HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



a changed form, such as into paper, pulp, alcohol, turpentine, etc., sparingly, for the utilization of factory waste and for better 



a field of nse which is often of more promise than the former. 

 In the utilization of wood in its natural form, special attention 

 will be given to the preparation of working plans for wood-using 

 factories, which will include among other things, suggestions for 

 the use of cheaper woods which will serve equally as well, for the 

 use of woods which have hitherto come into the market but 



methods of seasoning wood. 



Mr. Sackett 's new ofBce is located in Suite 512, Commercial 

 National Bank Building, 72 W. Adams street. Everyone who 

 has followed Mr. Sackett 's history and work in the past will wish 

 him and his company the greatest possible success in his broaden- 

 ing endeavor to be of service to the lumber industry. 



's ;;)iCMBiaTOroa6ii>!TOMJiTO^ 



Lumher Prices 



Editor's Note 



The following address was made by R. S. Kellogg, secretary of the Northern Hemlock and Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association at the recent meeting of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association held at Cincinnati. 

 The statements made by Mr. Kellogg, while somewhat revolutionary in character, certainly are presented in a forceful 

 and intelligent manner, and should afford food for thought for a large proportion of the lumber manufacturing ele- 

 ment. ' It IS one of the strongest papers that has been presented at a lumber association meeting for a long time. 



I have been more or less observant of 

 the lumber industry for several years, and I 

 have a pretty fair record of attendance at 

 this association. I have been wondering a 

 great many times as to what the lumberman 

 is. There is possibly somewhat of a philo- 

 sophical question involved. Some people say 

 that he is a manufacturer. I have a good 

 many doubts, from some things I have seen, 

 as to whether he is an up-to-date, efficient 

 manufacturer — efficient in the production and 

 the marketing of his commodity. I am rather 

 doubtful as to whether he is a very good 

 manufacturer, or not. 



Some people say that he is a lumber mer- 

 chant, a merchant of the commodity he 

 makes; and my doubts are even greater on 

 that score than on the question of his being 

 a manufacturer. I believe that of 48,000 to 

 50,000 lumbermen in the United States, 300 

 or 400 possibly are pretty good merchants; 

 but I am sure that a very large percentage 

 of them are not very good merchants, and I 

 think that many of you will agree with me 

 in that. I have not the time to go into the 

 details of the evidence. 



The lumberman is in some eases a speculator; but he has not 

 been a very successful speculator in the last five years. I could 

 present evidence on that score. 



Now there is only one thing left for him to be. When a man 

 could not be anything else it always used to be said that he be- 

 came a farmer. Possibly the lumberman is a farmer. I held to 

 the notion for quite a while, that the lumberman is more of a 

 farmer than anything else, at any rate that he is more in the 

 farmer's class than that of the merchant, manufacturer, or spec- 

 ulator. But even here I have begun to doubt very much whether 

 or not the lumberman is a farmer. He is like the farmer in that 

 he goes out and cuts down his timber and runs it through his 

 sawmill, and piles it up in his yard, and then next day tries to 

 sell it. He is a good deal like the farmer who when he has raised 

 his crop and got it in the bin, has to sell it, or let it spoO. I do 

 not believe the lumberman is a very good farmer. But if he is 

 not a farmer there is only one thing left; if he is not a farmer he 

 must be a goat. I am pretty sure he is a goat; and before I get 

 through this afternoon I think possibly some of you wUl agree 

 with that point of view. 



Now going back to the dry subject of statistics. According to 

 the census reports for the years given below, the average mill 

 values of all kinds of lumber in the United States were: 



1899 $11.13 1908 13.37 



1904 12.76 1909 15-38 



1906 16.54 1910 15.30 



1907 16.56 



The increase in average value of the liun- 

 berman's product at the mill, from 1899 to 

 1910, was 37.4 per cent. On the other hand, 

 the decrease in the average value from 1906 

 to 1910 was 7.5 per cent. Remember, there was 

 a positive decrease from 1906 to 1910 of the 

 average mill value of all kinds of lumber of 

 7.5 per cent. 



The following table shows the increase and 

 decrease in the period given with respect to 

 the vaxious species, the percentages in the 

 right hand column not shown with an asterisk 

 indicating the decrease, and those with the 

 asterisk indicating the increase : 



AVERAGE MILL VALUES. 



R. S. KELLOGG, WAUSAU, WIS. 



Maple 



(lal; 



Sugar Pine . . . 

 Western Pine . 

 White Pine . . . 

 Yellow Pine . . 

 Yellow Poplar 



Redwood 



Spruce 



Tamarack . . . . 



1906 



Ash 24.35 



Basswood 18.66 



Beech 14.05 



Birch 17.24 



Chestnut 17.49 



Cottonwood 17.15 



Cypress 21.94 



Elm 18.08 



Douglas Fir 14.20 



Red Gum 13.46 



Hemlock 15.31 



Hickory 30.42 



Larch 11.91 



15.53 



21.76 



16.11 



14.01 



18.32 



15.02 



24.21 



16.64 



17.33 



15.63 



1910 

 22.47 

 20.94 

 14.34 

 17.37 

 16.23 

 17.78 

 20.51 

 18.67 

 13.09 

 12.26 

 13.85 

 26.55 

 11.85 

 16.16 

 18.76 

 18.68 

 14.26 

 18.93 

 13.29 

 24.71 

 15.52 

 16.62 

 13.30 



Decrease 

 Per Cent 



7.7 

 15.0 

 •2.3 

 •0.8 



7.2 

 •3.7 



6.5 

 •3.3 



7.8 



8.9 



9.6 

 12.7 



0.5 

 •4.1 



9.2 

 •9.8 

 •1.8 

 •3.3 

 11.5 

 •2.1 



6.8 



4.1 

 14.0 



All kinds 16.54 15.30 7.5 



On the other hand, we have a pretty interesting comparison as 

 to what was doing in farm commodities during that same period. 

 The average farm prices on December 1 of each year for the com- 

 modities given for the period 1896-1905 and 1906-1910, and the per- 

 centage of increase in prices were as follows: 



AVEBAGE FARM PRICES 



1896-1905 



Corn, per bu 37.1^ 



Wheat 69.4 



Oats 28.1 



Barley 41.2 



Rye 52.5 



Buckwheat 53.5 



Potatoes 49.9 



Cotton, per lb 8.8 



Tobacco 7.2 



Hay, per ton $8.07 



Average 



.33.1 



