Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1907-12-19
OLD RATE Is
STILL IN USE
Hill Makes No Advance on Lumber
From Capada.
Northwestern Lumbermen Tell Their
Troubles to Interstate Commerce
Commission - Many Mills Have
Closed, With Immense Quantities
of Lumber on Hand.

Washington, Dec. Washington
lumbermen who appeared as witnesses
yesterday before the Interstate Com
merce commission, took particular
pains to "rub it in" on James j. Hill,
because of his threat to drive more
lumbermen into bankruptcy. One wit
ness brought out the fact that, while
the railroads assert that the old rate on
lumber from Puget Sound to Chicago,
Denver and Kansas City was not COM
pensatory, the Great Northern is today
loading lumber at Vancouver, bringing
it to Puget Sound, thence East through
the United States and back to Canada,
landing it at Winnipeg and more dis
tant points, for 40 cents. the rate fer
merly in force on Puget Sound lumber
shipped an equal distance in the Unit
ed States. Another witness recalled
Mr.. Hills assurance given Washington
lumbermen at banquet some time ago
to the effect that his roads would never
impose rate on lumber that would be
injurious to the milling industry of the
Northwest.
The Oregon men closed their testi-
mony by submitting further COMPARE
sons of lumber rates from the South
and from the West to Chicago and
Kansas City. Several witnesses testi-
fed as to the technical case of the Ore
gon and Washington lumbermen, ac-
cording to the amount Of output of
their companies, the points of destina-
tion of their product and the prices
paid for it. The rates which the Ore
gon and Washington lumber producers
were forced to pay were offered in testi-
mony and the assertion was made that
these rates were such as to compel the
producers OF lumber in the Pacific
Northwest to close their mills. Wit
nesses testified that they were unable
to place their product on the market
East of the Rocky mounatins at pro-
fit, and that they could not depend up
on tie local market in their territory
to provide such market as would en-
able them to maintain their business.
The line OF cross examination indi-
Gated the purpose of the railroads to
show that the rates were not exorbi-
tant, but really were fair and equitable
compared with the rates given produc-
ers Of manufactured lumber in the yell
low pine districts.
w. G. Miles, president of the South
western Washington Lumbermen's as
sociation, testified that 90 per cent of
the mills in his section of the state had
closed since it became known the lum-
Der rate was to be advanced, and those
mills now have on hand 70, 0,000,0 900 feet
of lumber, for " hich there is no mark
ct. He said the Weyerhaeusers now
owned all the timber lands Of the
Northern Pacific grant and virtually
controlled the price within 100 miles Of
the road They bought l ,O00,00O acres
for 5000, 900 and sold one section of
that for $75, 900 stumpage. He said
they now controlled prices and empha-
sized the fact that the members Of his
were anxious that the Inter-
state commission should open the Port
land gateway to Washington lumber so
that Southwestern Washington millmen
could dump their common stock into
Oregon and other Hartman territory.
No indication of an end of the hear
ing is in sight. Several other cases are
for hearing by the commission,
but it is not likely that the pending
cases will be concluded before the mid
die of next week.