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A fourth section order by the Interstate Commerce Commission last 

 week is expected to be of decided advantage to lumber companies 

 handling silo stock in Louisiana. The Texas & Pacific Company is 

 authorized to establish rates on silo stock three cents higher than the 

 rates in effect on lumber. Tlie rate permits twenty per cent of the 

 entire weight of the shipment to be composed of iron parts of the 

 silo. 



Proposed increases on wooden barrels between Memphis and Pensa- 

 cola have been suspended until July 6. The present rate is twenty- 

 five cents. The carriers propose to make the rate thirty-three cents. 



In a decision handed down recently the Otis Manufacturing Com- 

 pany of New Orleans lost its case against the Texas & Pacific. Kates 

 on mahogany between New Orleans and Texas points had been at- 

 tacked as being unreasonable and unduly discriminatory. The com- 

 mission held, however, that mahogany is an imported and valuable 

 wood and that the carriers were justified in making rates higher than 

 those in force on domestic woods such as walnut. 



Authority has been granted by the commission to cliange the des- 

 cription of certain logs imported through Gulf ports to various des- 

 tinations without regarding the fourth section. The logs on which 

 this ruling applies are: bitterwood, cedar, cocobolo, ebony, fustic 

 dye wood, laneewood, lignum-vitie, logwood, mahogany, padouk, 

 quassia, rosewood, sabicu, walnut and others. 



Permission to include in the rate permission to stop at Bogalusa 

 for ereosoting without observing the fourth section has been granted 

 to the New Orleans & Great Northern. This applies to shipments 

 originating on the Gulf & Ship Island; Mississippi Central; Natchez 

 Columbia & Mobile; Liberty -White; Ferwood & Gulf; Kentwood 

 & Eastern; and destined to New Orleans or Bonfouca, La. 



The fact that the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis has discon- 

 tinued the practice of charging more for dressed than for plain lumber 

 is considered good proof that the claim of Krauss Brothers Lumber 

 Company of New Orleans for reparation should be granted, accord- 

 ing to a brief filed by the lumber company last week. No other 

 line in the South has made a distinction of three or three and one- 

 half cents in the rates charged on rough and dressed lumber, it is 

 asserted. 



The Hinton Brothers Lumber Company of Lumberton, Miss., set 

 forth a peculiar situation in a brief filed last week. Due to the 

 inability of the Gulf & Ship Island and tlie New Orleans & North- 

 eastern to agree on divisions, two rates were being charged on ship- 

 ments moving from the same depot to the same destination. The 

 commission is asked to declare the liigher of the two rates un- 

 reasonable. 



The reduction of the rates on cypress between Florida producing 

 points and Boston, Philadelphia and other eastern points is declared 

 to have been caused by water competition in a brief submitted by the 

 carriers in the case of the Florida Cypress Association versus the 

 Louisville & Nashville. The cypress association asks reparation for 

 shipments made before the decrease. 



Unreasonable rates and failure to secure dunnage allowance are 

 discussed in a brief submitted by the Indiana Veneer and Lumber 

 Company in its case against the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern. 

 The company shipped logs from McGehee and Haynes, Ark., to 

 Indianapolis. 



Failure to allow dunnage on stakes and crating used on sawmill 

 machinery shipments is the basis of an argument made in favor of 

 reparation for the G. B. Merrill & Brother Lumber Company in a 

 brief filed last week. 



State regulation of rates in Arkansas is blamed for the condition 

 complained of by the Memphis Band Mill Company and other com- 

 panies. The carrier brief was submitted last week. The apparent 

 discrimination in favor of the mills in Arkansas is due to the state 

 made rates, the carriers maintain. 



All issues arising from the collection of higher rates on coastwise 

 than on export shipments have been decided by the commission, it is 



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said in a brief submitted by the carrier in the case of Gulf Lumber 

 Company versus the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio. It is 

 claimed the previous decisions of the commission cover the case in 

 hand. The decisions cited, if they apply, would lead to an adverse 

 decision for the lumber company. 



Oral argument will be heard by the commission in the following 

 cases: 



March 12. — Lumber transit privilege at Buffalo ; Buffalo Lumber Ex- 

 change versus tho Alabama Central. 



April S. — Interior Lumlier Company versus Northern Pacific Lamport 

 Lumber Company versus Chicago, Milwaukee & St, Paul ; Cbristenson Imes 

 Lumber Company versus the Northern PaciQc. 



" .April 10. — VandcnBoom-Stlrason Lumber Company versus St. Louis, 

 Iron Mountain & Southern ; Memphis Band Mill Company versus the 

 Chicago, Rock Island & Pacifle ; rates on lumber from points in Arkansas 

 to Des Moines. 



April 14. — Kates on lumber from southcru points to Ohio river crossings 

 and other points. 



A Chance for Millwrights 



Millwrighting as it once was has been somewhat disorganized. In 

 the old times the millwright was architect, foreman and workman, 

 lie did everything from laying out the ground for a mill to install- 

 ing boilers, engines, dry kilns, and. their entire equipment. Now, 

 however, this has all changed, because here the work is specialized — 

 the architect and machinery man divide it np so that the millwright is 

 nothing but a handy man to put the things together. There is a cer- 

 tain amount of millwrighting proper, and concerns that make a study 

 of the sawmill layout and plan and erect mills do a very good 

 business. 



Eight now though there seems to be a good opportunity for the 

 millwright. This new opening has to do with the designing and erec- 

 tion of various byjiroduct industries in connection with the sawmill. 

 There are wood distilling plants and various scientific waste reducing 

 ))ropositions, but what is specifically in mind right now is the figuring 

 out of certain combinations of other products that might be manu- 

 factured in connection with a given sawmill enterprise. In one case 

 it might be one thing and in another another. The millwright should 

 make a study of the conditions among the mills and the small articles 

 it is possible to manufacture from timber, and make plans for various 

 combination plants that can be handled successfully. Here is a chance 

 to develoj) work, sell machinery, and help the millmen and themselves 

 at the same time, provided the work is gone into thoroughly. There 

 is room to combine other work with sawmilling, and much of this will 

 be done in the future. 



One of the assistant foresters at a meeting of the cooperage people 

 urged the interdependence of the manufacturer of smaller wooden 

 articles and the manufacture of lumber proper for the sake of 

 economy in timber. Forest Service experiments are pointing the way 

 toward the combination of sawmilling with other industries that will 

 work up stock in smaller dimensions so as to refine the low grade and 

 get out what good is in it. And if the way is pointed o\it, there will 

 be need for men to devise and erect plants that will work i)roperly 

 in connection with the sawmilling enterprise and furnish a chance for 

 profits as well as utility. It is a good chance for millwrights who 

 have a knack for figuring out these things, but it will not be easy. 

 Many such undertakings in the past have been failures financially. 

 It is one thing to work out something that can be made in connec- 

 tion with sawmilling and another thing to make money out of such 

 an enterprise. The .iob before the millwright is to devise plants 

 which will make it practical to work a lot of timber that is now going 

 to waste into some useful article and make a profit out of the busi- 

 ness. Those that can do this successfully have a big work before 

 them. 



The Sihlwald, or city forest of Zurich, Switzerland, adds to the 

 town's revenues $7.20 per acre a year, reducing the amount needed 

 to be raised through taxation by more than $.32,000. 



