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Pertinent Legal Findings 



Sawmill Employe's Right to Lien 

 The statutes of North Carolina give a lien against lumber manu- 

 factured in a sawmill for services of %ii emploj'e in taking lumber 

 from the saw and placing it on a truck'. (Korth Carolina supreme 

 court, Glazener vs. Gloucester Lumber Company. S3 Southeastern 

 Keporter fi96.) 



Time for Filing Freight Claims 

 Provision in a bill of lailiui; declaring that the railway company 

 shall not be liable for loss, damage or delay, unless written claim 

 therefor is made within four months after delivery, or, in case 

 of non-delivery, within four months after reasonable time for 

 delivery, will be enforced by the courts. (North Carolina supreme 

 court, Forney vs. Seaboard Air Line Eailway, 83 Southeastern Be- 

 porter fiS6.) 



Contractor's Right to Logger's Lien 



One who undertakes to log timber and saw it into lumber for 



the owner at an agreed price per thousand feet is not entitled to 



a lien under the. Virginia laws as a "laborer." (United States 



.circuit court of appeals, fourth circuit; Tucker vs.- Bryan; 217 



. Federal Reporter o76.) 



Duty to Instruct Saw Operators • 

 Where, a foreman in a woodworking estaldishment set an un- 

 skilled workman at the task of operating a cii;f filar saw, it was his 

 ■ legal duty, as representative of the employer, to give the workman 

 all instructions and warnings which were rp-.isoiialily necessary to 

 enable the latter to do his work without injury. Thus, if injury 

 to the workman is attributable to negligent failure of the foreman to 

 explain how a guard over the saw could be adjusted, -the employerjis 

 liable in damages for consequent injury to the employe. (Unite'd 

 States circuit court of appeals, third circuit; Freedom Casket Com- 

 pany vs. McManus, 218 Federal Reporter 323.) 



Misunderstanding as to Price of Lumber 



Wlien the jiarties to a contract for sale of a quantity of lumber 

 misunderstand the price to be charged, the buyer becomes liable for 

 the invoice price by retaining the lumber after receiving the invoice. 

 This rule was laid down by the Kentucky court of appeals the other 

 day in the case of Cunningham vs. Caldwell & Drake, 172 South- 

 western Reporter 498. Plaintiffs agreed to sell flooring for use by 

 defendants in constructing a courthouse. Defendants, claiming that 

 the agreed price was .$69 per thousand, refused to pay more, and 

 plaintiff brought suit for the difference. In affirming judgment in 

 plaintiff's favor, the court of appeals said, in part: 



An issue wiis made by the evidence of Cunninglinni, upon tlie one banil, 

 and (_iildwcll. upon the otlior. as to whcffior llic price of tlio fioorlnp: was 

 as clniracd by i'nnnin^linm or :is claimed by Cahlwell & lU'uke. and it is 

 evident fioni the testiuionv that Cunnlngliam believed tliat tbi'y were to 

 pay ?0n for the clear and $69 for the select, and that t'aUSwell & Drake 

 believed that they were jjettlng all of it for :?6!). 'Hiere bi'inj; this mis- 

 understanding between the parties as to the terms of the contract before 

 the flooring was shipped, the r,uestion for decision is. IHd the acceptance 

 and use of the flooring by Caldwell & Drake, after they knew from the 

 invoice and the bills the price charjred for it by Cnnninuhani conchislvelv 

 bind tliem to pay the price charged? If we should assume that <'aldwell 

 & Drake fairly understood that the price of the flooring was SO!), the 

 letters that passed betwcn the parlii's after the bill and invoice for the 

 first car of flooring had been received and before it bad lieen used put It 

 beyond dispute that Caldwell & Drake knew that Cunningham's pi-ice was 

 $09 for the clear and $69 for^the seleet. With this knowledge before 

 them at a time when none of the flooring had been used, we think that 

 Caldweil & Drake. If tbey did not desire to pay the price charged by Cun- 

 ningham, should have declined to use the flooring nntil the dlfferemo 

 between them was adjusted in some satisfactory way. but that having 

 use<l ii. they must pay the price charged. • • • When there is a dis- 

 agreement and mlsiuiderstanding. as in the case before us. between the 

 seller and the buyer as to the terms of the contract, and the property is 

 delivered before this is settled, the buyer has an election to rej<!Ct or to 

 accept and use it as he Intended, but if he adopts this latter course with 

 knowledge of the difference Ix-twcen himself and the seller as to the price, 

 he must pay the price charge<3, and (annot defeat the claim of the seller 

 by insisting that he bought the property on different terms or nt n dif- 

 ferent price. He has made his election and is bound by it. 



It is to be noted, however, that this decision proceeds upon the 



— 1(>— 



ground that the minds of the parties did not actually meet oti a 

 price, and the court adds: 



If Cunningham and Caldwell & Drake had rnlcicd inlo a contract as to 

 the pritc at which the flooring was to be furnished, and the terms were 

 undcrsto<Hl and agreed to by lioth parties, we do not think that Caldwell & 

 Drake would be obliged as a matter of law to pay a higher price than tho 

 contract lu-ice merely because the.v used the flooring after receiving the 

 invoice accompanying the flooring, which showed that Cuiuiingham was 

 charging a higher price than the contract i)rlce. 



Risk Assumed by Lumber Mill Employe 



A lumber inspector employed in a sawmill assumcil the risk of 

 being injured or^killed through accidentally slipping upon a floor 

 and being carried by a moving platform to a revolving saw. There 

 was no duty on the part of the lumber company to install a guard 

 upon the saw to prevent such an accident. ' ' A sawmill company 

 engaged in converting timber into merchantable lumber is not under 

 any legal duty either to its employees or the public generall}', nor is 

 it practically .possible for them to keep all of the saws necessary to 

 their business either covered in or guarded against cutting into an 

 object that may accidentally come in contact with them." (Florida 

 supreme court, Perkins vs. Morgan Lumber Company, (57 Southern 

 Keporter 126.) But the Minnesota supreme court holds that an oiler 

 of machinery in a sawmill was justified in assuming that a log car- 

 riage would not be moved without a customary warning being given 

 by the he^d sawyer. (Johnson vs. Sartell Brothers Company, 1.50 

 Northwestern Reporter 784.) 



Tie Trade Livening Up 



One of thi' ii/toiosting items .in the li.-u'dwiiocl lundior world right 

 now is that of railroad ties. It is interesting because the tie trade 

 is'showing signs of life and present conditions point toward a big 

 year in the tie business, both in the domestic and iu tiie export 

 tradel 



A recent railroad note in the Saturday Eveiiinfj Post is autliority 

 for the statement that railroad construction in 1914 in the United 

 States amounted to only a little more than 1,500 miles, which was 

 the smallest mileage in any year since 189.5 when the country was 

 just recovering from the panic of 1893. It was also the first yeat 

 in which more miles of railroa<l was 1)uilt in Canada than in the 

 United States. In other words, it was a jwor year iu railroad con- 

 struction and in the sale of railroad lumber of all kinds, whicli 

 contributed largely to the dullness in the lumber market. 



Since the granting of increased freight rates and the general dis- 

 position to let the railroads live and thrive there has been quite an 

 industrial revival in railway centers and this in turn has awakened 

 the tie trade of the country to prospects of a lively business through 

 the spring and summer months. 



That is not all of it either. Even in the export trade ties are 

 now showing signs of life and they constitute an item in the export 

 lumber trade which stands out distinctively as having regained the 

 lost volume of trade the past few months. The first pick-up in 

 the export tie trade was noticeable in the export reports for No- 

 vember. In October the export in ties was not half that of October 

 last year, but during November it revived and exceeded in quantity 

 the exports for November 1913. This seems to mark the beginning 

 of big times to come, for right along with this report of gains 

 already made we have reports of big orders being placed by the war- 

 ring nations, one si)ecifically being an order for .50,000,000 feet for 

 crossties by England. In fact, taking it all in all, the tie right now 

 furnishes the brightest spot in the news of the hardwood lumber 

 trade and if the signs read right the year as a whole should be a 

 very busy one. 



The Uinta mountains of Utah, included within the Wasatch, Uinta, 

 and Ashley national forests, should become a favorite recreation region 

 because of the many small lakes within depressions scooped out by 

 glacial drifts. Seventy such lakes can be counted from Reid's peak, 

 and one particular township, thirty-six miles square, contains more 

 than a hundred. 



