60 



The automobile industry furnishes one of the best illustrations of 

 the importance of wood. The consumption for automobiles in the United 

 States in 1923 is given by the National Automobile Chamber of Com- 

 merce as 780,000,000 board feet of high-grade hardwood lumber, in addi- 

 tion to which 200,000,000 feet were used for crating and shipping cars. 

 Michigan of course ranks first among the states, but Illinois occupies 

 sixth place in the value of motor vehicles produced, including bodies and 

 parts, her factories approximating 3 per cent of the total output, which 

 indicates a consumption of 14,177,391 board feet for 1922 and 16,610,292 

 for 1923. The statement for consumption of wood in Illinois by this 

 industry is by no means complete, since there are several factories mak- 

 ing accessory parts, such as bows for tops and running boards of cars, 

 merely as a side-line to some other industry. 



There are comprised in this industry three main classes of motor 

 vehicles — passenger or pleasure cars, trucks, and commercial bodies for 

 delivery purposes. Data upon the number of each of these classes are 

 obtainable from the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, but 

 are not given out by states. By taking their estimate for the amount of 

 wood in each class of car* and using the figures furnished by the United 

 States Bureau of Census on the number of each clrfss produced in 

 Illinois, it is possible to arrive at a fairly accurate figure for the total 

 amount of wood consumed in the state by this industry. 



Through the co-operation of the Forest Products Laboratory, Madi- 

 son, Wisconsin, we were able to obtain the figure of 12,000,000 board 

 feet as the consumption for passenger cars, which varies from 150 board 

 feet for open cars to 325 or even 350 board feet for large closed cars. 

 Truck bodies require each from 200 to 250 board feet and their number 

 is known, but the number of commercial bodies had to be approximated, 

 since the Forest Products Laboratory survey did not extend to com- 

 mercial bodies. The total stands at over 14,000.000 board feet. This 

 amount is likely to increase rather than decrease from the fact presented 

 by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce that there is a marked 

 trend towards closed cars, there having been an increase in the use of 

 this type from 9 per cent in 1919 to 35 per cent in 1923, and closed cars 

 require more wood. 



Of this 12,000,000 feet for passenger bodies alone used in Illinois, 

 which does not include the lumber used for shipping and crating cars, 



• Appendix, Note 3. 



