March 10, 1916 



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Ready for Southern Rate Fight 



Everything is being rapidly completed for the hearing which will 

 bo held in Memphis beginning March 14, involving efforts on the 

 part of the railroads to secure higher rates on lumber shipments from 

 Memphis and other southern points into Central Freight Association 

 ^md Western Trunk line territory as well as efforts on the part of 

 lumber shippers to secure rates below those now in effect. The 

 {Southern Hardwood Traffic Association will have charge of the hear- 

 ing in BO far as southern hardwood interests are involved, and it 

 lias emi>loyed J. V. Norman of Louisville, Ky., to present its case. 

 Yellow pine interests east of the Mississippi will be represented by 

 J. E. Walker of Washington, D. C, former attorney for the South- 

 ern Hardwood Traffic Association. Investigation and suspension 

 ■<lockets 745 and 775 involve proposed higher rates into Central Freight 

 -and Western Trunk line territories while the cases through which 

 lower rates on liardwood lumber will be sought are known, respec- 

 tively, as James E. Stark et al., Lamb-Fish Lumber Company et al., 

 and Kraetzer-Cured Lumber Company et al. vs. the Illinois Central 

 and the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley roads. The carriers will present 

 their evidence first and it is e.xpected that they will require fuUy a 

 week. Southern hardwood interests will follow and will require 

 three to five days. Y^ellow pine interests will then introduce their 

 evidence, so that ihe hearing promises to last two, and possibly 

 three, weeks. 



The issues involved arc very large. .7. H. Townshend, secretary of 

 the Southern Hanhvooil Traffic As.sociation, said tliat if the roads 

 were able to secure the rates they were si>ekiug, the increased reve- 

 nues of the Illinois Central and Yazoo & Mississippi Valley roads 

 would amount to $1,000,000 more per annum than at present, these 

 figures including hardwoods and yellow pine, the former on the 

 ba.sis of a gain of $15 per car and the latter on the basis of a gain 

 of $5 per car. This gives some idea of the importance of the fight 



to hardwood and yellow pine interests and it also explains why 

 officials of the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association have been 

 spending so much time recently, twelve to fifteen hours a day, in 

 preparing evidence and data to contravene the efforts of the roads 

 to saddle this tremendous increase in transportation cost on the 

 industry represented. 



Mr. Norman will come to Memphis March 11 for a final conference 

 with officials of the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association, so that 

 he may get everything in shajie for presentation. The evidence is 

 so voluminous that some time will be required to digest it and 

 arrange it for intelligent and forceful presentation to the examiner 

 representing the Interstate Commerce Commission. Attorneys for the 

 carriers, too, will spend considerable time in Memphis before the 

 hearing begins as they must necessarily be familiar with the lumber 

 industry and all phases thereof affecting its transportation. 



The Southern Hardwood Traffic Association has been particularly 

 active in handling rate controversies before the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission since it was formed several years ago and it has 

 some magnificent victories to its credit. It has won the support of 

 the hardwood manufacturers and distributers throughout Arkansas, 

 Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky and some other states 

 and is constantly gaining in strength through the admission of new 

 members. The latest to join are: Kelsey Wheel Company, Memphis; 

 Jorgensen-Bcnnett Lumber Company, Memphis; Swain-Karmire Lum- 

 ber Company, Fulton, Ky., and H. B. Owen Tie Company, Pontotoc, 

 Miss. 



While Mr. Norman will have charge of the hearing from the stand- 

 point of hardwood interests, he will be ably assisted by .T. H. Town- 

 shend, secretary-manager, as well as by other officials, by the govern- 

 ing board and by individual members of the Southern Hardwood 

 Traffic Association. 



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Why W^oods Vary in Weight 



Figures have been compiled by J. A. Newlin of the Forest Prod- 

 ucts Laboratory, Madison, Wis., showing why woods vary in weight, 

 and how much they vary. The facts presented should interest dealers, 

 particularly those who handle seasoned material. The following 

 ■discussion is condensed from Mr. Newlin 's bulletin: 



Any piece of wood selected promiscuously may contain anj'where 

 :from four per cent moisture, as in some kiln-dried material, to two 

 times as much moisture by weight as wood material, as in occasional 

 l)ieces of white fir. In view of this fact it is necessary to divide 

 wood into three grou])s as to moisture in order to effect a definite 

 •comparison. These groups represent a maximum amount of moisture, 

 as in green wood, wood with no moisture, or oven dry wood, and 

 wood with an intermediate percentage of moisture present, or air dry 

 wood. 



The weight of green wood depends upon the weight of the wood 

 substance itself, the moisture content, and tlie weight of other con- 

 tained substances sucli as resin. The various species contain widely 

 <Ufferent amounts of moisture in the living tree; for example, white 

 ash and black locust are alwa3's comparatively dry ; black ash and 

 the oaks have about twice as much moisture, and chestnut and buck- 

 eye have three times as much as the white ash; the white and red 

 ■cedars are comparatively dry, while cypress and white fir contain 

 large amounts of moisture. 



In the Same Tkee 



Position in the tree also affects moisture content. Most hardwoods 

 show a fairly uniform distribution of moisture throughout the tree 

 and the variation in the hardwood species is comparatively small. 

 The conifers, on the other hand, show a wide variation in moisture 

 content. In the same tree, as a rule, a large difference in the per- 



centage of moisture exists between the heart and sapwood and, in 

 some instances, between the upper and lower parts of the tree. Long- 

 leaf pine and most other conifers have very low moisture contents 

 in the heartwood and very high in the sapwood, causing young tiirifty 

 trees to run heavier than old overmature trees- of the same species. 

 Tamarack and cypress are exceptions, having fairly uniform moisture 

 contents throughout the tree. Sugar pine and western larch, due to 

 resinous material as well as water, are very hea\'y at the butt. 



Variation of five per cent above or below the average weight per 

 cubic foot for a given species is to be expeited in the •■ase of 

 species havbig a fairly uniform moisture content. This variation 

 may, however, run as high as twenty per cent occasionally. With 

 species that do not have a uniform moisture content about ten per 

 cent variation in the weight per cubic foot may be expected with 

 occasional trees varying as much as forty per cent. These figures 

 apply when considering small amounts of the wood, such as timber 

 from a single tree. In larger shipments, as would be expected, the 

 average weight is much more likely to be nearer the average value 

 for the species, although in the conifers, as was previously pointed 

 out, the character of the stand would very materially influence the 

 weight per cubic foot. 



Moisture Eesponsible 



Air-dry weight varies largely on account of the wide variation of 

 moisture content implied by the term. Some species lose the moisture 

 in one-tenth the time of others. Some material is air-dried to reduce 

 its shipping weight and is considered dry when it ceases to lose 

 moisture fairly rapidly, while for some of the more exacting uses 

 the material will be carefully dried for months or even years untU 

 it reaches as low a moisture content as possible under the conditions 



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