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Interesting Traffic Developments 



Increased rates on logs from Stuttgart and other points in Arkan- 

 sas to Memphis, Tenn., have been suspended until March 27. The 

 proposed increase is a very decided one. The present rate to Mem- 

 phis is six cents, which it is proposed to increase to eleven cents. 



The case of the Bradley Timber and Railway Supply Company 

 versus the Minnesota & International Railway Company, et al., has 

 been dismissed. The commission found the rate of twenty-eight 

 cents on lumber from Gimmill, Minn., to Red Ford, O., not to be 

 unreasonable. 



Reparation was awarded the Johu A. Cranston Lumber Company 

 of Wilmington, Del. The defendant was the Atlantic Coast Line. 

 The company refused to re-consign a carload of lumber, which caused 

 the accumulation of demurrage. 



The present rate on sawmill machinery from Beau, Col., to Louisi- 

 ana points has been sustained by the commission, after consideration 

 of the case brought by the Beau Iron Works. 



A case of more than usual interest has been brought V)y the Snow 

 Lumber Company of High Point, N. C, versus the Raleigh, Charlotte 

 & Southern Railway. The lumber company asks for a reduction 

 in rates from its miUs at Ellerbe and Norman, N. C. The railroad 

 company relies on a contract made with the lumber company, before 

 the line was built, to sustain the high rates charged. The Ellerbe 

 branch was built in 1910. It is 171,4 miles long. It leaves the 

 main branch at Candor. The line runs through unproductive coun- 

 try, it is claimed, and was built only on the understanding that the 

 present rates on lumber were to be maintained. 



Much interest was evidenced in the decision in the case of the Red 

 Cedar Shingle Manufacturers' Association of Seattle versus the Min- 

 neapolis & St. Paul Railway Company. Demurrage had been assessed 

 at destination on each of two cars into which a single car load 

 shipment had been transferred en route. The commission decided 

 that for the assessment of demurrage, tlie shipment should be re- 

 corded as one car shipment. This is important, owing to a number 

 of similar cases. In the same case, reparation was awarded because 

 the shingles, which comprised the shipment, were transferred into 

 open cars. The cause of the demurrage was due to the damage done 

 to the shingles by soot, cinders and weather, which caused the con- 

 signee to refuse the shipment. Despite the fact that the shingles 

 previously had been placed in open storage, the commission found 

 that the railroad was responsible. 



Permission has been given the Louisville & Nashville Railroad to 

 amend its tariff by the addition of the following note: "In the 

 absence of special commodity rates, mixed carloads of two or more 

 kinds of lumber, or articles taking lumber rates, will be taken at 

 the highest rates provided for carload quantities. The carload mini- 

 mum weight will be the highest carload minimum weight provided 

 for any article in the shipment." 



Charles K. Parry & Co., Pliiladclplna. has filed a complaint 

 with the Interstate Commerce Commission protesting against a num- 

 ber of lumber rates being applied on the Southern Railway. 



A complaint from the Anderson-Tully Company of Memphis, against 

 the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, attacks the twenty-three 

 cent rate on box material from Arkansas points to Chicago. It is 

 stated that the proper rate should be twenty cents. 



A reparation claim, larger than the average, lias lieen submitted 

 to the commission by Theo. Kundtz of Cleveland. He claims that 

 the Frisco lines have collected an unreasonable rate on more than 

 200 ears of hardwood logs. He asks for a refund of $5,038.78. 



Briefs have been submitted by each side in the case of Ferd 

 Brenner Lumber Company of Alexandria, La., versus Morgan's Louisi- 

 ana Railway & Steamship Company. The railroad claims that the 

 case involves the question of making transit privileges retroactive. 

 This is denied by the complainant. It is claimed that a discrimina- 

 tion existed as transit privileges were allowed movements of hardwood 

 from Eola and Cheneyville at the same time. 



Hearings for January have been announced as follows by the 

 commission : Chattanooga, January 9, Chattanooga log rate eases. 



Examiner Watkius; January 11, Maley & Weitz versus Louisville 

 & Nashville (two eases), Nashville Tie Company versus Louisville 

 & Nasliville, and two cases of the Nashville Lumbermen's Club. 



Louisville, January IS and 19, rates on lumber from southern to 

 Ohio river crossings and other points, Examiner Watkins. These 

 hearings will be a continuation of hearings which will be begun at 

 Memphis, Januan- 13. 



Reinforcing Poles With Concrete 



It is now a 'fairly common thing to find poles strengthened at the- 

 ground line by a reinforced concrete sleeve. The Union Traction 

 Company of Indiana has reinforced the trolley poles along many 

 miles of its track and after five years' experience reports that the 

 results are apparently very satisfactory. 



The greatest test of a pole is at or near the ground line, as it is 

 here that tlic conditions are most favorable for decay. Any un- 

 treated polo contains a considerable amount of sapnood, and when 

 this is destroyed the cross-sectional area and consequently the 

 strength of the pole is very seriously reduced. The object of the 

 concrete sleeve is to reinforce the pole at this point of greatest weak- 

 ness. The traction company has made tests of this reinforcement and 

 has demonstrated that a pole cut entirely off at the place where it 

 usually rots can be restored to its original strength. 



The form or mould is made in two semi-cylindrical halves of black 

 sheet iron stiffened with three bands on each half. The form is 

 hinged in the middle to permit ready closing about the pole and 

 removal. The diameter of the form varies from eighteen to twenty- 

 four inches, according to the size of pole to be reinforced; the length 

 is forty-eight inches. 



A hole is dug about the pole to a depth of a little more than two 

 feet. All of the rotten portion of the pole is carefully shaved off 

 and the exposed wood painted with a heavy coat of creosote. The 

 form is then placed in position extending above the ground about 

 twenty or twenty-two inches. 



The reinforcement used by the Union Traction Company of Indiana 

 consists of a 12-bar fence woven by the Dwiggins Fire Fence Com- 

 pany. The top and bottom bars are of No. 7 wire, intermediate bars 

 of No. 9 wire. The vertical bars are of No. 9 wire woven three 

 inches apart. This fencing is cut into lengths to fit about the pole 

 inside the form. The cost is about thirty cents per pole. 



The concrete is made of one part cement to five parts gravel and 

 sand. 



The average cost of reinforcing the poles of this traction com- 

 pany has been .about two dollars per pole. 



The propellers of aeroplanes such as are used in the present 

 European war may be made of selected ash, which is both strong 

 and light and will not split under vibration or shock, or of built-up 

 layers of spruce with mahogany centers. The framework of the 

 machines, too, is generally made of wood, spruce being much used on 

 account of its straight grain and freedom from hidden defects. 



A surprisingly large number of substances, ranging all the way 

 from the condensed fumes of smelters to the skimmed milk of cream- 

 eries, have been tried or suggested as means of preserving wood from 

 decay. Most of them, however, have been found to have little or no 

 value for the purpose. Certain forms of coal-tar creosote and zinc 

 chloride are the most widely used wood preservatives. 



It is said that the German invaders of Belgium, whatever else 

 they may have destroyed, have lieen careful not to injure park trees. 

 The cavalrymen, so a report goes, are forbidden to tie their horses 

 to trees for fear that the animals will gnaw the bark. Germany was 

 the first nation to apply forestry on a large scale, some of the crown 

 forests having been under scientific management for over a hundred 

 years. 



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