HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



report of Colonel Davis for the year just ended 

 It is hard to comprehend what a commerce 

 that is, but when you realize that it is twelve 

 times as great as the commerce of the Suez 

 canal and eight times as great as the commerce 

 Oi the citj ol New York; when you realize that 

 if that commerce were placed In freight cars 

 it would reach from Dulnth to Seattle nine limes 



In cars of a carrying capacity of mi, 1 pounds, 



you will realize the greatness of the commerce 

 upon our inland sens. Thai commerce lias been 



brought about at a total cost oi $68, 1,000, 



resulting annually in the saving of more than 

 $232,000,000 to the people of this country. The 

 average railroad rate ton mileage in the United 

 States is 7'-j mills, the rate per ton mile on the 

 Great Lakes is .85 mills. As near as I can 

 ascertain the rate which governs the railroads 

 in their carriage the average rate, I might say, 

 because large tons of raw material are carried — 

 is about 4'j noils on the lines which parallel 

 the Great Lakes and enter into competition with 

 its transportation. Apply the three mills there 

 saved as the difference between railroad ton 

 mileage and the lake ton mileage and it amounts 

 annually to more than $132,000,000, and mul- 

 tiply tliat by the commerce that must come in 

 by that same route in manufactured products, 

 and von have doubled the amount that goes 



out ; that is, $232,000,1 saved annually on an 



investment of $68,000,000. But the railroads 

 that parallel the lakes which make those rates 

 are not the only ones which feel the effect of 

 it. but Albert Fink testified that those rates 

 were felt as far as the Gulf of .Mexico; there- 

 fore, you can add an additional saving by rea- 

 son of cheap transcontinental rates. 



How would the rates be affected if the United 

 States government — which owns the waterways 

 and owns the canals of the country — if those 

 rales were applied to the great systems of in- 

 land waterways? It would cost $220,000,000 

 approximately to thoroughly improve the Mis 

 souri river from umaha to the Mississippi, to 

 improve the Ohio from Pittsburg to the Missis 

 sippi from St. Anthony's falls to the Gulf of 

 Mexico and to improve the Cumberland and tin- 

 Tennessee and Arkansas rivers. As the result 



of the expenditure of $220, for the raw 



-material that originates in the states adjacent 

 to these magnificent water courses, taking ad- 

 vantage of water shipments for these commodi- 

 ties, such as iron, stone, coal, lumber and the 

 eerejils. and if we could succeed in getting the 

 benefit of simply one mill per ton per mile out 

 of 7!_. mills, and it is reasonable to suppose 

 they would get that much since the rate bj 

 water is only 1 mill on the Mississippi. .7ti 

 mills on the Ohio and .85 mills on the Great 

 Lakes, and by rail it is 7 '■> mills, the difference 



in the clear being i;' 2 mills. If these c modi 



ties constituting the low class freights could 

 have had the advantage of complete and exten 

 sive water transportation, it would have resulted 

 in the output of 1904 in the saving of .*ls::, 



oho. 1 to the people. These figures seem in 



comprehensible, but they are based upon the 

 statistics furnished by the Bureau of Statistics 

 ,v Labor, and the rates are furnished by the 

 commission and you can obtain them. 



What is the solution of this great problem 

 that confronts us today in keeping pace with 

 the output of the country, one in which you 

 gentlemen are particularly interested — the move- 

 ment of freight 1 Mr. Hill, on October 0, said 

 before the Commercial Association in Chicago 

 that while 1 he output of the country bad in- 

 creased 110 per cent, the railroad facilities for 



taking care of that output had increased only 

 20 per cent. Mr. Hill further stated that it 

 would take leu years to score I he equipment 

 and railroad mileage to handle the outpul of the 

 country and ii would require an expenditure of 



s: .000. 1. Me pointed out particularly that 



n behooves this national government to im 



prove its targe water courses at 11 stimated 



cost of $500, .mm. so that H could take , are 



of the low- class commodities. If these water 

 ways were improved there are certain freights 

 which would seek 1 lu'in for cheap transportation, 

 and among I hose freights are lumber and timber 

 which enter into your business. Should we 

 antagonize tin- railroads by any such move? 

 By no means. Stuyvesant i-'ish. in a conversa- 

 tion once, remarked that tie- railroads were not 

 antagonistic to the development of the water 

 ways on a wholesome and judicious basis. He 

 said that if the waterways were wholly devel- 

 oped and were not used simply as m subterfuge 

 and a hammer for rates Hoy would lie bene 

 licial to the railroads in thai 10 the waterways 

 and to water transportation would he relegated 

 the low- class tonnage: that an increased amount 

 of this tonnage would he carried by water, anil 

 enhanced commercial development would add 



io the manufactured product for the railr Is 



in carry, and no one would suffer. This was 

 illustrated by the great to do thai was made 

 in Xew York when tin- elevated lines were 

 started. The surface lines fought them because 

 they believed they would take their traffic; but 

 1 levated railroads were built and the surface 



\Y. .7. CUDE. KIMMINS, TI'.NN., DIRECTOR. 



VV. It. MORGAN, MEMPHIS, TENN., DIREC- 

 TOR. 



lines were still unable to take care of Hie traffic. 

 I in- subwaj was built and still they are all 

 unable to take care of the traffic. 



I believe there should be fourteen feet of 

 water between Chicago and the gulf, and I 

 believe it is practicable because engineers have 

 reported that il is so between Chicago and St. 

 Louis and a survey is being made that will 

 demonstrate that it is practicable between St. 

 Louis and tin- gulf. I do not have any dreams 

 of great vessels going up this channel, but I 

 believe future transportation by water will be 

 by large sleel barges, such as are used 011 the 

 Herman waterways, carrying 150 to 1,500 tons 

 of freight at a low cost. If this river were 

 placed in a navigable condition there would 

 result a movement of freight originating adja- 

 cent to the livers amounting to 27,000,000 tons 

 carried at a saving of 3 mills per mile a dis 



lame of 231 miles — a saving of $11,400,01 



year, or almost half the total amount invested, 

 !,nd it these waterways wen- systematically im 

 proved within the next ten years it would re- 

 lieve the great congestion of freight now con 

 fronting you; it would awake prosperity in this 

 country not now dreamed of : it would opeu up 

 to the South American countries trade that 

 would be marvelous. 



It behooves everj man in this association to 

 study this question, and it behooves you gentle- 

 men as a body Io indorse certain movements that 

 ■ii-e heinu made Io have this ijiu-stion investi- 

 gated by the government, and a reliable scheme 

 undertaken for the immediate improvement of 

 these waterways. 



As to the other question, the matter of drain- 

 age, 1 believe that the hardwood growth of the 

 country is found largely in the alluvial valleys 

 of the 'country, and 1 hat necessarily there is a 

 great deal of rainfall where the hardwood for- 

 ests exist, and therefore the perplexing question 



THOMAS W. FRY, ST. LOUIS, MO.. DIREt 

 TOR. 



of drainage must be taken care of and bandied 

 before efficient logging in hardwood can be ac- 

 complished. In the immediate Mississippi valley 

 there are more than 20,000 square miles of ter- 

 ritory covered with large hardwood forests in 

 which the rainfall is more than 54 inches per 

 annum, greater than anywhere else in the 

 United States, and this rainfall renders logging 

 operations very expensive when drainage is not 

 provided for. 



The efforts to improve these conditions should 

 receive the hearty support of every man in this 

 country who is interested in the manufacture 



of bardw Is. Perhaps most of you are uot 



familiar with the great question of levees and 

 of the protection of this country, and it he- 

 hooves you to take a direct interest in this 

 matter in whatsoever Locality you are situated; 

 ;,. |,in if possible wiili the levee boards ami to 

 familiarize yourselves with tin- methods in use 

 that you may be largely responsible for the re- 

 sults that are obtained. Do not stand back in 

 indifference and allow political parties and oth- 

 ers to take charge of these affairs when your 

 interests an- at stake and it is your province 

 to take a direct interest in them. These ques- 

 tions are particularly germane to your work, 

 and you should not feel that we have injected 

 something outside or foreign to the business of 

 hardwood manufacturers. It is your duty as 

 business men to investigate such things as in- 

 directly hear upon your particular work, and I 

 trust you will draw such resolutions before you 

 adjourn as will commend the work which is 

 now being promulgated to enhance the water- 

 ways of this country, and I trust that you will 

 embody in those resolutions such clauses as will 

 convince congress of the necessity of expending 

 larger and more regular sums upon the devel- 

 opment of our waterways. I also trust that 

 you will interest yourselves in the question of 

 drainage and the levees. I thank you very much 

 lor your attention. 



The speaker then introduced Capt. A. J. 

 Gahagan of Chattanooga, who read a paper 

 mi the "Relations Between the Manufac- 

 turers and the Manufacturing Consumers 

 of Hardwood Lumber." Like all the 

 previous papers delivered by Capt. Gahagan, 

 tins address proved a most interesting ami 

 timely one and was most thoroughly ap- 

 preeiated. Tl follows: 



Capt. Gahagan 's Address. 



There is a well established rule in the con- 

 ilori of business that lie- more closely He- pro 

 iliieer ami consumer are related to each other 



He- better for each of them 



The producer of hardw 1 lumber, or any 



other product for that mailer, is interested in 

 procuring the best values for his output, and 

 the consumer of any product is directly Inter- 

 ested in procuring his supply at the lowest pos- 

 sible prices. 



Every time any commercial article, whether 

 it be tin product of the forest, the mine or the 

 Ibid, changes hands the transfer necessarily 

 adds something to the cost as all commercial 



