January 10, 1918 



Hau-dwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



31 



Statistics of Veneer Production 



Lack of Precise Details Are Notable in the Industry as a Whole 



EX'ERAL YEARS HAVE PASSED since the gov- other ways, and principally in that they lack details which 

 ernment compiled and published statistics of the are looked after when the manufacturers co-operate and 

 output of veneers in the United States, and no sta- have a voice in planning and executing the work. 



tistics have been collected by any etlier authority. Con- 

 sequently, persons who seek information along that line 

 for recent years will seek in vain. Seven years ago the 

 annual production of veneers required 435,980,000 feet 

 o*^ logs. Much more than that must be cut now, but how 

 much more is a subject for guessing. 



At the meeting of the panel and veneer manufacturers 

 held in Chicago early in September, the subject of a cen- 

 sus or statistics of production was brought up by Mr. 

 Hicks, of the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wis. 

 His reference to the matter was in the form of an inquiry 

 whether the veneer manufacturers wanted such a census 

 made. The question brought no answer or discussion 

 and the matter went no further, and apparently the sub- 

 ject was of little interest to those present. Many busi- 

 ness men are prejudiced against statistics and can not see 

 any good in them. 



Lumbermen have had a census of lumber production 

 made every year since about 1905, and they think it 

 worth while to continue the work and to co-operate with 

 the government in doing it. Some criticism of the lum- 

 ber statistics have been heard, on the ground that they 

 are not complete, and that they are not collected on the 

 same basis in different years; many more mills being in- 

 cluded in the figures in some years than in others. But, 

 in spite of this, lumbermen go on, year after year, co- 

 operating with the government in compiling and publish- 

 ing figures showing the production of lumber by species 

 and by states. 



It may be presumed that when Mr. Hicks mentioned 

 the subject of a census of veneer manufacturing, he had 

 in mind a work to be carried out on the general plan fol- 

 lowed in the lumber statistics, that is, a co-operative work 

 in which both the government and the manufacturers 

 would have a part; but not receiving any response to his 

 suggestion, the matter went no further. 



Every ten years the government takes a general census 

 of all manufactures without asking for co-operation on 

 the part of those who do the manufacturing. The agents 

 of the government (the Bureau of the Census) collect 

 all the data, thrash out the details in the form of cost, 

 labor, material and percentages, and publish the results. 

 Such a census as that will be taken in 1920, to cover the 

 year 1919, and the reports may be looked for three or 

 four years later. This is good as far as it goes, but it 

 hardly takes the place of the special census made from 

 year to year in certain industries, in the first place, the 

 figures in the ten-year census are pretty old before they 

 are made accessible to the public; but they fall short in 



Lumbermen like to know every year what woods are 

 cut into lumber, and the quantities, in the various states 

 and according to various species. Veneer men cannot 

 get this information regarding their industry, because 



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