National Conference on Forest Products 49 
bling points in the Central States, or or in price. Then, and only then, 
whether shipped from the hardwood will human ingenuity be influenced to 
forests of the South. What is true of give such thought to the subject as 
hardwood will also necessarily be will change conditions in the manu- 
true of the various kinds of softwood. facture, the curing, and the remanu- 
Compare for a moment the saving facture to finished sizes to fit the ulti- 
in freight alone to-day as against 30 mate consumer's immediate wants. 
years ago. Then the lumber that was In connection with southern yellow 
used from Chicago to Boston was pine we, of course, manufacture lath 
largely produced from what was at both our plants in the usual way, 
known as the Great Lakes territories, and, in addition, in common with at 
from Canada to Duluth, and was least one of our neighbors, manufac- 
transported by boat in the rough, and ture broom-handle stock. There are 
many times green without being sea- Very few southern mills that go to 
soned, at an average freight of not to the extent we do in the utilization of 
exceed $2 per thousand. You can ap- lumber. In the sawmills we save 
preciate that under such circum- lumber 2 inches wide and 3 feet long. 
stances there was no incentive to build We also make plaster lath 32 and 48 
cutting-up plants adjoining the saw- inches; blanks for broom and mop 
mills. First, lumber was very cheap, handles, which take 1 by 1 inch and 
and second, the transportation cost 5/4 by 5/4 inches, 2 to 4 feet long, 
was practically - nothing. Lumber and a few: 50 inches long. We have 
could be transported from any of these been two years building and adding 
points to Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, or to our cutting-up mill at Lumberton, 
Buffalo at practically the same price, where we work into merchantable 
and then by canal boat to New York lumber low-grade stock, broken pieces, 
City at about $1.25 more. and material that would largely go 
Think of the comparison in freight into the burner, and that do go into 
rates to-day. From any of our South- the burner of the average yellow-pine 
ern States, on air-dried yellow pine, mill Ninety-five per cent of the yel- 
the average freight rate is, to that low-pine mills in the South, of our 
same territory, about 42 cents. The class (that is, band mills), could uti- 
freight would be on an average $11 lize their stock as closely as we do. 
per thousand, or over 500 per cent To illustrate, there are mills cutting 
more than formerly. From the Pacific timber exactly like ours and on the 
coast, where next we must turn for Clark international rule; they do not 
lumber, the average freight rates to get any over-run, or not to exceed 5 
the same territory would be about 90 per cent on their estimate, whereas 
cents. The lumber weighing a little Wwe get as much as 20 per cent over- 
bit less, the freight would be less; it run. This over-run is a check on our 
would be about $20 per thousand, or utilization methods. . 
ten times as much as formerly. If The trimmings in the planing mill 
there were nothing but a saving in are saved and in our cutting-up mill 
freight to consider, therefore, there are worked into small-dimension stock. 
would be an incentive for cutting-up In 95 per cent of the southern yellow- 
mills at the original point of manufac- pine mills these trimmings are used 
ture. Many kinds of lumber could be for fuel or sold for firewood. 
kiln-dried and cut up into finished So far, our operations in our cutting- 
sizes and shipped at a saving in the up plant have not done much better 
quantity of lumber to make up a cer- than break even from a financial stand- 
tain given size; the average quality of point, but we have a long run ahead 
the material would be greatly im- of us; we are practically through our 
proved, which would be another sav- experimental stage, and we believe 
ing: also a greater amount of lumber that our utilization will, in the end, 
could be gotten out of the log, a still be profitable. ; 
greater saving; and then a saving in In our large mill plant at Virginia, 
freight—all of which computed would Minn, where we manufacture white 
mean a saving per thousand greater pine and mixed woods, we have sought 
than what 30 years ago the finished the better utilization of wood for many 
lumber cost the manufacturer. years through different forms of di- 
Such things, as I stated before, only mension. At that mill plant we manu- 
come to light through changed con- facture over 600 different kinds and 
ditions where the raw material is fur- sizes of lumber and dimension. As 
ther moved from the point of con- embraced in this particular paper, our 
sumption or reassembling; and when utilization of short sizes and other- 
such changes take place an incentive wise waste lumber for box lumber is 
can be given for a saving in quantity probably most in line with your