.TORN W. McCLURE. PRESIDENT 



s. ^^. NUKEV, first vke ri;i:sinKNT 



FRANK MAY, SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT 



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Meeting of Traffic Association 



The second annual meeting of the Southern Hardwood Traffic 

 Association was held at Memphis, Tenn.. Januarj' 5, with sixty-five 

 iinns represented and more than eighty-five per cent of the total 

 membership. A luncheon was served, reports by retiring officers were 

 received, and as the res-ilt of an elei'lion, officers for the ensuing 

 year were chosen as follows: 



Pbesidekt. John W. McClure, Bellgrade Lumber Company : 



B'lRST Vice-Prksiuext, S. M. Nlckey, Green River Lumber Comi>;iny : 



Skcosd ViCE-PiiEsiDE.NTj Frank May, May Brothers: 



DiBBCTOES, Georpp I». Burgess. Kusse & Burgess: Walker Welforii. 

 Chickasaw Cooperage Company : Elliott Lang, R. J, Darnell, Inc., and 

 William Pritchard. .1. W. Wlieeler & Co. George Land of the Ijamb-Fisli 

 Lumber Company holds over lor another three-year period. This makes 

 nve new directors and these, with the ten holdovers, compose the governing 

 hoard of fifteen. 



The following were among the speakers at the meeting: Frank 

 F. Fee of the Fee-Crayton Hardwood Lumber Company, Dermott, 

 Ark,, who advocated a strong merchant marine by the United States; 

 John M. Woods, East Cambridge, Mass., who explained the reasons 

 for his belief that, business conditions are improving, and H. .J, 

 Dudley of the Dudley Lumber Company, Grand Rapids, Mich., who 

 directed his remarks to the railroad situation, particularly in southern 

 Michigan, 



The President's Eepokt 



A history of the association 's activities during the past year 

 was summarized in the reports read bv the president, Goortre D. 

 Burgess, and Secretary' .T. H. Townshend. An epitome of the juosi- 

 dent's report follows: 



The association is two years and live months old, and has been pre- 

 eminently successful in making money for its members. During the past 

 year seven complaints and three applications for suspension of tariffs wer.- 

 flled with the Interstate Commerce Commission. One of them, that of the 

 Bellgrade Lumber Company, was decided in favor of the association, and 

 one, the Anderson-TuUy case, was decided adversely. Another important 

 case, which covers advances from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Memphis to 

 Ohio river crossings, and all points west of the Mississippi, is expected to 

 be decided in the immediate future. 



For more than a year negotiations have been under way between tbf 

 association and the I, C. and the Y. & M. V. railroads to put into effect a 

 .yarding arrangement at Memphis which will enable dealers to bring lumljer 

 to Memphis and handle it on a proportionate through rate. There is now 

 some prospect that the plan will be worked out in a satisfactory manner. 



On Januarj- IS a ver.v important hearing will begin at Memphis. It 

 relates to a general advance to the Ohio river crossings averaging eighteen 

 per cent. The hoard of directors has secured the services of Attorney 



Luther M. Walters of Chicago to assist the association's attorney, John R. 

 Walker, in presenting the case at the hearing. 



It was suggested that the association authorize the secretary to route 

 the shipments. This would give tho organization a great leverage with 

 the railroads, and it could be done without danger of falling foul of anti- 

 trust laws. 



President Burgess expressed confidence in the business outlook 

 aud saw no ground for discouragement with the prospects. The tide 

 that has so long been ebbing has at last turned and is again setting 

 toward prosperity, 



Repoet bt the Secretaet 



Secretary Townshend 's annual report goes into the details of 

 the work done by his office during the past year. The period in- 

 cluded is that from January 1, 1914, to January 1, 1915: 



It was announced that on February 17, according to the ruling of the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission in the Bellgrade Lumber Company case, 

 the new rates will become effective. These rates apply to oak and other 

 hardwoods to bring them down to those in force on gum from points north 

 of the Southern railway in Mississippi, and these south of that line ; that 

 is, eleven and ten cents respectively. It is figured that the reduced rates 

 will save .$17,000 a year to Mississippi lumljer shippers. 



During- the .year the association collected claims for its members 

 amounting to $14,310, and returned as not collectable claims aggregating 

 $1,0G4. Some of these claims were barred by the statute of limitation. 

 At the present time the association has pending claims amounting to 

 .$10,734. The majority of these claims had already been handled by 

 members. 



The members of the association have distributed several thousand copies 

 of a book, "The Lumber Industry and the Railroads," written by the 

 association's attorney, John R. Walker. The book deals with the five 

 per cent advance in rates which was recently granted the railroads north 

 of the Potomac and Ohio rivers. The association opposed the advance and 

 was one of the few lumber associations that did so. 



During the past year the ofllcers of the association have been active in 

 an endeavor to secure better weighing conditions. The results of these 

 efforts are apparent in better conditions than were ever before enjo.ved in 

 the histo.y of the lumber industry. 



The members depend more and more upon the secretary for rates, and 

 in a number of instances he is quoting members all the rates they use. 



Tiie Interstate Commerce Commission in a recent decision held that 

 shippers were entitled to an allowance of 500 pounds dunnage on logs as 

 well as lumber. When that decision came out, the association at once 

 took the matter up with the carriers and succeeded in procuring the allow- 

 ance in a number of cases, and the prospects are encouraging that all 

 carriers will make the allowance. 



It has not been customary for carriers to post at their stations notices 

 of embargo, and that has worked hardships for some of the lumber com- 



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