COSTS AND STATISTICS 555 



E. Current administrative expenses. 



(a) Salaries of administrative officers; 

 (6) Expenses of sales and advertising department. 

 C. Current factory costs. 



c 1. Cement materials; 

 (a) Raw materials \ 2. Coal; 



(.3. Gypsum; 

 (6) Supplies and repairs; 



(c) Labor; 



(d) Mill-office and laboratory expenses. 



Cost of land and quarries. The cost of land, including under this 

 head both the land on which to locate the plant and also the land con- 

 taining the supplies of raw material, is naturally the most variable 

 item of the lot. Much will depend on the manner in which the nego- 

 tiations are conducted. When marl lands are hunted with the aid of 

 a brass band and a press bureau prices as high as $40 per acre (contain- 

 ing about 9 feet of workable marl) have been paid. On the other hand, 

 lands located on transportation routes and underlaid by 40 feet of lime- 

 stone and more than enough shale have been purchased as farming land 

 at about $5 per acre, the seller concealing from the guileless purchaser 

 the fact that the soil was too thin for good farming. In the Lehigh 

 district, where little cement land remains unbought, prices varying 

 from $100 to $500 per acre have been quoted, but I have no means of 

 determining the true average value of land in this district. 



Examination of a number of prices paid for land by cement-plants 

 shows that, considering both area and workable thickness, the price 

 paid usually falls between \ and ^ cent per cubic yard of raw material. 

 Land for the plant itself may be expensive, for good mill-sites are scarce. 



In this connection it may be well to recall some estimates previously 

 made on the amount of raw material required by a plant. It was stated 

 that each kiln of a dry-process plant will use about 190,000 cubic feet of 

 limestone per year, equal to a thickness of 4| feet over an acre, plus 

 80,000 cubic feet of shale or clay, equivalent to an acre 2 feet thick. 

 A wet-process plant will use about 450,000 cubic feet of marl (measured 

 in place) plus about 45,000 cubic feet of clay or shale. In buying 

 quarry lands for a new plant, at least a twenty-year supply of workable 

 raw material should be secured. 



Cost of equipment and erection. Exclusive of the cost of land, the 

 cost of equipping and erecting a good plant will usually fall within the 

 limits of $50,000 to $80,000 per kiln. These limits may seem wide, but 



