The costs of ground wood in slush form are the most significant, as practically all of the mechanical pulp produced by domestic mills is used in that form in integrated pulp-paper mills. To mills interested in shipping or storing ground wood, the costs of lapping are significant. Table 112 shows the number of ground-wood mills covered by the cost investigation, the quantities of ground wood produced by these mills, and the average costs of production in slush and lapped form in 1934 and the first 9 months of 1935.

It will be seen that there is no marked difference between the costs of slush pulp in the Northeastern and Pacific coast regions, the lower cost of wood in the latter being offset by higher conversion costs. Costs in the Lake and Central region, which cover only a small quantity of pulp, are higher.

TABLE 112.—Wood pulp: Number of ground-wood mills covered by cost investigation, quantities of pulp produced, and average cost of production of ground wood in slush and lapped form in these mills in 1934 and 1935 (January to September, inclusive)

TABLE 112.-Wood pulp: Number of ground-wood mills covered by cost investigation, quantities of pulp produced, and average cost of production of ground wood in slush and lapped form in these mills in 1984 and 1935 (January to September, inclusive)—Continued

1 Lapping cost data were not obtained from a sufficient number of mills in this region to permit publication. Source: Data obtained by U. S. Tariff Commission in this investigation.

The cost of production figures given for ground wood in the three regions may have been affected in considerable degree by the differences in the types of mills producing this product and by the different qualities of their mechanical pulp. The ground-wood mills in the Northeastern region from which costs were secured produced, on the average, larger quantities per mill than those in the Lake and Central and Pacific coast regions. In the case of the Lake and Central region, moreover, several of the mills from which costs were obtained produced relatively small quantities of mechanical pulp, chiefly for use in the manufacture of special papers made in their integrated paper plants. In the Northeastern region the ground-wood mills whose costs were investigated generally produced mechanical pulp in large quantities for use in the manufacture of newsprint and other similar papers.

PART II. PULPWOOD

TARIFF HISTORY

Pulpwood has been specially provided for on the free list in each general tariff act beginning with the act of 1897. The provisions relating to imports of pulpwood under the Tariff Act of 1909 and under subsequent legislation and the trade agreement of 1936 with Canada are set forth in full in appendix I, page 277.

DESCRIPTION OF PULPWOOD AND UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

CONDITION IN WHICH WOOD IS RECEIVED BY PULP MILLS

Pulpwood is a term covering any wood which is to be reduced to wood pulp. Such wood is received by pulp mills in the form of bolts, logs, mill waste, chips, or in other state of preparation.

Most pulpwood is shipped direct from the timber areas where cut to the mills in the form of round or split bolts, or of small logs. Bolts received at the mills with the bark on are designated "rough", as is all wood received in the form of logs. Wood from which the bark has been removed by hand tools before it leaves the woods is designated as "peeled." Bolts cleaned by rossing machines are referred to as "rossed." Some mills also obtain wood in the form of slabs or other waste of lumber mills. In the eastern and southern sections of the country most of the wood is received by pulp mills in one or another of the conditions described above, but a small amount is a byproduct of chemical plants using wood as material; chestnut chips from which tannin has been extracted, for instance, are used by a few pulp mills.

In the Pacific coast region, part of the wood for reduction into pulp is received by the mills in the conditions described above, but several mills in that region obtain much of their wood in large logs and operate "cut-up plants" to cut the logs into pieces or sizes capable of being taken by the grinders and chippers of the pulp mills. Some of these "cut-up plants" are sawmills and produce lumber as well as wood in forms suitable for pulp mills. In such sawmills, logs of certain species may be cut principally or entirely for lumber, while logs of other species are cut entirely for pulpwood. From other logs the clear stock may go into lumber, leaving the parts less suitable for lumber to be used as pulpwood. The distribution of the logs between lumber and pulpwood may depend not only on the species but also on the state of the lumber and pulp markets, respectively. Chipped wood prepared for introduction into the chemical digesters of pulp mills is another form in which some Pacific coast mills receive part of their wood supplies. The development of this source of supply is the result of the installation of chipping plants in some of the lumber mills for the more economic utilization of waste suitable for reduction to wood pulp.

UNITS IN WHICH QUANTITIES OF PULPWOOD ARE EXPRESSED

The unit in which quantities of pulpwood are usually expressed is the cord. The standard cord is 128 cubic feet, or a stack of piled wood 4 by 4 by 8 feet. At certain mills the nominal cord consists of a

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pile of wood 135, 150, or 160 cubic feet. These mills specify that cord wood for delivery to them shall be in lengths of more than 4 feet, the other dimensions to be the same as for the standard cord. Even with adjustments for such departures from the standard unit, the cord is only an approximate measure of quantity. The actual wood content of a standard cord varies with the average diameter of the pieces of wood, the care with which the wood is stacked, and the number of crooked pieces. It also depends upon whether or not the wood has been barked.

The measurement of pulpwood in the form of logs is made on the basis of the length and diameter of the log, and the quantities are expressed in log scale, i. e., the approximate quantities of lumber which may be sawed therefrom. A thousand feet, log scale, may be regarded as roughly the equivalent of two cords, though actually variations occur by reason of different log scales, and species and sizes of logs.

Quantities of pulpwood chips are frequently expressed at the pulp mills in terms of "units" of 200 cubic feet of loosely packed chips; such unit is equivalent to from 0.83 to 0.85 of a cord.

The figures shown in this report for consumption, imports, and exports of pulpwood are expressed in standard cords, irrespective of the units in which individual pulp mills refer, in their own bookkeeping, to the quantities of wood received.

PRODUCTION, IMPORTS, AND EXPORTS

PRODUCTION

About 7,000,000 cords of wood are used annually for reduction to pulp by mills in the United States. Ten to fifteen percent of this amount is imported, almost entirely from Canada. Small quantities of pulpwood are exported each year to Canada; these consist of wood moving only short distances from certain sections of the United States to nearby Canadian pulp mills.

Table 113 gives a summary of official statistics covering consumption of pulpwood by United States pulp mills, imports, apparent domestic production, and exports. The basic data in the table are derived from two sources: (1) Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States, (2) Census of Manufactures, Bureau of the Census. The figures for imports of pulpwood as reported by the Customs Service have in recent years steadily exceeded, by substantial amounts, those for consumption of imported wood reported by the Census. It is possible that the Census reports show considerably smaller consumption of imported wood than has actually been the case, either because the imported wood of certain species used for pulpwood only in small quantities is not reported separately in the Census reports or because pulp mills in reporting to the Census have not themselves been able to determine how much of the wood actually used by them in a specific period was of domestic or foreign origin and have reported it all as domestic.

Data on the production of pulpwood are not collected by the Bureau of the Census because of the difficulties in obtaining reports from thousands of small producers, many of whom cut only a few cords each. Domestic production can be approximately estimated, however, by deducting from reported total consumption the reported

consumption of imported pulpwood or the reported imports of pulpwood. Actual production of pulpwood may differ from apparent production so calculated because of the variation in year-end inventories of pulpwood either at the pulp mills or elsewhere. However, the figures shown in the table for imports and apparent domestic production doubtless roughly indicate the relative importance of domestic and imported pulpwood as raw material for the United States pulp industry.

It will be seen that the proportion of imported pulpwood in consumption during recent years has been decidedly smaller than before the war and somewhat smaller than during the decade following the war. The increased dependence of the United States on foreign sources for its paper requirements has been shown by increased importation of wood pulp and of newsprint paper rather than of pulpwood.

TABLE 113.-Pulpwood: Summary of United States consumption, imports, and exports

1 Spruce, hemlock, poplar, and balsam fir. Does not include small quantities of other species imported. Figures shown include only imported wood actually consumed.

? Imported wood not necessarily consumed in same year as entered.

3 Domestic consumption of wood, minus consumption of imported wood as reported by mills, plus exports. Fiscal year ended June 30.

Not available.

Source: Compiled from data in Census of Manufactures and Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States.

IMPORTS

Table 114 shows imports of pulpwood in quantity and value by kinds of wood and condition, that is, whether rough, peeled, or rossed, as reported by the Customs Service for the period from 1931 to 1936. Imports are predominantly of spruce in peeled form.

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