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Worth of Lumber Traffic Expert 



At a recent heai'ing of the Interstate Commerce Commission, held 

 for the purpose of securing data as to the regulations for the mill- 

 ing-in-transit of logs, a traffic official of a leading railroad testified 

 that lumbermen were extremely careless in the use of the. transit 

 privilege. He instanced the fact that frequently expense bills on 

 inbound shipments of logs, issued after the date of shipment of the 

 outbound tonnage, were presented and the refund on the log move- 

 ment claimed. Other cases were cited to prove the contention that 

 lumbermen knew too little about the regulations which control their 

 traffic. 



At the same hearing it was apparent that the railroad men were 

 more than a match for the lumbermen, as far as testifying and 

 developing evidence were concerned. This was nothing unusual, for 

 the business men apparently expected to be put at a disadvantage 

 by the more expert representatives of the carriers. The only inter- 

 ests which made a reasonably good showing were those which were 

 represented by a traffic expert, who is devoting all of his time 

 to the study of traffic matters, and who proved that he was as 

 familiar as were the railroad men with the questions which were 

 under discussion. 



The developments at this hearing were typical. Every time there 

 is occasion for the shipper to cross swords and exchange thrusts 

 with the railroads, the latter, by their thorough knowledge of every 

 point pertaining to the subject, make a better showing, as a rule, 

 than the shippers. The former are business men, who know the 

 lumber business thoroughly, but know little about the railroad busi- 

 ness. Yet the railroad men, on the other hand, appear to have 

 acquired not only thorough knowledge of their own business, but 

 also familiarity with the details of the lumber trade as well. 



The situation suggests and proves that the position of traffic 

 manager is getting to be of greater and greater importance. Not 

 every concern has the volume of business necessary for the support 

 of a man doing nothing except looking after traffic. On the other 

 hand there are many who could afford to create such an office, but 

 instead rel.y on their shipping clerks to give them all the informa- 

 tion which they receive as to the handling of their goods by the 

 railroads. 



The shipping clerk usually has had little or no experience. His 

 knowledge of fundamental conditions is slight, and his conception of 

 the relation of rates to each other is vague. He is young, as a rule, 

 and though he gradually acquires familiarity with certain details 

 pertaining to tfce handling of traffic, he is seldom able to advise his 

 house with relation to the broader questions such as the principles 

 governing milling-in-transit. 



In the hearing which was referred to, the lumber intei'ests did 

 not make nearl.y so good a showing as they might have done, and it 

 is criticising nobody to say that a better impression would have 

 been made if the lumber interests had been represented by more 

 trained traffic men, instead of only by those actively engaged in 

 the manufacturing and selling of lumber, who of course were not 

 thoroughly informed as to the questions involved in the subject under 

 consideration. They had a general idea of what was going to 

 happen, but the impression was given that had they been more 

 familiar with all the details, their defense would have been more 

 of a unit and more impressive as an argument against the claims 

 of the railroads. 



Traffic managers have made good in the lumber business for 

 houses which employ them. They are worth while not only in cases 

 where expert testimony has to be presented before a tribunal such 

 as the Interstate Commerce Commission, but can more than earn 

 their pay by seeing that every movement is properly routed and gets 

 the lowest possible rate. The subject of rates in itself is a highly 

 technical one, and onl.v the man who has been accustomed to 

 handling tariffs and who knows the methods necessary to get at 

 the facts, can always be sure that his firm is getting the benefit of 

 the best possible method of handling the shipment. 



The traffic manager of a large company operating several saw- 

 mills saved $500 not a great while ago because he succeeded in 

 proving to the satisfaction of the claim department of the railroad 

 that some supplies for a logging road which the company had 

 installed were shipped under the wrong classification, and carried 

 a higher rate than they should have done. The haul was a long 

 one and the tonnage involved was considerable, so that securing 

 the correction turned out to have been a big piece of work. Affairs 

 of this sort are turning up all the time, but it takes expert knowl- 

 edge to get at the facts and secure the proper adjustment. 



In most cases, such an error on the part of the carrier would not 

 have been noted by the shipper, who would have paid the freight 

 bill and forgotten all about it. In this case all that was necessary 

 was to bring the proper proof before the claim department of the 

 carrier, and though it took a certain amount of red tape to get 

 everything in proper shape, the expenditure of time and effort 

 appeared to have been well worth while, especially as the claim 

 was paid without even the necessity of litigation, although it was 

 of course necessary to secure the approval of the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission upon the refund in order to prevent it from tak- 

 ing the form of the prohibited rebate. 



A matter which indicates how necessary traffic managers are 

 becoming in many lines of business is the work of the Uniform 

 Gassification Committee, which has been laboring for several years 

 in an endeavor to fix upon the proper classification of all commodi- 

 ties, so that every section of the country will be using regulations 

 similar to those in other sections. The concern which has a traffic 

 manager who has studied the subject is able to profit by his knowl- 

 edge, since it may put before the committee in proper form and 

 with all necessary detail the facts regarding the need for a change 

 in the classification of the commodities in which it is interested. 



A box manufacturer, for example, found that the minimum carload 

 weight prescribed for a certain type of package was too high, since 

 it was a physical impossibility to load the average car with enough 

 boxes to get the minimum. There was a rather nice question 

 involved, of course, whether to secure a change in the minimum, 

 which might be accompanied by an increase in the rate, in order to 

 make up for the reduced revenue, or to allow the matter to rest in 

 stattis qi(0. After consulting with the carriers and showing them 

 that their revenues would not be seriously affected, since most of 

 the movements were short enough not to involve a very great charge, 

 the facts were put before the committee, and there is every reason 

 to believe that the change in the minimum carload weight will be 

 made effective. 



The veneer manufacturers have long suffered because of varia- 

 tions and inconsistencies in the classification of veneers, and they 

 have put some information before the committee looking to straight- 

 ening out this situation, which is an important one. Those in this 

 business, who have had to rely upon their own investigations, and 

 who have been compelled to spend a lot of time and effort getting 

 the facts together, have admitted that they could have used expert 

 assistance to advantage. The fact that the veneer men have been 

 puzzled by the situation is no reflection upon them, and the data 

 which they have developed has been correct and of great value; 

 but the point is that a veneer manufacturer cannot possibly be as 

 familiar with matters of traffic as he is with manufacturing condi- 

 tions, and that transferring that work to men trained and qualified 

 for it is a logical procedure. 



The carriers themselves are training most of those who are 

 taking positions as traffic managers of industrial concerns. This is 

 quite as it should be, although it suggests that the railroads are 

 likely iu the days to come to be hoisted a good many times with 

 their own petards. In one lumber office, where the head of the 

 company believes in getting his men from the railroads, there are 

 four, all holding responsible positions, who have gi-aduated from 

 the traffic dej)artments of railroads. Their knowledge of rates has 



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