Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-05-24
THE SMALLER MANUFACT URES
OF LUMBER

it is felled in the fol est, cut into logs,
skidded, banked, and finally driven
down into the booms, RATED to tue
mill, sawed into lumbers shipped to
the east, and then planned or recut into
smaller and finer shapes, we should
probably be surprised to find how
small 4 part of this preparation for
final use is done here, n great many
would unquestionably be astonished
at the state of the profit account be-
tween tue maker Of the rough lumber
and the manufacturer who performs
the finer fnanipulations. Yet the |
fact that the latter has the best end
ofthe ope ration will be apparent after
moments reflection, even without
the actual figures. A common door
is made of Cat a very liberal estimate)
80 feet of lumber, and sells for $3.50.
One thousand feet of lumber wonld
therefore make $83 worth Of doors.
The difference between that sum and
the cost of the rough lumber repre-
sents the value added by the manu-
facture. Say the lumber costs $40 ;
then we have $63 as the margin upon
which the manufacturer can figure.
But this calculation is net al accurate
one, inasmuch as the one thousand
feet of lumber will not be entirely
consumed in the manufacture of the
$83 worth Of doors. There will be
strips aid small pieces, out of which
sash of various sizes, or other small
articles can be made. This is the
common practice in manufacture,
and the strips and pieces are culled
several times for material for different
articles, before the leavings are final
~ abandoned.
1t is evident enough, then, that the
principal value of articles made Of
pine lumber Is given to them after
the material leaves the saw mill. If
there is a profit in the $40 which rep
resents the value of the rough lumber,
how much profit should there be in
the $63 which the smaller manufac-
turer adds when he turns out the one
thousand feet made into doors? The
best answer to this, perhaps, is a
mere reference to the hundreds Of
manufactures all over the country.
which are supplied with the raw mate
rial by our mills, and whose owners
grow rich upon their products,
A question which will very natural
~ arise, when the above facts are con-
sidered, is, why are not the smaller
manufactures of lumber more extern
siyely engaged in here? There are
several reasons, the principal one,
perhaps, being the fact that induce
ments to invest all available capital
in pine lands have been so strong as
to divert attention from this and many
other promising schemes. There is,
however, q somewhat marked change
in this respect Of late, and it is now
evident that more attention IS to b.
given to the matter hereafter. In
the Saginaw Valley there are already
q number Of establishments for dress
ing lumber and working it up into va
sious articles. A prominent business
man of the same locality, thoroughly
acquainted with the whole subject,
has recently decided in favor of a
saw mill of moderate capacity, but
having connected with it machinery
for dressing it's products and working
it into various shapes. That is the
manifest tendency at present, and
hereafter we shall probably see such
establishments springing up with in
creasing rapidity from year to year.
1t is subject which should COM
mend itself with peculiar force to
. those mill owners whose supply of
standing pine is fixed, inasmuch as
they may even increase their annual
business by the finer manipulations OF
lumber, while decreasing the yearly
consumption Of logs.-Lumbern1an' s
CARTE.
Is not the same true Of the Connec-
ticut Valley, and the excellent spruce
and pine lumber which is every spring
foated down the river to supply the
demands of the manufacturing towns
in Massachusetts and other States
are not the owners Of timbered lands
in Essex and Coos Counties, paying
to heavy tribute to the enterprise
and capital which is building and sus
tanning villages and cities ON the low
er Connecticut? Why not encourag,
home enterprise and the investmen
of capital and the employment of la
Dor Ill the vicinity where you ma,
share III the ppoftof the manufacture
instead of sending the material from
your own county to be manufactured
and thus losing the active bushes
prosperity and the increased valu
Of real estate and other propert
which the manufacture of the lumbe
which Essex and Coos Counties sur
ply to the Massachusetts market