HARDWOOD RECORD 



Increased Use of Fireproof Bailding Material. 



In spite of the growing popularity and consequent remarkable 

 increase in the use of cement, steel, brick and stone as building 

 materials, they are not yet so generally employed that the time when 

 forests will not be called upon to supply the great bulk of it can be 

 foreseen. 



Building operations in forty-nine of the principal cities of the 

 United States for the year 1907 show that fifty-nine per cent were 

 of wooden construction. "While these figures represent the building 

 indtistry of the country to a certain extent it must be remembered 

 that had they included small cities, villages and suburbs, the per- 

 centage of buildings of wooden construction would have been much 

 greater. 



Had the remaining forty-one per cent of the total number been 

 built entirely of brick, stone or concrete, the figures presented would 

 be much more valuable. However, vast quantities of wood, even in 

 the so-called fireproof buildings, are used in the construction work, 

 for floors and for inside finish, although today metal is very popular 

 for the latter. 



In comparative statistics New York shows the smallest percentage 

 of wooden buildings constructed during the year, while Boston shows 

 the greatest increase of any of the cities in the total cost of building 

 operations. The rapidly increasing price of lumber, and the use of 

 fireproof systems should eventually hold down the drain upon the 

 forests materially, but so far they do not appear to have decreased 

 the lumber demand, notwithstanding the vast quantities employed. 



Contracts. 



There are a lot of people in this world who make contracts and 

 have not the last compunction about signing their name or giving 

 a specific order and then breaking their word! Fortunately, there 

 are few lumber concerns of this character. Nevertheless, 

 owing to the reduction in volume of business, many houses have 

 lately had to ask a suspension of contract. The fellow who 



.ight he 



'Cancel our order," — notwithstanding 

 had taken his business had probably 

 ade provision to take care of it during 



the fact that the man wh 

 purchased the timber and 

 the early months of 1908. 



If a contract is worth anything it should bind both parties. .\s 

 a general rule, lumber and woodworking lines have been free 

 from scalawags who deliberately refuse to live up to their side 

 of contracts; and it behooves all of us in this year 1908 to be con- 

 siderate of the other fellow and endeavor to help him along if pos- 

 sible, by not forcing material on him, or insisting upon his living 

 strictly up to the letter of his contract. However, it would seem 

 that there is no excuse for peremptory cancellation, but every 

 reason for suspending or stringing a contract along so that the 

 man who manufactures the goods will not suffer too seriously, or 

 the man who is buying be embarrassed by having to increase his 

 stock when he is not in a position to pay for it. 



The old golden rule applies in this case: "Do unto the other 

 fellow as you would he should do unto you"; but don't reverse 

 the rule! Contracts should be contracts, or else let's eliminate 

 them all from the lumber trade. 



Distribution of Hardwood Purchases. 



The following very interesting table is compiled from the bul- 

 letins of lumber requirements that have been issued by the Haed- 

 wooD Record during the past two years, and it shows the number 

 of buyers of the various kinds of hardwoods in the several states 

 listed. The items from which it is compiled are nearly 8,000 in 

 number. It is not presumed by any means that this list is com- 

 plete, as it is being added to fortnightly; but it makes a very in- 

 teresting study for hardwood lumbermen, in that it shows where 

 the bulk of the stock is distributed, for the inquiries which elic- 

 ited the information were distributed indiscriminately to all parts 

 of the United States and Canada. Note the wonderful popularity 

 of oak, maple, poplar, birch and basswood, and the large number 

 of buyers of dimension stock and veneers and panels; also observe 

 where the greatest distribution lies — Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wis- 

 consin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York. 



*The slips on bulletins show both 



white ash and black ash. 

 •Shows both red and white birch. 



'Shows gray elm, rock elm and 



1 gum and tupelo plain and quartered. 



'Shows kinds of wood and sizes. 

 'Shows kinds of wood, thicknesses 

 and sizes. 



