Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



Meeting of Veneer Manufacturers 



A Number ol Interesting Papers Presented at the Association's 

 Semi-Annual Convention 



33 



I HE SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING of the National 



Veneer and Panel Manufacturers" Association 



convened in a two-days' session, June 18, at the 



Auditorium hotel, Chicago, with between eighty 



and ninety members in attendance. No former meeting 



of this association was so largely attended. 



J. D. Maris of Indianapolis, first vice president of the 

 association, presided in the absence of the president, 

 A. E. Gorham of Mt. Pleasant, Mich. 



The following special committee were appointed by 

 the chair: 



Audit, nfi. H. J. Barnard, chairman, Indinnnpoli,; O, G. Steiner, 

 St. Louis, and S. J. Glanton, Chicago. 



Membership, M. C. Dow, chairman, Goshen, Ind. ; H. E. Kline, 

 Louisville. Ky., and H. B. Sale, Fort Wayne, Ind. 



The report of Treasurer E. H. Defebaugh showed a 

 substantial balance in favor of the association. 



RAILROAD PROBLEMS 

 \V. M. Hopkins of Chicago, a traffic specialist, ad- 

 dressed the meeting on the railroad problems that are 

 calling for solution. A summary of the address is here 

 given: 



The annua] gross earnings of our railroads are approximately 

 $3,000,000,000, or about $8,000,000 per day. About one-third 

 of this vast sum is paid for passenger service and two-thirds for 

 freight service. 



This huge sum is part of your expense of doing business. It is 

 just as much a part of your expense as your raw material or 

 labor. The proportion transportation bears to the total expense 

 varies with different lines of business. In the lumber industry it 

 will probably average about 40 per cent. The value of your loca- 

 tion is determined by your rates and service. How can we have 

 a voice in determining whether the charges and services are fair 

 and reasonable? How can we know whether the balance of this 

 $8,000,000 per day we are paying these common carriers is being 

 properly expended after they have paid themselves a fair profit 

 upon their investment? 



If we are willing to profit by the mistakes of the past, there is 

 hope of progress in the future, so perhaps a brief review of past 

 railroad operation may suggest some solution of your problem. 

 Prior to 1887 the government did not exercise its right of control 

 over common carriers and the railroads were operated as private 

 property subject only to common law rules. That policy seemed 

 all right for that time. Under it the country developed. More 

 miles of railroad were constructed between 1865 and 1885 than 

 for any similar period before or since. 



As railroads multiplied in numbers and increased in mileage 

 rates were made on a wholesale basis. The greater the volume 

 of business, the lower the rate, so that the big fellow got the low 

 rates, the little fellow paid tariff. Competitive traffic received 

 every consideration, local traffic received none. Preferential rate 

 making and preferential service, the political control of courts 

 and judges became intolerable conditions and shippers came to 

 realize at last that they had a railroad problem that must be dealt 

 with. The remedy sought was in governmental legislation and 

 control. 



Second Era of Railroad Operation* 



The first iittcmpt to regulate and control common carriers by 

 statute was made in 1887, when the Interstate Act was passed, 

 and similar legislation by (he various states followed; but these 

 statutes had no more deterrent effect than if they had never been 

 passed. This situation continued until 1906, when the law was 



with authority and control over rates, so that for the first time 

 in the history of railway operations the published tariff rate 

 became the actual carrying rate to be paid by the shippers, col- 

 lected and retained by the carriers without any refunds, and 

 applied alike to all shippers. This authority over rates, rules and 

 regulations affecting rales and over safety appliances constitutes 

 all of the power of control and regulation over common carriers 

 that was at that time or is at the present time vested in the com- 

 mission. Service is left entirely within the control of the carriers 

 to furnish as much or as little as suits their convenience. The 

 law is lacking in furnishing authority or control over the physical 

 operation of the railways aside from the making and prescribing 

 of through routes and rates. The Act gives the commission only 

 control over the revenues of the carriers and leaves expenditures 

 and financial and physical operations to be carried on wholly 

 and without restriction by the railroad owners. 



In 1910 the railroads demanded an increase in rates and under- 

 took to show the necessity therefor. After extended hearings the 

 commission, upon the review of all facts, denied the advance. 

 Thereupon and continuously the railroads have conducted a so- 

 called campaign of education in which they have expended hun- 

 dreds of thousands of dollars in an effort to create public sentiment 

 in their favor. Their bureau of railway statistics filled the news- 

 papers and flooded the country with misleading statements and 

 half truths and this literature was showered upon members of 

 Congress and members of the Interstate Commerce Commission, 

 even following them around the country when on their vacation. 

 Certain advances in rates were granted to railroads, but only after 

 a hearing and upon a showing of facts which in the judgment of 

 the commission would justify such an increase. These advances, 

 however, by no means satisfied the railroads, who clamored for 

 more and would have the commission authorize such advances 

 irrespective of any justification therefor on the facts of record. 

 The railroads insisted that their difficulties were not of their own 

 making. The shippers were urged to load cars heavier and to 

 unload them in less than 48 hours to increase car efficiency: yet 

 railroad fuel and railroad material might remain in the cars for an 

 indefinite period and no demurrage assessed against those com. 

 modities. It was pointed out that the loaded car movement per 

 day was less than 15 miles caused by setting out cars from over- 

 loaded trains, failure to pick up loads promptly at stations where 

 loaded and delays at division points, yet little or no progress was 

 made by the railroads towards correcting these delays and in- 

 creasing car efficiency. It was further pointed out that the reck- 

 less expenditure of the revenues of the carriers was in part re- 

 sponsible for this failure to make larger net returns. 



The Interstate Act dealt substantially only with rates. It gave 

 the commission no authority over service, and no authority to 

 take such measures as would increase the operating efficiency, 

 and conserve the expenditures of common carriers. 



I have endeavored to briefly analyze our railroad problem up 

 to the taking over of the railroads by the government for opera- 

 tion during the period of the war. We have seen that the com- 



