36 Forestry Quarterly. 



gression to the small mill condition. 1 shall take the ground that 

 the savings by large scale manufacture of lumber are sufficient 

 to preserve the large mill as an industrial unit and continue to put 

 the small mill out of business, except under certain conditions. 

 The basis for this contention is in the superior efficiency of ma- 

 chinery in the large mill, in the specialization of labor, and the 

 possibilities for utilization of waste, due in part to its concen- 

 tration in large masses and in part to its usually originating in 

 centers of population. 



Savings due to Machinery. 



The savings due to efficient machinery in the large mill are in 

 general well understood and occur in many ways. First, there is. 

 a cheapening of products due to complete machinery. In a large 

 mill it is possible to have many operations conducted by machin- 

 ery which have to be done by hand in the small mill. For ex- 

 ample, in the large Pacific Coast mills, floor chains carry slabs 

 and waste from the edger table broadside against a battery of 

 cutoff saws (the slasher) which reduce this waste material to 

 cordwood lengths without the direct application of any labor. In 

 smaller mills it is not uncommon to see two or three men toiling 

 to dispose of a smaller amount of the same class of material. 

 Similar economies of labor are effected with the pneumatic trim- 

 mer saws. Few of these efficiencies are possible with the small 

 mill because the cost of the machinery, in depreciation and interest 

 charges distributed over the output, would simply place a pro- 

 hibitive charge on the lumber manufactured. 



A second efficiency of machinery possible in the large mill con- 

 sists in the superior character of the product turned out due to 

 higher character of machinery and better care which it can re- 

 ceive. For example in the small mill, if it has a planer at all, a 

 single machine has to serve all purposes, while various styles of 

 planers, each adapted to its purposes, are employed in the large 

 mill. It is notorious that the product of the small mill is char- 

 acterized by wedge shaped boards and other imperfections due to 

 imperfect manufacture. So marked is this that in the eastern 

 part of the United States it is common for lumber cut locally in 

 small mills to sell for much less than imported lumber of the same 

 species. This is due as much to poor manufacture as to poor 



