36 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



could bo easily gotten together and formulate 

 such plans as would probably meet the require- 

 ments and approval of the national body. The 

 chairman at least should, in my opinion, be a 

 man from New York, and with two others may 

 be from nearby localities, so that they could 

 get together frequently on this subject. I feel 

 rery sure that a cooperative plan of some kind 

 can be worked out whereby the members of our 

 association can save a large percentage of these 

 premiums. On the Great Lakes the pooling 

 plan has met wuth very satisfactory success. 

 Their proposition, however, is not the same as 

 ours ; they open say May 1 and close December 

 1, while ours is an all-year-round proposition and 

 therefore no closed season. 



A large number of our members seem to be 

 interested in this matter of marine insurance 

 and I am sure a working committee can be se- 

 cured on the above basis and these two sug- 

 gestions are submitted by the committee for 

 the consideration of the national body at this 

 time. Respectfully submitted, 



riAEVEY Granger, Chairman. 



E. W, Higtie Nominated for President 



E. W. Higbie was nominated for the office 

 of president by F. E. Parker, in au eloquent 

 speech. The riomination was seconded by 

 J. V. Stimson, 0. 0. Agler and others, and 

 the nominations declared closed. The new 

 president was escorted to the chair and grace- 

 fully acknowledged his new honor, following 

 which the session adjourned until the next 

 morning. 



The Banauet 



The banquet tendered by the National 

 Wholesale Lumber Dealers ' Association began 

 at eight o 'clock in the large banquet hall. An 



HUGH. MlLE.VN, , BUFFALO, CUAIRMAN 



COMMITTEE ON FIRE INSURANCE 



excellent menu and a very tasteful program of 

 entertainment was furnished by the commit- 

 tee in charge. Following the dinner several 

 toasts were proposed, and responded to by 

 various members of the association, the affair 

 ending about midnight. 



Eeception to the Ladies 



Friends and relatives of the visiting dele- 

 gates were tendered a formal reception on 

 Wednesday evening, in the Grand Gallery of 

 the hotel. About seventy enjoyed the sump- 

 tuous dinner which was served. 



Following the dinner the ladies adjourned 

 to the gallery overlooking the men's banquet 

 hall, and there enjoyed the speeches delivered 

 later in the evening. 



THURSDAY MORNING SESSION 



The early session was marked by a rather 

 small attendance and was brought to order at 

 11:40. The first business was the report of 

 Chairman .J. L. Kendall of the Committee on 



EaUroads and Transportation, which was read 

 by Secretary Perry: 



Report of Committee on Railroads and 

 Transportation 



Mr. I'rcsident : The scope of work of your 

 committee has been greatly simplified owing 

 to the fact that the traffic manager is working 

 directly under the secretary of your associa- 

 tion. Your committee believes this was a wise 

 move to make. Results could be obtained with 

 much greater facility than by the old system 

 in which the work was more largely done by 

 the members of the committee. The secretary 

 of your association, with the concurrence of 

 your committee, employed a traffic manager a 

 little over a year ago who has fulfilled every 

 expectation. He has handled the work of the 

 bureau in a businesslike manner. All claims 

 and controversies referred to him have been 

 promptly handled and we believe the results 

 obtained to be as good as have been obtained 

 through any traffic bureau. Unfortunately the 

 bureau is not self-sustaining, and ought not to 

 be expected to be, speaking strictly from a 

 Unancial standpoint, but we believe that it is 

 one of the very valuable bureaus of the associa- 

 tion and a very great help to the lumber-ship- 

 ping interests of the United States. Many pre- 

 cedents have been established through persist- 

 ent negotiations that have been of great benefit 

 to the lumber trade, so that the cost of the 

 bureau cannot be calculated by merely dollars 

 and cents visible. 



The past year has been one of settled con- 

 ditions, very few changes have been made in 

 freight rates. There have been persistent 

 rumors during the past years of an intended ad- 

 vance in freight rates but so far as your com- 

 mittee could ascertain there has been at no time 

 a concerted efEort made to advance freight rates. 

 On the other hand with the advance in labor 

 and the advanced cost in material, it is not 

 likely that any reduction of rates could be 

 obtained. 



In the past year there has been an effort made 

 by the Interstate Commerce Commission, the 

 various state railroad commissions and the va- 

 rious trunk line associations to promulgate and 

 enforce uniform demurrage rules. Your traffic 

 manager attended the hearing before the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission at Washington and 

 will state fully in his report the progress made 

 in promulgating and putting into effect uniform 

 demurrage rules. 



Owing to the complete report which the traffic 

 manager submits to the association, your com- 

 mittee do not feel warranted in making any fur- 

 ther extended report. 



Respectfully submitted, 



J. L. Ke.ndall, Chairman. 



The report of the Transportation Bureau 

 was submitted by W. S. Phippen, traffic man- 

 ager, as' follows : 



Report of Transportation Bureau 



I herewith submit the report of the Trans- 

 portation Bureau for the past twelve months and 

 will first dwell upon the claim collection de- 

 partment of the bureau, calling your attention to 

 the fact that during the past year more mem- 

 bers have taken advantage of the services of the 

 bureau, more money has been collected and 

 fewer claims declined by the railroads than 

 during any previous year in the history of the 

 Transportation Bureau. During the past two 

 years our claim collections have increased fifteen 

 per cent, while during the same time there has 

 been a decrease of twenty per cent in the gross 

 expense. 



Our claim report for the past year is as fol- 

 lows ; 

 .3.51 claims on hand March 1, 1909, 



amounting to $12,566.47 



.j47 claims received during the year, 



amounting to 0,672.24 



898 total handled $22,2.38.71 



DISPOSITIO.V. 



363 claims collected. . .$8,059.88 

 1 claim transferred 



to attorneys 917.28 



09 claims returned to 

 members with ad- 

 vice that they 

 w ere untenable 

 and on which no 

 demand was 

 made on railroad 1.619.5:: 

 518 55 claims withdrawn, 1,066.08 

 compromised, re- 

 duced to correct 

 basis, etc 585.49 .$12,248.20 



,380 claims remaining unset- 

 tled JIarch 1.... $ 0.990.45 



Gross expenses to March 1. 1910 3,021.24 



Fees derived from collections, 1,330.24 



Net expenses for the year $ 1,691.00 



Of the 380 claims on hand, 40 claims, aggre- 



gating .?1,200, have been passed for payment 

 and it only remains for the carriers to reniit. 



It may be of interest to note the class of 

 claims collected : 172 wore for overcharges in 

 rate and misrouting ; 90 for overcharges in 

 weight : 10 for demurrage : 28 tor loss and dam- 

 age, and 63 claims for car stake allowance on 

 about 1,100 cars. From letters received from 

 our members during the past year the decrease 

 in the number of errors made by the carriers and 

 the increased care taken in transporting ship- 

 ments is very noticeable. However, this depart- 

 ment is capable of handling a very much larger 

 number of claim.? and we earnestly Invite all 

 members to take advantage of this feature of the 

 bureau. 



Car Stake Allowances 



While the Car .Stake Committee has been act- 

 ively engaged in supporting the "Graham bill." 

 this bureau has devoted a large amount of time 

 to compelling the proper observance, on the 

 part of the carriers, of the 500 pounds car 

 stake allowance. In addition to the 1,100 ship- 

 ments on whicli refunds have been made dur- 

 ing the past year, we have, at the present time, 

 about 1.500 shipments under investigation. While 

 the majority of lumber tariffs provide for this 

 allowance, our investigations prove that on 

 about fifty per cent of the shipments it is not 

 being made. This, I believe, is due more to 

 negligence on the part of their employees than 

 to any intent on the part of the carriers to 

 avoid the observance of the rule, although sev- 

 eral of the smaller roads or branch lines, when 

 brought to task for not showing this allowance, 

 claim to have been deducting the 500 pounds 

 from the gross weight instead of from the net 

 weight. Of course, it is practically impossible 

 to prove or disprove their statements as to de- 

 duction from the gross weight, but we believe we 

 have corrected this practice and that the roads 

 referred to are now making the allowance in 

 acordance with the published tariffs. 



CIIAS. II. BARNABY, GREENCASTLE. CHAIR- 

 MAN COMMITTEE ON ARBITRATION 



One of the lumber carrying roads, the Bangor 

 & Aroostook railroad, does not provide for this 

 allowance in its tariffs and has not been making 

 it. This railroad was not made a defendant in 

 the car stake complaint, for the reason, I believe, 

 that the shippers over that road did not display 

 sufficient interest in the matter at the time the 

 complaint was filed. We have recently been 

 corresponding with the officials of that road, and 

 while we may be obliged to file an additional 

 complaint with the Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion in order to bring this road into line, I am 

 inclined to think that we may gain our point 

 within the next few weeks without resort to 

 such procedure. 



Demurrage Rules 



At the suggestion of the Transportation Com- 

 mittee, I attended the Car Demurrage Confer- 

 ence held in Washington last .Tune, a detailed re- 

 port of which was submitted to the committee at 

 that time. .\ copy of the report of the Com- 

 mittee on Car .Service and Demurrage of the 

 National -Association of Railroad Commissioners: 

 also copy of the "Proposed Uniform Demurrage 

 Code," adopted by that body and approved by 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission, was 

 mailed to our members in January, thereby ac- 

 quainting them with the outcome of this ques- 

 tion. 



