26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



December 10, 1920 



Manufacturers 



SOUTHERN HARDWOODS 



Ash 



Poplar 



Red Gum 



Mixed Oak ,^f ,^^^ 

 £j^ Soft Maple 



Tupelo 



CUMMER LUMBER COMPANY 



SALES OFFICE: 



280 MADISON AVENUE 



NEW YORK, N. Y. 



MAIN OFFICE 



JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 



58,665,000 feet or 35.4 per cent below normal, while shipments 

 amounted to 60,939,000 feet, and orders 44,673,000 feet. 



District No. 8 (St. Louis) estimated on the basis of data on hand 

 that 50 per cent of the mills in the Mississippi Valley had closed. 



The market for hardwood was reported to be inactive and there 

 was a great spread in prices for yellow pine. In District No. 9 

 (Minneapolis) special reports from 13 lumber manufacturers giving 

 out stocks and shipments show that the lumber cut and shipments 

 declined while stocks increased. There has been a marked decrease 

 in unfilled orders. 



Rate Cancellations Postponed 



The Interstate Commerce Commission suspended, until April 4, 

 1921, the operation of certain schedules, providing for the can- 

 cellation of joint through class and commodity rates on lumber, 

 gravel and chatts from points in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, 

 Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico and Utah, to Eosedale, Kansas, 

 and Westport, Mo., via Lenexa, Kansas, in connection with the 

 Missouri & Kansas Railway, leaving combination rates applicable 

 instead. 



Grand Trunk Seeks Guarantee Fund 



Mandamus proceedings have been filed in the Supreme Court of 

 the District of Columbia to require the Secretary of the Treasury to 

 honor a certificate of the Interstate Commerce Commission finding 

 $500,000 due to the Grand Trunk Western Railway Company under 

 the guaranty provision of the transportation act. 



Although the proceeding is instituted by the Grand Trunk S.vs- 

 tem alone, as a test case, the decision will be of enormous import- 

 ance to every railroad in the country and actually will involve the 

 immediate payment to the railway lines of approximately $400,- 

 000,000. It is insisted by the railroads that this money is desperately 

 needed by them to maintain their credit, and make necessary pay- 

 ments of actual operative expenses. 



Secretary Houston was asked formally to honor this certification 

 and to pay the Treasurer of the Grand Trunk line $500,000 on ac- 

 count. This Mr. Houston declined to do and was supported in his 

 {losition by an ojiinion rendered on October 7 by W. W. Warwick, 

 the Comptroller of the Treasury, in which that otHcial held that 

 partial payments could not be made by the Secretary in advance 

 of a final settlement. 



Pertinent Information 



Increased Credit is Not Panacea for Foreign Trade Troubles 



lucroiiscd credits extendod to European nations b,v America will not 

 tend toward iucreased bu.ving of cotton, hardwoods or other raw materials 

 from the United States, in the opinion of G. A. Farber, vice-president of 

 Russe & Burges-s, Inc.. Memphis, and foreign representative of that firm, 

 with headijuarters in London, who reached Memphis Dec. 6, for his annual 

 visit to this country. 



"Europeans da not need increased credits," he declared, "to the extent 

 that they need increased purchasing power of their depreciated currencies. 

 The present rate of exchange i.s so adverse that England, France, Belgium, 

 Holland and all of the continental countries of Europe are buying in a 

 very limited way. This adverse rate of exclmngc is making the cost of 

 American lumber so high that importers are not able to make a profit out 

 of It and they are therefore taking just as little as they can. The rate 

 of exchange is daily becoming more unfavorable as the dollar gains ami the 

 pound sterling, the mark, the lire, the franc and other monetary units lose 

 in value. This means that the outlook Ls growing rather worse than 

 better. 



"Granting of credits would increase the debt the foreign nations owe 

 the United States and would make the 'balance of trade' against them, 

 already abnormally heavy, still heavier. The problem must be handled in 

 some other way. It is my very definite conviction that it can be solved 

 only through nn agreement among all of the more important nations to 



