Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1907-09-05
LUMBER SITUATION
ADVANCE IN RAILROAD Rates
MEANS CONFISCATION.
R. L. Mccormick, of the Weyerhaeus.
er Timber Company, Gives Figures
on Cost of Lumber ManufaCt ure.
Showing That Advance In Rates
Would Cripple the Industry.

At the recent meeting of the Pa
cific Coast Lumber Manufacturers
Association, very able address was
delivered by r. l.. Mccormick. of the
Weyerhaeuser Timber Company. In
this address the speaker gave in de-
tail the cost of putting lumber on the
market. These details embodied
the following charges; expended for
labor on logs, 81; labor in saw mill,
planning mill, etc, $3.5v; labor in
yards and loading, $3.50; driving or
log freight, $3.50; interest, insur-
ance, taxes and office work, $1.OO;
value of standing timber, So; profit
to operator, $3.50; making a total
of $15, which is the average price of
lumber at the MILL The statement
of the railroads which propose the
advance in lumber rates from the
west coast, is that the lumber indus
Try has prospered to such an extent,
and that the profits have increased
50 greatly, that the lumber manufac-
turers can afford to share with the
roads, and continue to sell lumber
at present prices. A glance at the
figures given by Mr.. Mccormick,
which are conservative, fails to dis
close where the difference in freight
can be absorbed. The value of tim
Der is certainly not excessive and
there is no possibility of sufficient
reduction in taxes, interest and in
eJrance to take up the $3.50 per
thousand. Fully two-thirds of the
cost Of putting lumber on the mar
ket is in the value of labor, and as
The estimated profit of $3.50 per
thousand is not capable of absorbing
the Increase. it must naturally fol-
low that labor must suffer, or prop
ertY be confiscated.
However, there is another item in
THE calculation which does not APP
pear to have been dwelt upon by
tl:ose who have advanced arguments
ae,ainst the proposed freight adj
WAGE. If the lumber is to be deliv-
cred at present prices, and the added
freight IS to be borne by the mill
men, Il reduction in the cost of pro-
ductiOn must be divided among the
various charges given above. That
is Il settled fact. But what is to en-
ter the calculation which will cover
the stock on which labor has already
been expended. While it is not the
custom for Western manufacturers
TO carry as large stocks as has been
the rule in the manufacturing dis
tricts of the upper Mississippi val
ley, there are at the mills of the
West coast, several hundred millions
of feet of lumber, and millions of feet
OF logs the labor on which has al
ready been done and paid for There
is no going back of these figures
Probably the stock Of lumber in the
hands of Western manufacturers
which they are not able to ship be-
fore the new rates went into effect.
would amount to from two to three
hundred million feet. AS the present
profit is about $1.5O per thousand.
the net loss in the event of an adj
vance of $3.50 in freight rates,
would amount to from 100000 to
$40, 200. In other words. the pro-
posed advance would not only con-
fiscate the two or three hundred mil
lion feet of lumber, but would tax
the manufacturers the above amount
in addition. To this can be added
the amount of shingles in stock,
which is usually about six hundred
million, and on which there would
be propOrtiOnate loss.
The roads claim that the advance
notice of the proposed increase will
give the manufacturers time to get
out from under, and dispose of orders
taken at present market figures as
well as clean up most of the high
priced stock in their hands. How
ever, the current record of shipments
from the West coast bears evidence
of the fact that the roads are not TAX
ing care of the business offered them.
Orders have been issued prohibiting
the loading of freight for points
east of the wheat-prOducing sections,
and that no cars will be allowed to
go off the lines of the transcontinen-
tai roads excepting only foreign cars,
the supply of which is entirely in
adequate to present requirements.
The claim of the roads that the ad-
vance in lumber prices during recent
years will enable the manufacturers
to absorb the advanced freight
charges is made without giving con-
sideration to the advances in the tim
Der values on the coast, and the
added amount which has been needed
in the payment of wages and other
charges that enter in the cost of pro-
duction. Even were conditions other