The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-12-02
POLES PURCHASED.
Preliminary Comparative Report for 1911
Issued by the Census Bureau.

| Washington. D.sC., Dec, "a prelim-
mary statement showing the number of
poles purchased by the telephone and
telegraph. steam and electric railroad,
and electric light and power companies
in the United States during the years
| 1911, 1910, 1909, zoos and 1907 was is.
sued Saturday by Director +. Dana
| Durand of the bureau of the census, de-
partment of commerce and labor. The
report was prepared under the direction
/ of William NJ. Steuart, chief statistcian
for manufactures, by Jasper f. WHEEL
chel The data were collected in co.
operation with the forest service of the
/ department of agriculture, and form one
OF series of annual reports regarding
the lumber and timber Industries.
Decrease in Number of Poles Purchased.
While the total purchases OF poles in
1911 was less than those for 1910 and
1909 by 452,6T4 and 320720 respectively,
1t exceeded the totals for 1908 and 1907
by l6S.S66 and l34,T52 respectively.
The decrease in the 1911 totals as com
pared with that for the preceding year
was confined entirely to a falling off in
purchases by telephone and telegraph
companies and steam railroads, while d
substantial increase in purchases was
made by electric railroads and electric
light and power companies. The de-
crease in 1911 in purchases reported by
the telephone and telegraph companies
was not general, being confined in the !
main to states in which there was more /
than usual activity in the construction |
of telephone lines during 1910.
OF the total reported purchases in |
1911, namely. 3,4ls020, 2,402, T24 or T0.3 /
per cent were made by the telephone |
and telegraph companies; 7s7.649 or %
per cent. by the Electric railroad. light /
and power companies, and 227, 847 or
CT per cent. by the steam railroads.
Leading Varieties of Wood Used.
During the five-year period covered by
the report, the total purchase of poles
was l7,559s78 OF which cedar contrib
uted 1881 ,l52, or 64.2 per cent; chest
nut, 3,l25 .403, or lis per cent. oak
93s,s74, or So per cent; pine, 79s .662,
or As per cent, and cypress, 4l707s,
or "a per cent. While these five vari.
cites of wood have led in supplying pole
material during each Of the five years
covered, having furnished 1861 1860, or
n43 per cent, of the total, the tendency
which has been noted for several years
to substitute less expensive woods for
most Of them continued during 1911.
With decrease in the number Of poles
reported from all woods in 1911 as COM
pared with 1910 of only III per cent, .
he loss in cedar was 1876 per cent; in q
,ak 24.S per cent. in pine, 1874 per =,
'ent, and in cypress, 3.3 per cent. A a
light gain however, was made by chest
nut, Of "a per cent. OF the seven other
woods separately shown in the state
nent, nearly all of the poles cut from
edwood tamarack. Usage orange, and To- I
ust were reported by telephone com '
,anies. In all, IS different species of r
imber contributed to the total pole pur- h
base in 1911.
Prescrvative Treatment of Poles. D
During 1911 there were 656,504 poles .
eported as having been given some kind 1
{ preseryative treatment. This number =
needed the total for 1907 by 260,305, r
hat for zoos by 3l2, ll6, and that for ;,
200 by 1888, but was less than the
lumber reported as having been treated
i 1910 by l6s.l69. The principal woods
rested in 1911 were cedar, yellow pine
nd chestnut, while smaller though inn b
ortant percentages are also shown for ~
niper oak, sypress, Douglas fir, and hI
estern pine. Ii