PRODUCTION OF LUMBER, LATH, AND SHINGLES IN 1918, 3 
all of the years are not directly comparable, since the intensiveness 
of the individual annual canvass made must be taken into considera- 
tion. In the enumerations for 1899 and 1909, field agents of the 
Bureau of the Census were employed, which permitted the output of 
nearly all, if not all, mills being recorded. The reported cut and the 
estimated total cut for 1918 are the smallest for any one of the 
years shown. 
LUMBER PRODUCTION BY CLASSES OF MILLS. 
As in previous years, the mills were arbitrarily divided into classes 
according to the quantity reported cut. These classes are shown in 
Table 2, with the computed! number of mills operating and the com- 
puted total production for each of the last five years—1914 to 1918, 
inclusive. 
More than two-thirds of the aggregate output of the country’s 
sawmills was produced by 1,290 mills, or but 5.7 per cent of the 22,546, 
or computed total number, in operation. The concentration of 
production among the larger operations—mills cutting 10,000,000 
feet and over annualiy—has increased materially during the last 
decade. In 1909, this class of mills produced 43.09 per cent of the 
total cut for the year, while in 1918 the same class of mills cut 59.49 
per cent of the total. In 1918, the number of class 5 mills operating 
was about 100 less than for the year before; a number of class 5 mills 
in 1917 became class 4 mills in 1918 through their cut falling below 
10,000,000 feet. 
Figures on sawmill capacity with relation to actual production, 
arranged by classes of mills and by States, are contained in Table 3. 
The compilation is based upon answers to a question on the lumber 
cut schedule sent to the mills as to how much lumber the reporting mill 
could produce in a 10-hour shift if demand and price were very favor- 
able. While not all of the returns contained an answer, the number 
of replies is sufficiently large to furnish an excellent basis for the 
table. Local conditions of a wide variety, with climatic conditions 
dominating, account for the considerable variation in the average 
number of 10-hour days operated by the mills in different States, and 
in the average yearly output per mill. The theory held generally by 
operators that the larger mills, such as those falling into class 5, 
operate closer to capacity than do the mills in the lower classes is 
supported by the figures in the tabulation. A computed average 
figure for the country as a whole is omitted, since there was no 
logical common basis for it. | 
1“Computed,”’ as used in this bulletin, expresses results obtained by the extension of figures based on 
actual returns so as to show totals for approximately allsawmills whether or not reports were received from 
them. 
