HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



to Regulate Commerce. The result of this agi- 

 tation was the passage "< 'wo amendments to 

 this act; one, commonly called the Flkins' Law, 

 which sought to eliminate and prohibit rebating 

 among other things, and the other was the acl 

 of last year known as the "rate bill." This 

 bill was very mucb wider and broader in its 

 sic.pe than the Flkins' act, and was intended to 

 restore to the Interstate Commerce Commission 

 the powers which were supposed to have been 

 given to this commission under the original act 



of 1887, and to adtl others that seemed s 



sary and desirable. 

 This association for several years has sup 



ported this movement to amend the Act to 



Regulate Commerce, and while it litis not done 

 more than it ought to have done, it has, 

 through its proper committees, been closely 

 Identified with the movement which resulted 

 successfully in the amendment of last year 



Since the amendment was successfully en 

 arted into law there lias arisen a widespread 

 agitation and demand for further amendments 

 or laws to compel the railroad companies to do 

 certain other things, and among them and 

 chiefly is the demand that the railroads be com- 

 pelled to furnish cars promptly upon request 

 for them; that they be further compelled to 

 deliver them promptly to the consignees, and 

 failing in this, that the railroad companies shall 

 be penalized. 



The result of all this has been that the 

 whole railroad problem is now being studied as 

 never before by not only the officers of the 

 national and various state governments, but 

 also by railroad officials and shippers as well. 

 We think it wise, however, to call your atten- 

 tion to a certain provision of the interstate 

 commerce law as it now stands. The amend- 

 ment to the Interstate Commerce Act, which 

 became a law on the 29th of June, 1906. pro- 

 vides, among other things, that "the term trail- 



WILLIAM E. LITCHFIELD OF BOSTON. 



portation shall include cars and other vehicles 

 and till instrumentalities and facilities for ship- 

 ment or carriage, irrespective of ownership or 

 of any contract, expressed or implied, for the 

 use thereof, and it shall be the duty of everj 



r subject to the provisions of this acl to 



provide and furnish such transportation upon 

 reat onable request t herefoi 



The act further provides that "nothing in 

 this act contained shall in any way abridge 

 or alter the remedies now existing at common 

 law or by statute, but the provisions of this act 

 are in addition to such remedies"; anil further. 

 "A carrier which shall tail to furnish trans 

 portation as thus defined is subject to a penalty 

 a- provided in section 111 of the act, which 

 reads as follows : "Any common carrier sub 

 iect to provisions of tin's act who shall wilfully 

 omit or fail to do any act, matter or thing in 

 iet required to be done, shall be guilty of 

 a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction there- 

 of in any circuit Court of the United Stales 

 within the jurisdiction of which such offense 

 was committed, lie subject to a fine not to 

 exceed .$5,000.' " 



Looking at the matter from a broad and 

 reasonable standpoint, this question presents it 

 self to your committee: Have we not laws 

 enough already, and would not a proper en- 

 forcement of existing laws produce remedies 

 which would meet the reasonable requirements 

 of the shippers? Ought we not to give the 

 present law a fair and just trial before de 

 manding additional legislation? 



This committee holds no brief for the rail- 



road panies- We know full well thai abuses 



in the transportation of merchandise and In 

 the treatment of shippers and localities have 



always existed and doubtless always will exist. 

 It is also true thai we have ;m annual short 



age oi ears and that the Lumbermen particu- 

 larly suffer from this ear shortage; hut your 

 committee is nol willing to concede thai tie 

 ear shortage is deliberate^ caused bj the rail 



roads or any of them. 



As a matter of fact the most serious 1 



gestion Of freight .and shortage of ears during 



'In last tew Hhs litis 1 n in the .-in nl 



Galveston, Texas, and yet the stale of Texas 

 contains most stringent laws on the subject of 

 regulation of the supply of ears and a penaltj 

 in form of a demurrage upon the railroad emu 

 panies for not furnishing ears when requested. 



Certain things must lie evident to every stn 

 •lent oi this question. We must admit that 

 self-Interest plays a very large part in all busl 

 ness transactions, and it certainly is to the 



Interest verj railroad company that then 



cars should move as many miles per day as it 

 i- possible for the railroads to make them' move 



Unit the ears should be loaded as pr ptlj 



as possible and unloaded as promptly as pos- 

 sible, tor unless this is done the ears .1 



earn any money. Statistics also show that the 



increase in the equipment of the rallr Is has 



1 n very large, and the further fact is dis 



closed that the average carload has Increased 

 very greatly. 



tin the other hand, we do not forget that 

 the annual ear shortage occurs, and we do 

 know that at certain points there is congestion 

 of freight and that cars are not delivered ■< 

 promptly in a great many eases as they should 

 be. This whole matter, however, is so com 

 plicated that your committee is not prepared 

 at this time to recommend any of the various 

 remedies which have been suggested. Indeed 

 it is not yet clearly demonstrated whether the 

 trouble is with the equipment of the railroads 

 or with their trackage or terminal facilities. 

 We think that the first thing to do is to find 

 out the causes and sources of the trouble, and 

 we know from several sources that this matter 

 of bettering of the service furnished by the 

 railroads to the public is receiving the most 

 careful consideration of the best experts that 

 this country has, and we believe that the wise 

 thing for our association to do is to wait until 

 such lime as these experts, namely, the members 



of the Interstate Commerce Coininissi make 



their report and suggest definite recommenda- 

 tions. After this shall have 1 1 done we will 



be in better position to know what steps if any 

 our association ought to take, and your com- 



11 n lee therefore ree m. ml- 1 hat this mall, i bl 



referred to the Board of Trustees with full 



power to act at such time ami in such manner 



as 11 I.I X -eel St to the,,! I ! e - pei ■ | f 1 1 | ] V Sill' 



milted. it. \v. Higbie, Chairman. 



George f. < raig, chairman of the Forestry 

 Committee, then presented his report, which 

 was adopted as read. 



Report of Committee on Forestry. 



While pour Forestry Committee has not been 

 inactive it has little to present to you in the 

 way of actual results. 'Tin- work which it ha 

 undertaken is of the kind which requires much 

 seed sowing ami patient cultivation before any 

 fruit is apparent. 



Vcting on the conclusions reached In our re- 

 port of last year, we took up the subject of 

 legislation for the regulation of taxation and the 

 prevention of fires on deforested lands, and 

 rinding the subject of taxation to be full ol 



difficulties and Of absorbing interest, the less 

 knotty problem of tires was pushed Into tin 

 background. 



Such legislation being entirely under state 

 control, and the state oi Pennsylvania being for 



uy reasons best prepared for experimental 



purposes, an efforl has been made to frame a 

 taxation law for this state which will till all 

 vital requirements and. with slighi modifications 

 to meel varying conditions, be adaptable for 

 oi her stal es. 



Through the active cooperation of Hon. S B 

 Elliott, of the Pennsylvania Department of 

 I oi. -try. the mailer was brought to the alien 



t i< in of lie- Pennsylvania Forestry Association 

 ami ai a meeting belding in Wilkesbarre in 



.lane hist a committee was appointed t" .ban 



lite necessary law. The chairman "t your 



niiitee was accorded a place on this committee. 

 Owing t"*the usual difficulties met in a com- 

 mit! f any size*, and as die biennial session 



oi i he Pennsylvania legislature was approach- 

 ing, Mr. Elliott, acting with your committee, 

 undertook to drs it an ait w bicb w ould sei ure 



lite desired t'.liel 



III framing this act. suggestion were re 

 elved from representat Ives of I he \a i Ions I 

 Forest Service, Pennsylvania State Forestry 

 Commission, Vale Forest School, and from a 

 number of members of this association and 

 other individuals, and when completed it 



finally submitted to the Pennsylvania Forestry 



Association. 



There were three important requirements to 

 be met ; t" have an acl which would afford the 

 oecessarj relief; t" have an acl which would 



I he LegiSlat ore ; and to have tin act 

 which would stand the lest of constitutional 



it v : the three are tar from being synonymous. 



These labors finally brought forth two tea 



the lirsl establishing a class of lands to be 



known as "auxiliary forest reserves" and the 

 .10. 1 regulating the taxation of all lands in 



this class. 



'flic gist Of the first act is that any owner of 



surface lands suitable for forestry purposes may, 

 on application i" the Commissioner of Forestry, 

 have said lands certified to the County Commis- 

 sioners us auxiliary forest reserves, upon enter- 

 ing into an agreement to treat said lands in 

 accordance whh the instructions of the Forestry 

 Commissioners. The second tot provides that in, 



lands so certified shall he assessed in excess of 

 SI per acre for the purposes of taxation. 



'Tin- two ads were Introduced simultaneously 

 in the House on .Ian. 30, 1907, were referred 

 10 the Committee on Forestry, and were re 

 ported out from the committee on Feb. i They 

 passed first reading without debate, but on 

 seend reading, meeting with expected opposi- 

 tion, were referred hack to l he Forestry Com 

 tiiittee. The greatest objection arose from the 

 fact that the low assessed valuation on these 

 lands would naturally reduce the revenues appll 

 cable to school and road purposes. 



To meet this objection Mr. Elliott has offered 

 to the coiinnii ice a third bill, under the pro- 

 visions of which the state shall pay t" munici- 

 palities an annual charge of 1 cent per acre 

 and to school districts tin annual charge of 2 

 per acre on all auxiliary forest reserves 

 situate within their respective limits. While 



SAM E. BARB til' NEW YORK. 



Hie principal Objection has thus been met. it 

 is impossible to predict the fate of these bills 



ami we are reduced I" tin- consolation of hope 



The Pennsylvania Department of Forestry has 



prepared a tire act w Inch was iiiin duced In 

 tlm House on .lan. 31, 1907, and also referred 



I'- lb'' I ' .Ill lit i I lei Forestry. This bill .oil 



siitutes all constables, justices and employee 

 of the Department ol Forestrj eat officio fire 

 ardens with power to employ other pet on foi 



I he purpose of suppressing forest lires, and ap 



pOl'tiOnS the expense thereof equally between the 



tate ami 1 he count ii'- in which said tires i 



and without limiting the amount which maj 

 expended. 



Within a few days we have l n advised that 



a bill regulating taxation on somewhat the same 

 lines as our Pennsylvania bill has been intro- 

 duced in tin- Legislature of the state of Iowa, 



inn we have mi had ti pportunity of obtain 



ing a copy of it 



The libera i subscript Ion pledged tit last < 



i iting to tin fund tor the endowment of the 



Chair of Applied Forestry and Practical Lum 



bering in £ali I ore I f has not i n called 



in by lie- association, ami we have been unable 

 to obta in any Inforn to the pre eni 



-tain. ,,i the fund Mr. F. E. Weyerhaeuser, 

 chairman of the committee, writes that owing 

 to pressure ol private affairs he has turned 

 this matter over to Mr. X. w. McLeod, and a 

 biter addressed to Mr. McLeod has elicited 

 no response 11 left to the association at 

 large to indici ' ■ ■ desire to 



pursue with refere to thesi ptlons. 



