48 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



May 10, 1921 



Careful Analysis Shows a Loss of $7.15 per Thousand Feet of Michigan 



Hardwood Sold 



Durinj; the past few months Hakuwood Recohd has been com- 

 piling information from various producing sections, for the pur- 

 pose of actually showing a comparison of production costs to sell- 

 ing price. As this work is nearing completion the following official 

 statement is received from the Mieliigan Hardwood Manufacturers' 

 Association from the office of the president at Cadillac, Mich., 

 which gives specific results of a careful survey of manufacturing 

 costs and sales prices on Michigan woods. The significant relation 

 of those figures to present hardwood offerings and future price 

 possibilities is marked. The statement follows in full: 



We mite In the press tluring tlie last few months u great deal Iteing 

 snld about tlie liluh ecist of lunilier and its inlluence upon huikllng, etc. 

 With this thought In mind the Michigan Hardwood Manul'aiturers' .\sso- 

 i'iation started a campaign t(» ascertain actual costs of producing liunljer 

 hy sending out a questlonnalie to its membership listing under sei)arate 

 beads the various costs tliat should pertain to the department in question, 

 and from seventeen representative manufacturing tirms, representing a cut 

 of a little l)etter than one hundri'd Ilfty millions, we received a very com- 

 prehensive idea. After obtaining the costs it was then necessary to ascer- 

 tain the percentage of the various species of timber that the forests pro- 

 duced and also the percentage of grades that each specie produced in 

 lumber. After obtaining tliis information we applied a test of 1110,000 

 feet of lumber at values now being quoted by representative manufacturers, 

 and this result shows that lumber is being ottered to the trade today at 

 $7.1C per tbousand less than cost of production. 



The following tables will show the cost of production, percentage of 

 species and percentage of grades as ascertained in this questionnaire, and 

 it was surprising to us to see how closely the various expense accounts 

 harmonized : 



PKODliCTION COST.S AS OF MAY 1, litL'l 



Per XI ft. 



Logging (from stump to and on car) 5ill.ll 



From car to sawmill 4.90 



Sawing 5.95 



Yarding 1.92 



Shipping and marketing 2.71 



Miscellaneous (taxes and other overheads not included in aiiove 



Items) 4.29 



Stunipage value lO.fi.S 



•Interest at G per cent on timber, railroad and plant investment. . . . 8.13 



$49.70 



• Computed on average of ten-year timber life. 



AVERAGE MIOIIICAN LOG RUN PRODUCT 

 Species 



Maple 



':'r 



Firsts and seconds.... IS 



Selects 6 



No. 1 Common 2.1 



No. 2 Common 20 



No. 3 Common 33 



Merchantable 



Cull 



r.RADKS 

 Beech Hemlock 



% % 



15 

 5 

 22 

 23 

 35 



Elm 



% 



i.s 



Basswood 



% 

 20 

 12 

 21 

 22 



Ash 



% 

 15 

 12 

 20 

 20 

 33 



100 



Birch 



% 

 20 

 10 

 16 



in 



45 



55 



Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 



TEST ON 100, onn 1--i:ET at current average VALUES 

 MAPLE 



FAS S.2S0 ft. ® $105.00 $869.40 



Selects 2.760 ' 86.00 234.60 



So. 1 10,580 



No. 2 9.200 



No. 3 15,180 



Total -10,000 ft. 



HEECH 



FAS 1,500 ft. 



Selects 500 



No. 1 2,200 



No. 2 2,300 



No. 3 3,500 



Total 



10,000 ft. 



HEMLOCK 



.Merchantable 14,850 ft. 



Cull 18.150 



Total 33.000 ft. 



> ELM 



FAS 1.000 ft. 



Selects 



No. 1 



No. 2 



400 



880 



720 



No. 3 1.000 



60.00 

 40.00 

 21.00 



$90.00 

 80.00 

 55.00 

 35.00 

 23.00 



@ $26.00 

 19.00 



$105.00 

 85.00 

 60.00 

 40.00 

 28.00 



Total 4,000 ft. 



B.\SSWOOD 



I'WS 800 ft. 



Selects 480 



No. 1 840 



No. 2 880 



No. 3 1,000 



$100.00 

 80.00 

 60.00 

 35.00 

 28.00 



Total 1,000 ft. 



BIRCH 



FAS 400 ft. 



Selects 200 



No. 1 320 



No. 2 380 



No. 3 700 



$110.00 

 90.00 

 60.00 

 35.00 

 23.00 



634.80 

 368.00 

 318.78 



$2,425.58 



$135.00 



40.00 



121.00 



80.50 



80.50 



$457.00 



$386.10 

 344.85 



$730.95 



$105.00 

 34.00 

 52.80 

 28.80 

 28.00 



$258.60 



$80.00 

 38.40 

 50.40 

 30.80 

 28.00 



$227.60 



$15.75 



10.20 



12.00 



7.40 



9.24 



$54.59 



$44.00 

 18.00 

 19.20 

 13.30 

 16.10 



Total 2,000 ft. $110.60 



TOTALS 



Maple $2,425.58 



Beech 457.00 



Hemlock 730.95 



Elm 248.60 



Basstwood 227.60 



-^sh 54.59 



Birch 110.60 



Total $4,254.92 



Cost $4,970.00 



Result of above values 4.254.92 



Loss $715.08 or $7.15 per M. ft. 



Since 1912, one-third of New York state's factories using wood 

 have gone out of existence, largely because of the disappearance of 

 the forests of the state and the removal of the source of the raw 

 material to the South and "West. The consumption of lumber has 

 been largely increased in proportion of imports to native growth 

 lumber, but the use ofveneers has largelv increased. 



