28 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



see what real champions look like, the dates of 

 the convention have been ai-ranged so as to 

 coincide with a home series of the club. On 

 the days of the convention Louisville and 

 Kansas City will cross bats at Eclipse park, 

 and while the games will be called at a time 

 when the convention will be in session, those 



enthusiastic fans who want to keep the 

 score can doubtless get away before the 

 fourth inning begins. 



The Louisville Hardwood Club has taken 

 hold of the big task of keeping the visitors 

 entertained every moment of the time they 

 are in their city with energy and enthusiasm. 



Visitors to the 1910 convention of the Na- 

 tional Hardwood Lumber Association will have 

 reason to long remember it as an occasion of 

 rare pleasure and profit and the credit will be 

 due the club members. For a great good 

 time be on hand at Louisville on June 9 

 and 10! 



Interesting Speeches at Manufacturers^ Annual 



I'here were so many important and inter- 

 esting addresses given at the recent annual 

 of the National Lumber Manufacturers ' Asso- 

 ciation at New Orleans that all of them could 

 not be printed in the last issue of the Record 

 for lack of space. Some of the most valuable 

 to the hardwood trade are herewith repro- 

 duced, and they are worthy of careful peru- 

 sal by hardwood men the country over. There 

 has never been a more noteworthy meeting in 

 lumber history than this gathering of the 

 lumber manufacturers of the country. In 

 point of wise discussions prevailing, the able 

 and expert papers read and the harmony and 

 dispatch witli which the meeting was con- 

 ducted are all features which demonstrate 

 the value which association work is coming 

 to liave in the trade. 



SALIENT POINTS CONCERNING LUM- 

 BER PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED 

 STATES 



ADDiiEss OF n. S. Kellogg. Secretary Noiitii- 

 ERX Hemlock and Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association 

 Within the brief limits of a single paper it is 

 impossible to touch upon more than a few of 

 the most significant points in such a biK sub- 

 ject as the lumber production of the United 

 States. I shall, therefore, endeavor to bring 

 out as concisely as possible a few of the main 

 features in the development of the lumber in- 

 dustry in the last sixty years, to indicate tlie 

 present status of the chief producing regions, 

 and to hazard such a guess as one may upon 

 the future course of the industry- 

 It is much to be regretted that fairly de- 

 tailed statistics upon the lumber production of 

 the United States are availalile for only the last 

 ten years. The census of 1900 was the first to 

 report the principal species separately, and the 

 preceding censuses of 1890 and 1880 were the 

 only ones prior to 1900 which even stated the 

 total quantity of lumber manufactured in the 

 United States regardless of species. Previously 

 to 1880 the decennial census ascertained only 

 the value of forest products without distinguish- 

 ing between lumber and other material. Since 

 190.5 the bureau of the census and the Forest 

 Service, working in cooperation with the lumber- 

 men, have compiled annual reports upon the 

 kind, quantity and value of forest products 

 which give us a good idea of the present con- 

 dition of the lumber industry and show its 

 development from year to year. 



Combining all our data upon the subject, and 

 making such estimates as seem wararnted, we 

 get the following statement of the total lumber 

 production of the United States at census dates 

 since 1850 : 



Cut 

 Year Billion feel 



1850 5 



1800 S 



1870 13 



1880 18 



1 800 24 



1900 35 



1908 33 



The total quantity of lumber manufactured in 

 the United States since 1.S50 has unquestion- 

 ably been not less than l.'iOO.OOO.OOO.OOO board 

 feet a tremendous amount, and jn-aetically one- 

 half of the estimated quantity of saw timber 

 of all kinds yet standing in the United States. 

 Production bv Regions 

 Our ideas of just what has happened in our 

 great lumber producing regions in the last sixty 

 years will be clarified by reference to Table 1. 

 which shows graphically the output of four 

 groups of states. These are the northeastern 

 states, which include New England, New York, 

 Pennsylvania. New .Tersey and Delaware: the 

 lake states, or Michigan, Wisconsin and Minne- 

 .sota : the southern states, which include Mary- 

 land. Virginia. North and South Carolina, 

 Georgia. Florida, Alabama. Mississippi. Louisi- 

 ana. Arkansas and Texas ; and the Paciflc 

 states, or California. Oregon and Washington. 



In 1850 the northeastern states supplied ap- 

 proximately 2,700.000.000 feet of lumber, or 

 nearly 55 per cent of the total output. The 



cut increased to nearly 3.000.000,000 feet in 

 1860. It rose to 4,800,090,000 feet in 1870, 

 dropped off somewhat in 1880 and 1890, and 

 reached a maximum of 5,500,000.000 feet in 

 1900, with a sharp descent in 1908 to nearly 

 the same figure as in 1880 and 1890. 



The lake states, which cut but little more 

 than 300,000.000 feet in 1850. passed the billion 

 mark in 1860. and steadily mounted to a maxi- 

 mum of more than 8,000.000.000 feet yearly 

 between 1890 and 1900, with a decrease of one- 

 half in the following eight years, so that in 

 1908 the output was slightly less than in the 

 northeastern states. 



The southern states, which cut 700,000.000 

 feet in 1850, and rose to 1,300,000.000 feet in 

 1860. had not recovered sufficiently from the 

 effects of the war by 1870 to equal the produc- 

 tion in ISGO. but the increase in the output 

 from 1870 to 1890 was constant. Since 1890 

 the production curve has been almost a straight 

 line upward, the output of 13.500.000.000 feet 

 in 1908 having been surpassed by a cut of 

 over 16.000,000,000 feet in the preceding year. 



The Pacific states cut 200,000,000 feet of 

 lumber in 1850, and their output increased to 

 only 640,000,000 feet in the succeeding thirty 

 years. But since 1880 the curve for the Pacific 

 states has closely paralleled that for the south- 

 ern states, though the highest cut yet reached 

 has been less than half of that in the South. 



The total lumber production in several states 

 in the last thirty years mount to tremendous 

 totals. Since 1880. the first year for which 

 census figures upon quantity are available. 



Michigan has manufactured not less than 

 1110.000.000.000 feet of lumber, and its neighbor, 

 Wisconsin, has turned out nearly 75,000,000,000 

 feet. Their nearest competitor, Pennsylvania, 

 has contributed nearly 60.000,000,000 feet, and 

 those states taken together constitute the "Big 

 Three" in the history of the lumber industry. 

 But their ascendency is passed, Wisconsin, the 

 heaviest producer of the three, now ranks fifth 

 among the states in point of annual produc- 

 tion, while Michigan has dropped to seventh 

 place, and Pennsylvania to tenth. 



Production by Kinds 



Our knowledge of the quantity of the different 

 kinds of lumber manufactured in the United 

 States since 1900 is summed up in Table 1. 

 The total in round numbers is 329,000,000,000 

 feet, not counting 1909 for which data are not 

 vet available. Here yellow pine leads them 

 all. with 100.000,000,000 feet. White pine 

 comes second, with 49,000.000.000 ; Douglas fir 

 third, with 33.500,000.000 : oak fourth, with 

 31,000,000,000, and hemlock fifth, with nearly 

 30,333,000.000 feet. Of other woods, not even 

 half as much of any kind has been manufac- 

 tured as of hemlock, while the total production 

 of these five woods — yellow pine, white pine, 

 Douglas fir, oak and hemlock — amounts to 74 

 per cent of the cut of all kinds since 1900. 



It is unfortunate that the census figures upon 

 the kinds of lumber manufactured began so 

 late as 1900. when white pine had far passed 

 its maximum, for thus the table fails to show 

 the amazing quantity of this valuable wood 

 which has entered into commerce and construc- 



TAm.i; 1 —r. HIRER rrtnDtcTio.v nv tju; rNiTi-:ii st.atks, by species- 



Yellon' pine 

 White pine . 

 DougljiH tir 



U.'nilo.k . . 



Spruce 



We^itern plup . 

 Velliitt- noplar .. 



M.iple ■, 



CvpiosB 



Uerlvvood 



Red gum 



<'hfstnut . . .■. ... 



B.Ts.swood , 



Cottonwood "...,. 



i;ini 



Cedar 



Birch ..,' 



Asli ...■ .•..: 



Beoch ...•.,.-'.. 

 Hlcltory ....!.. 



Larch ■; 



Su£far pine ..,".„ 



Tamarack 



Walnut 



Svcamora . . . . . . 



UTxife fir- , . . . ., 



Tupelo .- 



Balsam fii' .. .. , 

 Not specified .-.. 



Total ■ 



(a) Not sep.iratel.v rt^porred. 

 ■1>I Included In '"not specified." 



ISOO. 

 r ttnanl feci 



. 9,6.5s,'.):;" 

 . ■ ■r.-i-i.sm 



. I.73«.3n7 

 . 4.438.I12T 

 . .'!.420.«7:: 

 . 1.44S,0!11 

 . 944.18.-1 

 .■1.11.5.24-.' 

 . 035.461! 



495. S3K 

 . 360.167 



■28.'.,417 

 . 206,6SS 



.308,069 

 : 415.124 

 . 4.')6,731 

 . 232.878 

 .. 132.601 



369,120 



(a) 



. . 96,636 



42,394 



53,fl,=i8 



a.22r. 



381681 



29,7ir, 



(aj 



(al 



(a) 



,498,150 



35,067,595 



n.iitn.ii! 



4.'.n',;t,S4:'. 

 j.s:;o.3it;: 

 :{,3:i7,:iL".' 



1.644.9SV 



l.:{S6,r77 



■i;77.67(i 



SS2.S7S 



S39j27C 



fi.')0.67S 



453.67S 



407,379 



.■576.838. 



269.458 



.224,795 



3rj7,S4.-> 



.370.432 



214.4611 



27.1.6111 



148.212 



I 66.078 



133,640 



123,395 



48.174 



(a) 



104.320 



47,882 



(a> 



164.845 



J507. 



M liiitinl lci:t 



13.21.5.1S5 



4.1!r2.70S 



4J48,872 



.3>lS.76li 



:!,.'73,nic 



lOOS. 

 M ho'ii'f tc't. 

 11.2.16.:;72 

 :i. 344. 021 



3.<:7.-..ii4 



2. 771. .".11 



2..-i:J(i.K4;; 

 t.4ii;n<i. 



l,275..';50' 



654.122 



S74.9S3 



743.297 



404,802 



589,347 



539,341 



319.505 



2.32.475 



273,845 



.272,764 



386,367 



225,367 



410,072 



197,372 



239,132 



99,809 



143,334 



43,681 



43.332 



98.120 



69,170 



69,950 , 



47.873 



33,224.369 



1900 1908. 



Bstitnalcd total 



1900^90S — 



Qitonlitii. Pn 



M ttfflrd frrt 



ino.ri72 '■,;{4 



49.lp'.l;i,Tl" 



.^..^rj-SJli 



::i.0S5.924 



.111.315.194 



14.063,01 U 



11.1S2.40S 



7.573,377 



7,245.1160 



0.345. 54S 



4.693.4115 



3:949.51.1 



.■5.442,1611 



3,13-2.152 



2.848.840 



2,803.797 



2,654.080 



2.653.512 



2.142.607 



(b) 



1.283,339 



1.241,702 



910,048 



775.022 



,393,910 



354,532 



(hi 



(bl 



(bl 



5,110,926 



32S,886.25-2 



104 



14!) 



10.^2 



9,5 



9.2 



4.3 



3^4 



2.3 



2.2 



1.9 



1.4 



1.2 



1.0 



1.0 



.9 



.9 



.8 



.8 



.6 



lb) 



.4 



.4 



.3 



2 



.1 



.1 



(1)1 



tb) 

 lb) 

 1.6 



TABLE 2.— 5III.L VALVES OF LUMBEK 1900-1908. 



Incfcasc DccreasS 

 1900-1908. 1907-190S. 

 Percent. Percent. 



16.6 



57.9 

 01.0 

 ■80.3 

 5p.9 

 54.1 

 59.7 

 60;4 

 43.2 

 66.3 



31.4 

 37.8 

 21.7 

 44.2 

 .54.7 

 .54.9 



35.8 



3.0 



49.6 



3S.1 

 47.6 



1.8 

 10.7 



• .5 

 •2.0 

 *!.6 



3,7 

 0.0 



•2.3 



.3 



6.4 



5.8 



10.4' 

 3.6 

 5.5 

 3.2 

 4.5 

 5.9 



11.5 

 4.1 



• .6 

 11.1 

 12.1 



5.6 

 7.7 

 7.2 



18.1 

 9.7 



1.5.2 

 9.6 



20.3 



