THE SCALER 119 



96. The Scaler. A scaler with no other duties can number and scale 500 logs 

 per day, running 10 logs per 1000 board feet or 50,000 board feet at a cost of about 

 10 cents per 1000 board feet, based on wages and subsistence of $125.00 per month. 

 This average can be exceeded but is apt to be reduced in quantity by time lost in 

 travel to and from the logs, scaling in the woods, or an insufficient number of logs 

 on hand daily to occupy the full time of the scaler. Often these logs must be 

 scaled daily and cannot accumulate, because of insufficient room on the skids, 

 thus keeping a scaler in constant attendance. A scaler thus employed is often 

 given other duties such as inspecting the work of the saw crews. National Forest 

 Scalers supervise the disposal of brush, closeness of utilization and the marking 

 of timber for felling. This reduces the average cost of scaling to approximately 

 the basis mentioned. 



Commercial scaling by private companies is done far more rapidly and cheaply 

 because of the elimination of numbering, and by careless or indifferent methods 

 of measuring lengths and deducting for defects. A scale of 1000 to 1500 pieces, 

 and 100,000 board feet per day and a cost of 5 cents per 1000 board feet or less 

 is not unusual on large operations. 



So important is an accurate scale that the scaler must be given every facility 

 to obtain the measurement with the least trouble and greatest certainty. This 

 usually means providing a sufficient force of scalers so that they may be on hand 

 at the most favorable time, or constantly. When on account of small or scattered 

 operations the logs must accumulate the scaler is handicapped in various ways. 

 Large and high railways require two men, one on each side, to get the length, even 

 approximately, and to distinguish top from butt, of each log. Logs landed on ice 

 will in time by their weight cause cracks and flooding, and small logs are frozen in. 

 Whole rollways may break through the ice and become partially submerged. 

 Snow covers and buries the piles, and logs are overlooked. Logs may be rolled 

 down steep banks and he in such confusion that scaling is difficult and dangerous. 

 Steam skidders pile logs in huge heaps impossible to scale at all until loaded on 

 cars. The inability of the scaler to cover his route at frequent intervals encourages 

 careless sawing, timber stealing and poor scaling. Contracts should specify that 

 logs must be piled or skidded in such a manner that accurate scaling is possible. 



Legal Status of Scaler. "A scaler whose services are agreed upon by both parties 

 to a contract or sale, is the sole arbiter between these parties in determining the 

 amount of the scale. But if one party furnishes the scaler without the expressed 

 consent or agreement of the other, his scale may be appealed from." Frisco 

 Lumber Co. vs. Hodge, TJ. S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 218 Fed. Rep. 778. 



"A scaler furnished by the defendant and boarded by plaintiff would be one 

 mutually agreed upon, and they must abide by his decisions." Connecticut Valley 

 Lumber Co. vs. Stone, U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 212 Fed. Rep. 713. 



"Binding in the absence of fraud or mathematical mistakes.'' Hutchins vs. 

 Merrill, Supreme Court Maine, 84 Atlantic 412. 



"Scale made by scaler appointed by defendant not binding in absence of some 

 stipulation to that effect in contract." Owen vs. J. Neils Lumber Co., Supreme 

 Court of Minnesota, 145 Northwestern 402 (1914) . 



"Scaler who performed his duty fairly and honestly, though negligently, could- 

 not be held liable for discrepancy between the amount he scaled and the amount 

 of logs delivered, as permitting such action would destroy independence of arbitra- 

 tion." Hutchins vs. Merrill, Supreme Court Maine, 84 Atlantic 412. 



