Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-20
SAWMILL MEN
FLAY RAILROAD
HIGH OFFICIALS
Allie ge Mismanage-
ment of Roads
Concerns Are Forced Into Bankruptcy
Through Lack of Cars to Fill
crders-HilPs Policy
at Fault
Bv Associated Press.

By Associated Press.
TACOMA, Wash, Jan. 19-Investi-
cations into the lumber car shortage
by Interstate Commerce Commissioner
Franklin Is. Lane today developed
facts showing the Northern Pacific
equipment to be entirely inadequate to
handle the lumber products of Western
Washington.
Sawmill owners told how small mill
concerns are gradually being forced in
to bankruptcy, how the larger concerns
have sustained losses which will reach
into hundreds of thousands of dollars
and how thousands of mechanics have
been thrown out of employment by
failure of the Northern Pacific railway
to furnish cars enough to enable the
$50 wood working plants on their line
to market their product.
Sawmill operators calmly detailed
how, through no fault of their own,
they have lost thousands of dollars
during the past eighteen months, all
because they have not been able to
market their product. In the same
breath that they narrated their losses
they complimented the strenuous eff
Pacific to relieve the situation and
said that while the Tacoma railroad
men had done all they could to aid the
mills the fault lay in mismanagement
of the higher officers in the east.
Intense Interest in Proceedings
General James NJ. Ashton of Tacoma
represented the lumber interests, as
sisted by Austin e. Griffith of Seattle
fn nt l1I-
ers attended the hearing and all
showed intense interest in the pro-
ceedings.
On the side of the court room occu-
pied by the Northern Pacific officials
were James B. Kerr, assistant general
counsel of the railroad, with headquar-
ters at st. Paul; f. j. Cannon, division
counsel of Spokane: j. d. Woodwork.
traffic manager of St Paul, and Third
Vice President G. NJ. Levy, assistant
general superintendent: b. f. Palmer,
general western freight agent: Henry
Blakely, Superintendent w. C. Albee of
the Pacific division, and a large array
of minor officials and clerks. Mr. Can
non conducted the cross examination of
all the witnesses presented by the lum-
Der interests.
superintendent Albee was the only
witness called upon as a representa-
tive of the Northern Pacific He was
asked by Commissioner Lane to eX-
plain how the number of foreign cars
used by the Northern Pacific were
routed by the railroad instead of by
the shipper. Attorney Cannon OBJ
jected to Mr.. Albee's being called upon,
stating that the railroad was not ready
to present its case.
You have no case" was Commits
sioner Lanes answer. You are not
defendants in any action, as this is
simply an inquiry instituted by the
commission upon it's own initiative. I
want Mr.. Albee to be heard because
l desire to get at the facts in the
case"
At the request of General Ashton on
behalf of leading lumbermen owning
mills in the northwestern part of the
state the Investigations were continued
by the commissioner, the inquiry being
resumed Tuesday at the county court
rooms in Seattle.
The testimony presented by the mill
operators examined in behalf of the
lumbermen was alike in essential facts
of car shortage and in delayed delivery
of shipments Some of the mills have
lost more than others, owing to other
conditions, such as their ability to use
cargo transportation, their lumber
storage facilities, etc.