88 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



LUMBER MILLING AND TRANSPORTATION ON THE NORTHWEST COAST. 



In the foreground is the log pond from which the material is supplied to the mill. In the background is 

 the lumber fleet which takes the product of the mill to distant ports. Port Blakely, Kitsap Co., 

 Washington. 



sufficiently large receiving yards to 

 permit of the rapid unloading of the 

 vessel, and there will be little encourage- 

 ment for the owners of lumber carriers 

 of large capacity to engage in lumber 

 transport until this condition is 

 remedied. 



The laws of the United States regu- 

 lating coast-wise traffic require that the 

 products shall be carried in American 

 bottoms and this fact alone will be 

 deterrent to the rapid expansion of the 

 estern trade because of the limited 

 tonnage of vessels available and because 

 of the greater expense of operating such 

 vessels as compared to those of foreign 

 registry which may carry lumber from 

 British Columbia to our eastern sea- 

 board. Cheaper operating labor costs 

 are due to the employment of Asiatic 

 labor, lower interest charges on the 

 investment, and a lower insurance rate. 

 According to a statement of the presi- 

 dent of a large steamship company on 

 the Pacific Coast, the reduced expense 

 of foreign vessels will permit the ship- 

 ment of lumber from western Canada, 

 via Panama Canal, to the Atlantic 

 seaboard for about $10 per thousand 

 board feet, canal tolls included. If this 



low rate is made for foreign vessels, the 

 eastern markets will be more advan- 

 .tageous for our Canadian cousins than 

 for the lumber manufacturers of the 

 Northwest. An added advantage has 

 been granted to Canadian lumbermen 

 through the passage of the Underwood- 

 Simmons Tariff Bill which has removed 

 the $1.25 duty on lumber, now admitting 

 lumber into this country free of charge. 

 While it is admitted by all that the 

 wood products of the western forests 

 will supply a large part of the eastern 

 requirements at some future time, due 

 to the gradual exhaustion of timber 

 near-by yet this change, even with 

 favorable water rates from coast to 

 coast will only come about gradually for 

 several reasons. The eastern trade is 

 conservative and has been held for 

 many years by local and by southern 

 lumber manufacturers who have estab- 

 lished trade connections and who have 

 carefully studied the requirements of the 

 various classes of consumers. The 

 Pacific Coast manufacturers will find 

 that it will be dificult to overcome these 

 handicaps, unless they can offer a 

 superior article at a lower price. This 

 will hold true so far as ordinary lumber 



