The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-12
LUMBERMEN KICK
BECAUSE RAILROADS WILL
CHARGE ADDITIONAL STORAGE
INCREASE OF so PER CENT.
WILL BE ADDED TO COST OF
HANDLING LUMBER AT SAVANNAH.


Rates-Lumbermen as a Unit En-
ter a Protest-Think They Should
Have Had at Least 80 Days No.
tice of Proposed Change, Whereas
Change BECAME Effective Dec. L
and Some Notices of IL Were Not
Received Until After That Date.
Lumbermen Ask for n Conference
and the Request Has Been Re
ferred to Heads of Traffic Depart
ments of Roads.
All railroads entering Savannah have
notified Savannah lumber shippers that,
effective Dec. l, storage will be charged
on all lumber, crossties and shingles
handled over their wharves, where the
lumber so handled remains on the
wharves over thirty days. The lum-
bermen as a unit have entered pro-
test to such a change, and have re-
quested a conference with the traffic
officials of the roads, in order to set
forth the reasons why such charges
should not be made. This protest has
been referred to the heads of the traf-
fic departments of the roads who have
not yet taken action on the question.
Formerly the scale of charges for
handling the products of the mills has
been:
Lumber - Wharfage, including
thirty days storage, handling
at owners expense, per 1000
feet, board measure. ............. ~
Crossties - Wharfage, including
thirty days storage, handling at
owners expense, per tie. 'UI
Shingles - Wharfage, including
thirty days storage. owners eX-
pense of handling, per thousand
shingles OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 10
Under this plan parts of cargoes
were allowed to remain on the wharves
without further charges to the shippers
until the cargo could be completed and
shipped but under the new arrange
lnent for each thirty days or fraction
thereof after the first thirty days, ad-
ditional charges for storage Will be
made as follows:
On lumber per thousand feet..... 10
On crossties, per tie. ..............' .OO72
On shingles, per thousand. ........ WIZ
An Increase of so Per Cent.
Such charges, according to the state
ment of one Of the lumbermen inter-
ested, will really amount to additional
charges of so per cent. in the handling
of lumber, ties and shingles, as it is
nearly, if not quite, impossible to as
semble a cargo of lumber on the
wharves in thirty days.
The matter has been promptly taken
up by the Savannah Lumber Ex-
change, in which nearly every firm in
the city is a member, which has noti-
fed the roads that it wishes to enter
a respectful but emphatic protest
against the storage charges.
The fact that no previous notice
| of the intended change was given the
lumber dealers leads them to believe
| that the railroads must have over
looked their position in the matter
| Their material interests are so in
volved, they say, that notice of at
least ninety days should have been
| given them before such a radical de-
| parture from the established usage of
| forty years was made effective. They
believe that the roads will defer put
| ting the change into effect over their
| protest, especially as some of the no.
tees of the change actually bear a
! date latter than Dec. l.
The time asked is needed, it is ex-
| planned, in order that the lumbermen
may adjust their business arrange
ments to the new order of things, as
well as to wind up, so far as may be
| possible, the business, of which a con-
| siderable portion has been taken on
by contracts extending over periods
of from nine to twelve months in the
| future, on the old basis
Loss Falls on Seller.
| The attention Of the railroads has
also been drawn to the fact that lum-
| Der, crossties and shingles are sold be-
fore arrival at the wharf. whereas
other articles on which storage may
be charged are sent to the city for sale;
that on such other articles. because of
this arrangement any contingent
charges can be included in the price
for which the articles are later sold,
While lumber, crossties and shingles
| having been sold before being brought
to the wharf, no incidental charges can
be included in the price made the pur-
chaser, and consequently all such
losses must of necessity fall on the
| seller.
Another point made is that lumber,
ties and shingles are sold largely by
| cargo, and because of the manner in
which these things are handled by
the railroads it is impossible to as
semble a cargo in thirty days.
| The roads gave as their reason for
| making the change in the rates, the
desire to make the usage in this con-
| nectiOn uniform at all ports handling
the products of the sawmills, but to
this the lumbermen call attention to
the fact that the way in which the
railroads handle the business at Pen
sacola and other points, both to the
north and to the south of Savannah, is
so different with that in vogue here
| that no real comparison can be made
between them.
In this connection they point out
that at Savannah double handling is
often necessary, made so by the fact
| that, in many cases the wharf front is
limited and the lumber, ties and shin
| giles must first be unloaded along the
tracks and approaches. In some of
the other ports this evil is at a mini
mum, the lumber going direct from the
car to the vessel.
After pointing out these things and
| several others the lumbermen request
that the roads reconsider the matter
and hold any final decision in allegiance
until a conference can be had, and
| these and other matters be fully dis
| cussed.
Railroads Cause Delay.
One of the gentlemen most deeply
interested in the matter said that it
begins to look as if the roads are
seeking opportunities to increase their
charges on lumber and such things.
They have increased charges, added
transfer charges, and now seek to add
storage charges, when as a matter of
fact it is the fault of the roads them
selves that lumber has to lie on the
wharves more than thirty days, for
they can't or won't supply the cars
| needed to cOmplete cargOes nv hrin o.