 as much for mahogany as for cherry, or to quote official figures, 

 cherry costs $46.22 per thousand feet and mahogany $138.84. Lignum- 

 vitse, another wood with which carriers class cherry, costs New York 

 manufacturers $130.26 a thousand feet, averaged for the whole state. 



It would appear, therefore, that if the railroads purpose to raise 

 the freight rates on cherry lumber because of its value as compared 

 witli foreign woods, they should first secure some precise informatiop 

 as to how the values compare. 



There appears, likewise, a misunderstanding as to the chief use of 

 cherry lumber, for the claim put forth by carriers that most of it is 

 made into interior finish is not substantiated by statistics. Office 

 fixtures lead in amount, of cherry used, and printers' supplies are 

 a close second; car building stands third, while interior finish, in- 

 cluding doors, sash, blinds and stairwork, is fourth. The makers of 

 professional and scientific instruments use relatively large quantities 

 of cherry, and nearly an equal amount is used by furniture manu- 

 facturers. It is a fact that less than one-thirteenth of the annual 

 cut of cherry lumber is made into interior finish. 



