80 



Reduced to cords by the equivalent of 80 cubic feet per cord, the 

 price paid per cord for wood at the mines was : 



Props $12.96 



Legs and bars 21 . 36 



Average, weighted $14.64 



Using 6 board feet per cubic foot, the lumber represented by the 

 larger-sized timbers costs $44.50 per thousand board feet at the mine, 

 while the same equivalent applied, for sake of comparison, to props 

 gives a value of $27.00 per thousand board feet. 



It is evident that at these prices, mine timbers will bear the cost 

 of transportation over considerable distances. As the cost of substitutes 

 is still much higher than for wood, and, as the timbers are indispensable 

 to operation, it follows that as long as the freight charges from the near- 

 est available supply do not exceed this margin, the freight will be paid 

 and added to the cost of the timber laid down at the mine. The market- 

 ing of small sizes in this form gives a commercial outlet to material 

 otherwise unmerchantable. Yet under present conditions and practices, 

 the immediate supply of timber obtainable for Illinois mines is insufH- 

 cient for the demand, and is constantly decreasing. 



Based on returns from companies mining one fifth of the total out- 

 put of coal, it was found that for 1921, 62.3 per cent of all wood used 

 was obtained from Illinois sources, and 3T.7 per cent was shipped in 

 from outside the state. The centers of largest coal production, in Frank- 

 lin and Williamson counties, which in 1921 produced 29.3 per cent of all 

 coal mined in the state, are contiguous to the largest timbered area in the 

 state containing the greatest percentage of non-agricultural land. Rather 

 than be forced to pay excessive freight on these low-grade materials, 

 these mines will always offer an active market for locally grown timber. 

 The higher the freight charges the greater the margin in favor of local 

 supplies. As the cost of cutting and transportation to the railroad is 

 apt to be similar for similar conditions, what would otherwise be paid 

 m freight becomes available either as reduced cost to the mines, increased 

 profit to the contractor or jobber who pin-chases the timbers, or increase 

 in the stunipage value of the timber itself. The closer the competition 

 and the greater the scarcity of timber, the greater the proportion of this 

 margin which will be secured by the owner of the timber in the form 

 of stumpage value. 



