Arizona republican., 1909-06-07
CONSUMPT|O
 0F MILLIONS OfCordsOf Wood in the Pulp.
 Making Industry
 THE FIGURES FOR 1903 The Cost of the Material For the Year Exceeded $2S,- 000,00O--- The Kinds of Woods Used and Where it Was Brought From.
THE FIGURES FOR 1908

Washington, June 6.-Two hundred an1 fifty-One pulp mills in the In ted States used 3.346,1O6 cords of wood, and made 2,11S,947 tons ot pulp last year. Spruce has always been the leading pulp wood, and it furnished siXty-four per cent of the total quantity used. The rapid de- Yelopment of the wood pulp industry in the last ten years has rendered the domestic supply of spruce in- sufficient to meet the demands upon 1t, and consequently impOrtatiOns from Canada have been heavy. In 1908 our pulp mills consumed nearly one and one-half million cords of do- nestle spruce, and over 67O, 900 cords of imported spruce, making the inn ports of spruce forty-five per cent of the domestic supply
 Next to spruce. the most impor- tant pulp wood is hemlock, 569.173 cords of it were converted into pulp last year. All the hemlock used was of domestic origin, and most of it was produced in the lake states and Pennsylvania. Although now used in less quantity than spruce and hem lock, poplar has long been a stand ard pulp wood. "A small quantity of poplar is imported, but by far the larger portion of the more than 300,000 cords used last year was cut from domestic timber. Spruce hem lock and poplar made up ninety per cent of the total quantity of pulp wood used. The remainder was sup piled by many species, the most i'm nF TNrhfaI, wood and balsam.
 The wood used by the pulp mills last year cost them little more than $2S,000,000, or an average of 3S-3S per cord, against an average of sS.21 in 1907. The most costly wood used was imported spruce, with an average value of s1O.6O per cord. The average for domestic spruce was SS.76 per cord and for poplar, sS.O4 per cord. The cheapest wood which was used in large quantity was hem lock, the cost being S602 per cord. Owing to the uncertain business con- ditions the total consumption of pulp wood in 1908 was nearly Is per cent less than in 1907, but this did not prevent a considerable increase in the price of wood.
 The high price of wood is making the manufacturers be constantly on the lookout for cheaper raw material, and one of the most encouraging de- velopments has been the increased use of slab wood and other sawmiIl waste. This drift in the industry is clearly indicated by the fact that 193,234 cords of mill waste were re- ported as consumed in pulp manufac- ture during 1907, while 252,S cords, an increase of thirty per cent, were used in 1908.
 These statements are based upon a preliminary report of the consump- ton of pulp wood in the United States in 1908 just issued by the bureau of the census. The bureau of the cen sus and the forest service cooperate in the collection of annual statistics of forest products, and this prelim- mary report will soon be followed by a bulletin. which will give de- tailed information upon the use of pulp wood last year in the various states, the cost per cord. the amount reduced by the mechanical, sulphite and soda processes, and other facts of interest to the industry.