PRODUCTION OF LUMBER, LATH, AND SHINGLES IN 1917. 5 
Attention is directed to the increasingly large per cent of the 
total production contributed by the bigger operations. In 1909, 
mills cutting 10,000,000 feet and over produced 43.09 per cent of the 
total cut for the year, while in 1917 this same class of mills cut 61.81 
per cent of the total. Though special efforts are made to secure a 
report for each big operation, which makes the figures for the two 
larger classes of mills more complete than for those of the three lower 
classes, the concentration of production among the larger mills is 
undoubtedly on the increase. 
Figures on sawmill production and sawmill capacity, arranged 
by classes of mills and by States, are contained in Table 3. The 
bases for these data were the answers to a question on the lumber 
cut schedule as to how much lumber the reporting mill coulicl produce 
in a 10-hour shift if demand and price were very favorable. While the 
question was more or less hypothetical, a sufficient number of replies 
was received to indicate the condition. A considerable variation is 
noted in the average number of 10-hour days operated by the mills 
in different States, and also in the average yearly output per mill. 
The table shows that the mills in the fifth class operate closer to 
capacity than do the mills in the lower classes, which bears out a 
theory held by operators generally. No attempt has been made to 
compute average figures for the country as a whole, since conditions 
governing the industry are so divergent as to render a computed 
average misleading. 
The cut by classes of mills arranged by States is given in Table 4, 
which shows not only the importance of the industry of each State 
but the concentration of large mills in certain regions. Of the 894 
class 5 mills reporting their output for 1917, 124 were located in 
Louisiana, 69 in Mississippi, 55 in Texas, 45 in Arkansas, and 39 in 
Alabama. In the Lake States group 50 were in Wisconsin, 36 in 
Michigan, and 24 in Minnesota. In the western States 124 were in 
Washington, 58 in Oregon, and 39 in California and Nevada. 
These 12 States have an aggregate of 663 class 5 mills, or 75 per 
cent of the total reporting for all the States. By contrast they 
contain only 21 per cent of the total number of class 1 mills reporting 
or 2,199 class 1 mills; whereas three other States — Virginia, North 
Carolina, and South Carolina — have 1,937 class 1 mills, or nearly as 
many as the 12 States. 
