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A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



TABLE 4. Lumber consumed in fabricated products and by wood-using industries, 

 1912 and 1928 Continued 



The first four items boxes and crates, car construction, furniture, 

 and vehicles represent roughly 80 percent of the total factory con- 

 sumption for 1928. Requirements for these 4 increased 9 percent 

 from 1912 to 1928, whereas requirements for the other 50 items, 

 which account for only 20 percent of total consumption, decreased 

 about 1.5 billion feet, or, roughly, 40 percent. 



BOXES AND CRATES 



Consumption of lumber for boxes and crates is by far the largest 

 item in factory consumption of lumber, and in 1928 it amounted to 

 nearly half the total. The 1928 consumption, while 10 percent 

 greater than that in 1912, represents a decline of 18 percent from a 

 peak of 6 billion board feet in 1914, and this despite a 25 percent 

 increase since 1918 in tonnage of package freight. The competition 

 of fiber boxes accounts for the difference. 



Competition between lumber and fiber board for boxes rests 

 chiefly on costs to the user. The average wooden box weighs about 

 three times as much as a fiber box of the same size. Freight and 

 handling charges on the wooden box, however, may be somewhat 

 less than three times what they are on the fiber box, because the 



