July 25, 1915. 



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Rate Decision Blow to Gum Men 



While there is some cause for congratulation in the fact that the 

 Interstate Commejce Commission has decided that the railroads west 

 ■of the Mississippi river are not entitled to any advance in rates on 

 hardwood lumber and lumber products, lumber interests in the South 

 are under a heavy cloud as a result of the ruling on the part of the 

 same body that the cai'riers east of the river are allowed to advance 

 rates not only to Ohio river crossings but also into Central Freight 

 Association territory. The commission not only allows a very strik- 

 ing advance on gum lumber but it also places this on the same basis 

 as other southern hardwoods with respect to rates. Lumber interests 

 in the South have fought with might and main against the reaching 

 of this conclusion on the part of the Interstate Commerce Commission 

 and it is in this phase of the decision that the greatest injury to the 

 gum lumber industry is found. 



It is now known when the roads will promulgate their new tariffs 

 •carrying out the higher rates allowed by the commission. It is ex- 

 pected, however, according to J. H. Townshend, secretary of the 

 Southern Hardwood Traffic Association, that the new tariffs will be 

 forthcoming very shortly. The railroads have made a strenuous fight 

 to secure these higher rates and it is not expected that they will 

 lose any time in putting them into effect. However, it is equally cer- 

 toin that, although tlie commission has ruled that higher rates are per- 

 missible, the association will not give up without a struggle. There 

 ■was a meeting of the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association at 

 Memphis July 23 for the purpose of deciding upon the best course 

 to pursue and it is known that this organization will ask the commis- 

 sion to suspend the proposed higher rates as soon as they have been 

 announced until such time as a. further hearing may lie had in con- 

 nection therewith. 



It is also expected that the Gum Lumber Manufacturers' As!-ocia- 

 "tion, whose members are vitally interested, will join hands with the 

 Southern Hardwood Traffic Association and that various other organ- 

 izations in the affected territory will also cooperate with that body. 

 In fact, it is apparent from what has already become known,' that 

 the most strenuous fight in the history of the southern hardwood lum- 

 Toer industry wUl be staged as soon as the railroads have disclosed 

 their plans. In addition to asking for a suspension of the proposed 

 }iigher rates, the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association will also ask 

 that a lower rate apply on gum than on other hardwoods and also 

 that a lower rate shall apply on the lower grades than on the higher 

 grades of gum. 



John W. McClure, president of the Southern Hardwood Traffic 

 Association, says that many mills cutting gum east of the Mississippi 

 river will close down immediately and that in his opinion the value 

 of gum stumpage east of the Mississippi has been destroyed by one 

 single blow of the commission. He further declared that the car- 

 riers will lose thousands of tons of freight if they succeed in advanc- 

 ing rates north of the Ohio because, with higher freight rates pre- 

 vailing, only the cream of the forests will be cut. 



Geo. D. Burgess, of Eusse & Burgess, Inc., and a former president 

 of the Southern Hardwood Traffic Associatiou, declared that the 

 ■decision of the commission was a great shock to gum manufacturers 

 ■east of the river and that it will be all the more disastrous if advanced 

 rates are allowed to become effective beyond the Ohio. Mr. Burgess 

 said that at the harmony meeting in Memphis April 7 lumbermen felt 

 . that high officials of the southern railroad systems were convinced 

 that gum should take a lower rate than other hardwoods and that, 

 if the advance permitted by the commission was allowed to stand, 

 it would mean the deadening and destroying of thousands of acres 

 of virgin forests in the South. 



George Land, traffic manager of the Lamb-Fisli Lumber Company, 

 Charleston, Miss., said that the advances to Ohio river crossings 

 would not affect lumber interests in the South to any very great 

 extent but that, if advances were allowed north of the Ohio river, 

 they might as well be IDO per cent as what has been suggested by the 

 ■commission because anv advance at all will force the lumhermen 



operating in the southern valley states to withdraw entirely from 

 Central Freight Association territory, in which they sell the greater 

 portion of their output at present. He declared further that such 

 an advance would make it necessary for southern manufacturers of 

 gum lumber to confine their sales to export outlets and to gulf 

 territory. 



One of the features of the decision which furnishes a ray of hope 

 to southern lumbermen is the fact that the commission announced it 

 would make an investigation on its own initiative to decide whether 

 gum should take the hardwood rate and also to determine whether 

 a special rate should be established on low grade material. There is 

 also a suggestion that there will be an investigation instituted 

 shortly into the gum rate structure, both east and west of the Missis- 

 sippi river, and the outcome of this is expected to have an important 

 bearing on the final adjustment of the issues between the carriers 

 and lumber interests of the South. 



As giving some idea of what has happened to gum as a result of 

 the decision, it may be announced that, in addition to placing gum 

 on the same basis as oak, the commission has allowed a very heavy 

 advance in gum rates. The advance to Cairo amounts to four cents, 

 to St. Louis two to three cents, and to Cincinnati one to three cents. 

 The advance on oak to Cincinnati is from one-half to one cent. No 

 advances were permitted on oak and other hardwoods to south bank 

 Ohio river jjoints. These advances are compensated in slight meas- 

 ure by the refusal of the commission to allow west side carriers to 

 advance rates one to two cents on hardwoods from points in Arkansas 

 and Louisiana to St. Louis, Cairo and Thebes and from one to five 

 cents from originating points in those states to New O'leans. The 

 i-onmiission, in handing down the latter ruling, held that present 

 rates were compensatory and that no further advances were justified. 



No statement has been made by officials of the Southern Hardwood 

 Traffic Association as to what bearing the present action of the com- 

 mission will have upon the joint conference plan which was decided 

 upon recently between the railroads and southern hardwood lumber 

 shippers represented by the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association. 



The War Scare and Walnut 



Owing to the prominence which has been given in the pi'ess to the 

 purchases of walnut for the manufacture of guustocks, some consum- 

 ers have got the mistaken idea that the supply of the wood is all 

 going into the manufacture of war materials. 



Leading producers, who have been interviewed along this line by 

 Hardwood Record, scout the idea that this is the case and assert that 

 the supply is more than ample. 



The walnut which has been bought for war purposes has consisted 

 entirely of thick lumber. There is plenty of inch and other dimensions 

 used in the consuming trade, and moreover prices on these have not 

 been seriously affected by the war. 



Besides this, most of the large orders for rifles have been placed, 

 and the manufacturers have covered their requirements by purchasing 

 walnut for gunstocks. If this is correct, the war business is prac- 

 tically a thing of the past, and there will be no more business of this 

 sort in the market. 



Making a very liberal estimate of the purchases of walnut for gun- 

 stocks and other war material, it is safe to say that not more than 

 twenty per cent of the usual annual production has gone into this 

 work, and consequently at least eighty per cent is left for our 

 domestic consumers. 



There is no reason for any bod\' to be uneasy about the supply and 

 price of walnut. There is one thiug about it, however, and that Is 

 that the war has demonstrated completely and fully that the supply 

 of the timber is here, and that production is capable of taking care 

 of any demand that may be made upon the market. 



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