HARDWOOD RECORD 



37 



the association. Owing to tlie limited response obtained from our mem- 

 bership at large on the referenda that have been submitted, and the 

 expense connected with polling, the vote of individual members of the 

 association, the secretary requests that authority be given the board of 

 managers to cast the vote of the association on questions which hereafter 

 may be submitted by the chamber. 



The most trying feature connected with the position of secretary of this 

 association is the brief tenure of office enjoyed by its presidents. Since 

 my connection with the association I have served under five chief execu- 

 tives, and when each one left office it seemed to me that the association 

 had suffered an irreparable loss. But the new incumbent in each Instance 

 picked up the reins of government laid down by his predecessor, assumed 

 the responsibility of office, completed the unfinished tasiss and carried 

 forward all the work to a successful issue. 



The record made by the retiring president requires no eulogy from the 

 hired man of the association. It has at all times been an open record, a clean 

 record and certainly a most satisfactory record (o eveiy member. Whatever 

 the future may have in store for President Barnaby — and we all hope it 

 is nothing but good things — he leaves behind him, as an imperishable 

 monument, that record of two years of arduous, faithful and efficient 

 service to the National Hardwood Lumber Association. 

 Forestry Committee's Report 



Following Mr. Fish's report, John M. Woods, chairman, reported 

 for the committee on forestry. In approaching the problem of tax- 

 ation of forest land, he cited the movement in his own state which 

 had for its object an arrangement by which such land is to be 

 taxed annually at its value as land, without regard to what is grow- 

 ing on it. When any of the timber shall be cut for commercial pur- 

 poses, it is to be taxed according to its value. This will be a sort 

 of income tax, which will come only occasionally and only when a 

 forest crop is being harvested. It was argued that such a system 

 will remove the temptation to cut timber from land merely to lower 

 the tax rate on the land. 



Mr. Woods said that the forest lands of Massachusetts have been 

 segregated on the basis of the timber they bear. Some of it is 

 merely brush land and at this time has no crop of timber. By infer- 

 ence, this system was recommended for the whole country. Thus a 

 basis could be found for applying an equitable system of taxation 

 which would encourage rather than destroy forests. 

 Eeforestation Eecommended 



The report recommended reforestation of lands which are uusuited 

 to the growth of farm crops but will produce trees. By this means 

 waste land will be reclaimed from its unprofitable state and set to 

 work producing something for the use of the people. Particular 

 mention was made of overflow lands along the lower Mississippi 

 and the pine lands in the North from which the trees have been cut. 



Protection against fires, beetles and other enemies of the forests 

 was recommended, but details of methods by which this could be 

 done were not given. 



However, the report expresses little hope that relief will come from 

 any action which Congress is likely to take in the immediate future. 

 There is no indication that anything of benefit to forests and lum- 

 bermen will be done by the present administration, which is appar- 

 ently indifferent to the lumber business, if not actively hostile toward 

 the interests of those who are carrying on the lumber business 

 throughout the country. 



The report of the commissioner of corporations, so far as it has 

 been made public through the newspapers, was denounced as unfair 

 and hostile in its treatment of the lumber industry, and lumbermen 

 everywhere were urged to take measures to protect their interests, 

 which were said to be in danger. This, it was said, could be done 

 only by standing together and presenting a solid front when their 

 interests were menaced by hostile legislation or by unjust or un- 

 friendly acts of oflicials. The administration's policy of attacking 

 business generally and injuring it by threats or by prolonged tmcer- 

 tainty was denounced in the report in the strongest terms. 

 Report of Transportation Committee 



In the absence of James E. Stark, chairman of the special com- 

 mittee on overweight claims, Mr. Stark being confined to his home 

 *on account of sickness, there was no report from that body, the next 

 ^being the report of Emil Guenther, chairman of the transportation 

 committee, which, however, was read by F. S. Underhill, as Mr. 

 Guenther was unable to be present on account of illness. 



Very few letters and complaints were received from our memljers during 

 the year, which appears to he evidence that there is a much better feeling 



and understanding between the shippers aiui the raiiiuad companies. 



A great number of important decisions have been rendered by the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission, all of which have appeared from time to time 

 in the various lumber trade iournals, and on account of their complete 

 reports no mention will be made, but .vour committee cannot refrain from 

 giving due credit to the various lumber trade journals for their interest 

 and attention given to traffic matters. The various lumber interests being 

 one of the largest revenue producers to the railroads are entitled to just 

 and equitable freight rates and it is the experience of your committee that 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission has endeavored to protect the lumber 

 interests whenever possible to do so. 



The public should at all times co-operate to obtain only such legisla- 

 tion which will secure industrial peace and public convenience and to 

 accomplish progress in the direction of equity for all concerned. Unduly 

 restrictive legislation cannot fail to affect railroads and will prevent a 

 proper rate of expenditure on new equipment and necessary improvements. 

 Since it is conceded that the railroads are largo consumers of lumber, and 

 next to our agriculture are our greatest industry, it is to our own interest 

 that all legislation should be reasonable and just, and this is a time when 

 fairness on both sides will bring about the quickest and best solution of 

 the existing difficulties. While railroad regulation has come to stay, such 

 control, however, must be equitable, as otherwise car shortage, delays and 

 general Inefficiency would greatly interfere with normal business. 



The existing conditions also necessitate the serious consideration of 

 water transportation. No less an authority than Dr. Patten of the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania, in his recent article on "Pennsylvania Resources," 

 clearly proves the importance of restoring cheap water transportation. 

 Tlierefore your committee would recommend most earnestly to the mem- 

 bers of our association that they should further such interests in their 

 several states whenever possible to do so. 



In conclusion, the committee desires to state that the foregoing are 

 suggestions of only such matters as are pertinent in the interests of our 

 members. 



Report of Waterways Committee 



The waterways committee report read by the chairman, E. T. 

 MiUer, was unusually interesting. It follows in fuU: 



Tour committee of waterways bfegs to report that the year since our 

 last report has witnessed not only the practical and successful opening 

 of the Panama Canal, perhaps the most important waterway undertaking 

 of history, but also an interest in and revival of business on our Inland 

 streams, which for many years have been neglected, more particularly on 

 the Mississippi river and its tributaries, though there has been less time 

 and money expended for big conventions. 



Whether the streams of the Atlantic seaboard have required less atten- 

 tion and are better tilted by nature for a large traffic, or whether the 

 people of that section are more alive to the value of these streams, the 

 fact remains that these streams have been in greater use than those 

 further west and capable of handling as great a traffic. The last two 

 decades have been notable for the disappearance of steamboats from the 

 Slissouri, the Arkansas and the Red rivers and their tributaries, which 

 serve a larger population than any other s.vstem of rivers in the country ; 

 and for a very great decrease in the traffic on the Mississippi and Ohio. 

 During the last year a successful effort has been made to increase the 

 business on the Mississippi-; a line has been established on the Red and 

 Ouachita, and similar moves are on foot for the Missouri and the Arkan- 

 sas. The government is spending millions of dollars on a series of locks 

 and dams to maintain navigation on the Ohio the year round instead of 

 letting it dwindle in the autumn to a creek good only for watering the 

 cows, and the outlook now is that the steamboat whistle, instead of fright- 

 ening the children with its unaccustomed sound, will soon be welcome 

 music in the entire valley. 



The attention of the country having been centered on the completion 

 of the Panama Canal, and all the hoardings in the .government's old sock 

 being needed therefor, no very great things in other lines have been under- 

 taken outside of carrying forward projects already on hand and reported 

 on. Tour committee submits that the two most important waterway 

 projects now before the nation are the successful control of the Mississippi, 

 both to improve navigation and prevent flood ravages, and the completion 

 of the Intercoastal canal. 



The problem of the Mississippi is one of the oldest ones we have, yet 

 far from solution, and the application of the remedy still apparently far 

 otf. By reason of the fact that the Mississippi is the only drainage outlet 

 for sixteen states and partly for some eight or ten more, reaching as far 

 east as Pennsylvania and West Virginia and as far west as Montana and 

 Colorado, we reaffirm the conclusion of our last report that the control 

 of this stream is an affair of the nation and is wrongfully made a burden 

 on the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi. These 

 states have borne an enormous burden of taxation for many years to 

 protect themselves from floods occasioned and increased by the drainage 

 of the upper valleys. 



We also submit that while the Panama canal will be of immense value 

 to the United States and the world at large, yet the expenditure of Its 

 cost on the Mississippi river and its tributaries would have resulted in 

 more good to this country in one year than will accrue by reason of the 

 canal in five years, the loss by the floods of 1912 and 1913 being as great 

 as the value of the entire commerce of the canal for any year. The latter 

 movement would have been for the benefit and protection of our own 



