Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-12-21
LOGGERS ARE ANGRY. SOME "RELTEF BILLS"
NORTHERN PACIFIC ADVANCES
PRICE OF STUMPAGE.
Mr. PhippS Il Under Fire-In Face
OF Lower Prices for Logs, stump.
age Is Raised-A shutdown May
he the Result.

OF Lower Prices for Logs, stump
age Is Raised-A Shutdown May
he the Result.
Some of the losgers of the Sound coun-
try are complaining bitterly that they
are handicapped. not only by the re-
moval of the tariff on lumber, but 10y an
advance III the price OF stumpaye ON
railroad lands, which has been ordered
10y W. III. PhippS. the new General Land
Commissioner OF the Northern Pacific
Railroad, and do not hesitate to charge
Mr.. Phipps with seeking to cripple the
logging business OF Puget Sound in order
To foster his own interests in the same
business in British Columbia.
The Northern Pacific land grant in
cludrs every alternate section within
practically the whole timber belt tribu-
tary TO tho upper hall of Puget Sound,
and the consequence is that losgers can
not do business there without buying
Northern Pacific stumpagc, for the cost
OF skipping 10 the intervening sections
would be prohibitory. Before Mr..
rhipps' appointment the price charged
by the Northern Pacific for stumpage
was 30 to GO cents per thousand feet, at
time when logs were selling from So to
500. The price has now been raised
to 81 per thousand feet, while logs have
fallen to $3.50 and s..
Some loggers do not stop at charging
Mr.. Phipps' action in making this adj
vance 20 his misunderstanding Of the
situation and being guided in the price
he places on stumpage on Puget Sound
by the conditions with which he is ia
miliar in Wisconsin, but they assert that
he is largely interested in an Eastern
syndicate which owns over 100, 900 acres
OF the finest timber land on Vancouver
island, as well as a large sawmill. y
considerable portion of this land is on
the waters edge, so that logging is SIM
pie and costless. According to state
mentS said to have been made by Mr..
Phipps, the cost of this timber to his
syndicate will not exceed 10 cents per
thousand feet, while on Puget Sound, ut
Mr.. Phipps' prices, timber, together with
rail transportation to salt water, costs
the logger from $l.75 to $2.25. Thus
the difference in favor of the British Co
lumbia syndicate is the difference be-
tween these figures, leaving the item OF
higher-priced labor out of the question.
The loggers of the upper Sound are
particularly indignant that such an adj
vance should have been made at the
present time, when they have just been
brought into direct competition with
Canadian lumber, by the free lumber
section OF the new tariff law, and when
the British Columbia millmen are invad-
ing the California market. They claim
that if the advance is insistedsupon, they
will be compelled to close their camps
and throw several thousand men out of
employment, just at time when their
business is beginning to show signs OF
revival. They condemn the policy OF
the Northern Pacific as suicidal, claim
ing that it will throttle the freight traf-
fic of the road, and by shutting down
the logging industry eventually damage
business generally. They call attention
to the fact that while the price the Nor
thern Pacific is now asking for stumpage
amounts to from $50 to $50 an acre and
the bare land is worth fully IS an acre,
Northern Pacific lands are assessed at
only about s. an acre, and some Of them
talk OF appealing to the Legislature to
have the assessment raised.
The above is from the Seattle Post.
Intelligencer of the 18th inst. aud is
the information we intended to print
in this issue.
The STANDARD was the first paper
in the State to expose this hardship
upon our loggers and the business
interests of Western Washington. 1t
was the first to call attention to the
obnoxious reservation now reinserted
in all land contracts OF the Northern
Pacific as we'll as the advance in price
of logs.
The importance OF this question to
the business interests OF the State
is made manifest by the large number
Of papers that have printed our ex-
posture, and made editorial comments
thereon.
The silence of the Land Commits
sioner of the Northern Pacific Railroad
Company and his subordinates is the
best evidence of the truth Of our
charges. We would be the last to do
Mr.. Land Commissioner Phipps an
injustice, or a wrong. If it is not true
as charged, that Mr.. Phipps owns a
large interest in syndicate which
has purchased more than one hundred
thousand acres of land in British
Columbia; that it costs him less than
ten cents per thousand for stumpage
that he is now charging our loggers
one dollar per thousand; that he has
recently raised the price one hundred
per cent. on all timber lands of the
Northern Pacific; that it costs four
times as much for our people to put
their logs into the water as it does
Mr.. Phipps, and if it is not true as
charged that the syndicate in which
he is interested, has a large sawmill
now engaged in manufacturing his
timber into merchantable lumber
on Vancouver Island, and that he il
virtually destroying the market fol
tuC pIOuuCt VI VCStClu w aSuluStOi
both in California and in foreign ports
then we say that our columns are
open to Mr.. Phipps or any of his sub
= ordinates for denial. Upon thi
matter they shall have a respectful
3 hearing and fair treatment.
l -
|, ABANDONED AT SEA.-The barker
. tine John Wooster was abandoned a
sea off Gray's Harbor, on the It'll
{ inst. Chester Glass, the second mate
has reached Seattle, and gives vivit
account OF the experience of the crew
of the Inflated vessel. She left Seattle
Dec. LIST, with 800 tons OF Blacl
, Diamond coal, for San Francisco
She cleared Cape Flattery the mex