TABLE 20.—Statement of prices of material furnished by New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Co.-Continued.

The figures compiled by the Department of Labor, Bulletin No. 87, March, 1910, confirm these tables in all substantial respects.

From these tables it appears that in 1910 the price of materials used by carriers is in most cases less than the average for the 10-year period from 1901 to 1910, and they show a considerable reduction in price since 1907 on nearly all commodities.

The principal exceptions to the rule of reduction in price of materials used by railroads in 1910, compared with the 10-year average, are coal and lumber, particularly the latter.

LUMBER.

The price of lumber for 1910 shows an advance over the average price for the 10-year period, but attention is again directed to the fact that the price for 1910 is as low, or lower in some cases, than the average for the last four years. There is an evident check to the advance in the price of lumber. This is brought about, doubtless, by the inevitable law of supply and demand. The use of cement, which is now cheaper than it has been for the average of 10 years, is rapidly supplanting lumber as a building material in railroading. The question of lumber is not likely to be of as great importance to carriers in the future as it has been in the past. The most general knowledge of railroading informs us that new wooden railroad bridges are practically unknown, except of the most temporary character. First, the wooden structures were supplanted by steel. In the past five years the substitution of concrete for wood has rapidly progressed. This change carries with it the substitution of a permanent structure for one of a temporary character, while the material of which the permanent structure is formed is declining in price.

It is also known, as a matter of general information, and the reports of this commission substantiate it, that wood in the construction of both passenger and freight cars is being almost entirely replaced by steel. New cars of wood construction are almost unknown. In the beginning cars were almost entirely of wood, both frame and superstructure. During the nineties carriers commenced using the steel frame, and during the past 10 years it is doubtful if any cars have been constructed with wooden frames. In the past five years. practically all new gondola and coal cars have been constructed entirely of steel, while the frames of almost all cars are exclusively of that material. Now substantially all new passenger cars, including Pullmans, are of metal, wood being used only for indispensable artistic or utilitarian purposes.

It is thus seen that the scientific world is meeting the depletion of the forests by the substitution of other materials, and probably this substitution is more rapid upon the railroads than in connection with any other one industry.

RAILS.

While steel rails have remained at a fixed price for a number of years, covering the entire period from 1901, almost every other steel article has declined in price while improving in quality. Why steel rails have thus been maintained at a fixed figure, not changing to meet changed conditions, has never been officially explained, but there is a very strong presumption that there is some undisclosed interest which maintains prices.