The Railroad Rate That Could Sink a Shingle Mill

If the Shippers' Association boycotts the Northern Pacific, what will become of the shingle mills on the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern railroad? This question has been asked many times since the proposed action of the association took shape, and it arises from the fact that the Northern Pacific now absorbs the rate on shingles made on the Lake Shore and thereby opens to manufacturers the markets of the East. If the Shippers' Association should insist on its boycott and the Northern Pacific should decline to make good its favorable rate to shinglemen, not only might the latter be deprived of their business, but the blow might strike home to many dealers in Seattle.

Of the many shingle mills in Washington, at least half are located on the Lake Shore road, and those mills furnish a large share of the output of the state. On the main line of the Northern Pacific there are only twenty-five mills, and on the Great Northern there are forty. Out of roughly 10,000 cars shipped last year, the Northern Pacific handled the largest share, the Great Northern 3,340, and the Canadian Pacific 752.

The shingle manufacturers do not propose to be sidetracked on account of the difficulty between the Shippers' Association and the Northern Pacific, and an effort is now making to the end that the Great Northern absorb the Lake Shore rate as its competitor has done. The question was discussed at the meeting of the shingle men in the Northern Hotel day before yesterday, and, as one of those present said, the shingle men would be willing to give the trade to the Great Northern, provided satisfactory terms are made. The latter road has handled very few shingles until within the past three months, for the reason that any controversy, or even an inquiry as to special rates, had to be referred to the St. Paul offices, and the delays thereby caused were not only vexatious but in some instances ruinous.

A traffic agreement satisfactory to all concerned, it is thought, could be made between the Great Northern and the Lake Shore, which is now in the hands of a receiver, and a market afforded the shingle men in case the Northern Pacific should decide to retaliate through them on the Shippers' Association.

Incidental to the question, the prospects for lumber and shingles are the best. Seattle is now sending shingles to New Hampshire, spars to Vermont and cedar doors into Maine direct in competition with white pine. With good crop indications in the middle West, and with an ability to compete with Eastern product, dealers look forward to unprecedented activity. The prediction is confidently made that the bulk of stock doors of the United States will be made out of Washington cedar on this coast.