12 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



inches long, twelve inches wide, and one inch thick constituted a foot, 

 by which all boards, whether over or under one inch in thickness, 

 should be assessed, they reversed their former decision and fully 

 sustained the contention of the importers of thin lumber. 



Provisions of the Railroad Rate Law. 



On June 30 President Eoosevelt signed the railroad rate bill, thus 

 making it a law. It is by far the most important piece of legislation 

 enacted by any Congress since the time of the Spanish-American 

 war. The bill will go into effect sixty days from the date of its 

 signing. Its provisions are drastic and, in short, are as follows : 



GENERAL PROVISIONS — The railroad rate bill requires all 

 interstate carriers to make through louti's and reasonable joint 

 rates. It makes oil pipe line companies, express companies aud 

 sleepiug car companies common carriers and subject to the law. 

 Railways are forbidden from engaging in any other business than 

 transportation. Pipe lines are excluded from this prohibition. 



PRIVATE CARS — While permitting railways to use private 

 fri-ight cars, it requires that all incidental charges arising from 

 refrigerating and other services be incorporated in the transporta- 

 tion charge. 



PUULIC RATES — It requires publication of all rates, fares, or 

 charges, and forbids changes save on thirty days' notice. Juris- 

 diction is conferred upon the Interstate Commerce Commission to 

 hear complaints of unjust and unreasonable rates, and to fix rates 

 that are Just and reasonable. 



REliATES — Rebates and other discriminatory practices are for- 

 bidden and subject to penalties. 



COURT REVIEW — A limited review of orders or requirements 

 of the commission may be made by the courts, but no injunction 

 interlocutory order, or decree suspending or restraining the enforce- 

 ment of an order of the commission shall be granted except after 

 not less than live days' notice to the commission. 



NO PASSES — Free transportation is limited to certain specified 

 persons. 



The Interstate Commerce Commission is enlarged to seven mem- 

 bers, whose compensation is lixed at .|10,OoO annually. 



"With this law in effect there is encouragement to believe that the 

 present unjust and discriminatory freight rate of 8.5 cents from 

 Mississippi valley j)oints to the Pacific coast on hardwood lumber 

 and iiooring will be reduced to approximately 60 cents. If this 

 should be the only benefit that the hardwood trade achieves through 

 this legislation it should be grateful for the passage of the bill. 



Permanency of tiardwood Values. 



On another page of this issue of the Hardwood Kecord will be 

 found a comparative statement of hardwood values, obtained from 

 the price lists of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association for the 

 years 1905-6 inclusive. The values expressed are averages for each 

 year up to this date, and arc f. o. b. Ohio river points. The schedule 

 contains prices on a few of the principal items of inch lumber, of the 

 chief southern woods going into general consumption — oak, ash, 

 poplar, chestnut, Cottonwood and gum. An analysis of this list shows 

 in nearly every instance a steady accretion in value for the last 

 five years. The only exception is quarter sawed white oak, which had 

 a little higher range of price during 1904 than it has at the present 

 time. White oak during these five years has shown an average ad- 

 vance of about $8; white ash, about .f6; poplar, about $8; chestnut, 

 nearly $9; Cottonwood, between .$.5 and $6; and gum, better than $3. 



Perhaps the average accretion in value of these principal southern 

 woods can safely be placed at $7.50 a thousand during this time. 

 There is no official price Ust or scheme of values by which an intelli- 

 gent deduction can be made covering northern hardwoods during the 

 same time. However, they have not advanced in any Such propor- 

 tion as has the southern product. With the exception of black ash 

 and rock elm the average accretion in value of northern woods dur- 

 ing the last five years has scarcely been more than $'2.50 a thousand. 

 This is true of maple, gray elm, birch, basswood and beech. 



There is no gainsaying the fact that, relative value considered, the 

 price of northern hardwoods is very much lower than that of southern 

 woods. To a large extent this condition may be attributed to the 

 fact that the producers of southern woods have been very well or- 

 ganized for some years, and by the exchange of opinion and by a 



thorough system of handling their affairs have kept each other posted, 

 not only on market requirements but on the exact condition of stocks 

 on hand. This system of information has resulted in keeping hard- 

 wood stocks in the middle South in good balance at all times. Every 

 manufacturer allied with this association work has been able to saw 

 his timber to such thicknesses as were in best demand, and to avoi'd 

 over-stocking on unsalable items. Again, this element of the trade 

 has been a very persistent advertiser of its product aud the consum- 

 ing trade has been educated up to the use of certain woods, notably 

 Cottonwood and gum, during the last few years, to a wonderful ex- 

 tent. As a matter of fact, five years ago the use of Cottonwood and 

 gum for many purposes where it is now employed, was scouted at as 

 being entirely impractical. The demand and breadth of distribution 

 of both these woods has now so far increased that Cottonwood is 

 selling at a good premium above list price, and many items of gum 

 are in exceedingly short supply. 



It would seem to the Hakdwood Eecord that the permanency of 

 these latter established values on all southern hardwoods is well 

 insured for the present, and that the tendency will be toward increase 

 of price rather than lowering for a good while to come. The assump- 

 tion is also safe that the price of the chief northern hardwoods will 

 soon enhance to a parity with southern woods of corresponding worth, 

 as they are now from 20 to L'.5 per cent lower. 



It is manifest to every student of lumber values that there is no 

 item in the hardwood list that is not materially lower in relative 

 value than any of the building woods. White pine, norway, yellow 

 pine and hemlock are very much higher priced materials than hard- 

 woods. 



The Timber Trades Journal of London, which is looked upon as 

 an authority on foreign timber and lumber conditions, says, under 

 date of June 23, that the question of the permanency of lumber 

 values looms large in English trade circles. 



Admittedly, vaUies are enormously enhanced. The moot point 

 to be considered is. Are they permanent'^ 



As a trade journal we have realized that the cost of timber 

 must naturally tend to advance, and to that extent which, if 

 considered in connection with the low freights which have been 

 current for a considerable period, would only tend to show that the 

 free-onboard values are considerably higher than the mere c. i. f. 

 values would indicate in the abstract. 



However much the trade may grumble at high prices, which, 

 without doubt, make business not only difficult but unprofitable to 

 the merchant, we think that it is futile and gratuitous to anticipate 

 any material drop in values. Of course, it goes without saying 

 that the market will naturally ebb and flow, but in the main the flow 

 will be the stronger current. • • * 



At this juncture the great point which the trade here should 

 recognize is that England is not now the only nerve center to 

 control values of such woods as command sales by reason of their 

 own intrinsic worth, such as Baltic goods, pitch pine and American 

 lumber generally, to say nothing of mahogany and kindred woods. 



Our export returns prove very strongly, notwithstanding the cloud 

 under which the timber trade is depressed, that as an industrial 

 nation we are by no means decadent ; at the same time, England 

 is not the only pebble on the world's beach. 



We have so frequently pointed out that other nations are rela- 

 tively forging ahead in a greater degree than ourselves, and are 

 thereby keen competitors for what only a few years ago England 

 was the only dumping ground, so that we cannot expect to obtain 

 timber at our own valuation. We have so frequently enlarged upon 

 the internal prosperity of the United States, and how the domestic 

 demand absorbs the increased output of the mills there, along with 

 the greater percentage of the Canadian product ; then, in addition, 

 there is an ever swelling continental demand, to say nothing of 

 the South American requirements, which our shipping reports so 

 forcibly demonstrate. 



With all these facts before us, we cannot think that there is the 

 remotest prospect of any slump in timber values, and we rather 

 think that the causes which are at work will tend to make the 

 position of the timber trade here in the near future even more 

 diflitult than it appears at present. 



It is well to have the English market aroused to the fact that it 

 is not the "only pebble on the beach." The home requirements, 

 especially in hardwoods, are such today that if our manufacturers 

 did not have a dollar 's worth of English business they would not 

 seriously miss the trade, and it is not at all certain that if every foot 



