HARDWOOD DISTILLATION 215 



2 firemen for the ovens. 



4 men in the dry kiln. 



4 men to charge and draw trucks or cars. 



1 extra man about the piping. 



2 men in the wood yard handling wood. 



1 foreman. 



This makes a total of 18 men on the 24-hour shift, that is, there are 

 13 men on during the day and 5 during the night. This list does not 

 include the teamsters used in drawing the wood from the chopping area to 

 the storage yards. 



At a 2-oven plant there were 1 2 men employed beside the superintend- 

 ent. All of these men were common labor paid in 1916 at the rate of 

 $1.50 per day. The firemen were on eight-hour shifts and all others 

 were on ten-hour shifts. The following shows the number of men re- 

 quired on this particular operation: 



2 still house men, i on the night and the other on the day shift. 



2 kiln men, i on the night and i on the day shift. 



3 firemen in eight-hour shifts each. 



3 oven men to load wood on cars or coal screener. 

 3 extra handy men. 



The labor cost per cord varies very much. In two plants the costs 

 were $1.15 and $1.18 per cord, respectively. At other plants the labor 

 cost is sometimes as high as $1.50 to $1.70 per cord. The labor charge is 

 considerably higher, of course, in the cylindrical retort plants than in 

 the oven plants due to the reasons given above. 



Depreciation Charges. 



Owing to the intense heat required to distill the wood, and the acid 

 nature of the products, depreciation charges on the ovens, retorts, cars 

 and distilling apparatus are very heavy. Ovens usually last only from 

 three to twelve years. The coolers last much longer as a rule, and the 

 wood cars last from twelve to twenty years. Altogether a depreciation 

 charge of from 50 cents to $1.00 per cord is customary at most of the 

 plants. However, the usual charge is likely to be nearer $1.00 than the 

 lower figure. 



The life of the copper apparatus is about ten to twelve years and there 

 is considerable salvage on old copper. 



