lO 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



consi(l<Ti-<l. Ju<l):iii;.' frmu llu- s\\\< In Mil-. 

 that tin- I'jiuses of the |ii><>|ilf's iliscmitciit 

 wpro till- trusts, the liilior uiilniis, i'l>-. 

 But If all tlioso tliliip* \von> .•Iliiilimi<-«1 

 man \vo\iUI lio Just as illscontt'nti'*! as cvi-r. 

 IIcM liiiil soint'tliiiiK to klik about. 



•Why:" a man says In irilcv.-tl siir|irlsi". 

 "1 Kavf my laliorlm.' pcipU- tlms aii<l s<> 

 nnil still tlicy an- not contonitil." 



Certainly they an> not ami they never 

 will Ik'. It Is Imnian nature to !«• ill.seon- 

 tentoil. 



To make a praetlcal appllentlon of tills 

 troth to our own line we will remhiil the 

 National Uanlwootl I-umber Assoelalion. 

 the HiHilwood Manufaetun-rs" .\ssoeiatlon 

 and other IuuiIkt assoeiatlons that they 

 must not expeet ever to pet their orpiniza- 

 tlons on sueh a hasis that they may sit 

 down and say: "That Is t;o<Kl enoii«li: il"' 

 people will he satistleU with it." 



The people never will lie satislied. They 

 arc wnstantly striviuf; for somethinii l>et- 

 tor and the assoelation that does not reeop- 

 nlze that fact and does not eonstantly 

 Strive to give them somethinj: better will 

 soon die of non-supiiort. 



GENERAL HABDWOOD CONDITION to. 

 Hardwoud lunilier is moviiij; more freely 

 than it was W (hiys apo. The railroads 

 an- doing their duty more promptly and 

 there hxs t)een a general easing up all 

 along the line. Imt prii'es have remained 

 firm. 



Hardwowl hnnher has l.een advancing 

 Steadily in price now for over a year, and 

 In some instances had reached a point be- 

 yond all reason. Some of those top-notcli 

 prices have weakeneil a trifle, as it was 

 certain they would with a normal move- 

 ment of freight, but otherwise prices have 

 been well maintaine<l. When to a scarcity 

 of di-y storks and a very strong demand 

 ■was added such a condition of railroad 

 affairs as made it a lUi-day job to get lum- 

 ber from the South into Chicago, a tic- 

 titious value was given to certain special 

 stocks of which the central markets were 

 bare. With a i-eturn of more nearly nor- 

 ma! freight conditions this fictitious value 

 has given place to a true value. base<l upon 

 supply and demand, and has given the 

 consumers an opportunity to claim that 

 the market is declining. This claim they 

 ar; making in a strenuous manner, with- 

 out, as we believe, any warrant for so 

 doing. 



The dealer may not now be able to 

 obtain .?.S0 a thousand for (juartered oak 

 ii; Chicago, but ho has never contended 

 that that was the price. He may have 

 obtained that much during the famine 

 occasioned by the freight blockade, but he 

 knew at the time that such a price was 

 "just a little piece off the top" that came 

 to him as a result of a temporary condi- 

 tion. Nobody expected such a price to lie 

 maintained. 



So, although some of the excessively 

 high prices obtainable sixty days ago are 



i,.ii i.liiMliiiilile now, till' uenenil miiil.il 

 .1. millions as reiiardh supply ami diMuand 

 rimalii unchnhgeil. The fonwumpllon of 

 hnidwood lumber giM-s nn-rrlly on, the de- 

 mand Is strong and the supply Is light. 



The fact Hint the mi>ve nt of lumber 



Is somewhat freer than a Hliorl lliue ago 

 has li-d some eoiiKlimers lo bellevi- that tile 

 relative coiidllloiis of supply and demand 

 have changed and lliey me holding off, 

 hepliig Ihal stock can Ik- had eheaiii-r later 

 on. a hope which, we bell.-ve, will not 

 fruitlfy. 



Kroiii a general survey of tin- entire 

 lield. baseil oil tile best obtainable In- 

 fiirmation. we believe that the position of 

 barilwood lumber is Just as strong to-day 

 as it ever was. A sirong attempt will 

 doubtless be iiiade in the next si.\ty days 

 lo depress prices to enable some of the 

 c< nsnmei-s to load up at reduced rates, but 

 oni advice is fiM- the lumbermen to stand 

 tirm all along the lini'. 



The very fact that lumbermen have been 

 gttling good prices during the past six 

 months may make it easy to persuade 

 some of them that there should be. ami 

 really is. a reaction, but we see nolhing 

 to justify such a contention. 



Ill the oak market there has been no 

 luiigress made that we can learn of to- 

 Wi.iil accumulating stocks. The roads 

 have been very bad lliroughoiit all the oak 

 producing sections all season. Excessive 

 r:'ins have also, while keeping the roads 

 bad. put the farmers ba<k with their work. 

 so that there will be no log hauling until 

 afler harvest. Tlieic is probably a gocMl 

 lUal of oak lumber back from the rail- 

 roads at little mills which will come for- 

 ward the latter part of .Inly and August, 

 but in the present barren condition of the 

 markets there will not be enough of it to 

 constitute a burdensome surplus. 



.Vuother strong feature in the oak situa- 

 tion is the fact that the farmers are very 

 prosperous at this time and that they have 

 an intelligent appreciation of what oak 

 trees are worth. And if the saw mill man 

 d(iesn"t want to pay what they think the 

 timber is worth they simply don't sell it. 

 It is true that many large protlucers of 

 oak lumber are in no wise dependent on 

 the farmers for their log sujiply. but we 

 wisli to assure you that a very large per- 

 centage of the annual jiroduct of oak lum- 

 ber comes from mills which are dependent 

 u;i liuying from the farmers. 



We fail to see any reason for any let 

 down in the price of oak lumber. 



In poplar the price situation is about 

 stationary. The advance which has been 

 in progress for a year may be said to lie 

 cl'.ecked. In all reason it had to stoji 

 somewhere, for the point reached iu some 

 gnides and thicknesses was what a south- 

 ern darky would call "scan'lous." As is 

 the case in quartered oak. some of those 

 top notch prices obtained in the past sixty 

 days cannot be obtained at present, but 

 ^\e regard the poplar situation as strong. 



1 .IV, .nil. I.- lilies hav brought out a large 

 supply of louN lo llic ilxer mills, but as 

 they were brouglil mil ileaii Ihey consti- 

 tute the loliil visible supply for some lime 



t ,111,., and If geii.ial business holds us 



giKKl as It Is at liresciil llicre Is no reas<ui 

 why poplar hnnber should not bring as 

 goiHl prices In the ii'M year as 11 has In 

 the past. 



.Vs for ciillonwood. even lliiwe who are 

 eNpiM-IIng 111 get loiicessioii In price on 

 oak and poplar are not appaienlly exiieet- 

 ing to gel cotloiiwood at prices lower than 

 at present prevail. Shve In excepllonal 

 eases It Is nearly a foregone (mucIusIoii 

 that eotlonwiMKi has gone up tti stay. 



In gum lumber the supply has In- 

 crensiil iM-r.vpllbly in the past thirty days 

 and prices are soiiiewlial weaker. 



In northern hardwoods, such as maple, 

 birch ami elm, there Is an easier feeling. 

 .Ni.vlgntlon has been open long enough 

 for the scarcity which prevailed through 

 the winter and early spring months to be 

 relieved. The relief is only temporary, 

 however. 



Our opinion, based on the best advices 

 obtainable, is that the season's cut of hard- 

 woods in the North will be under rather 

 Ihan over the average, and while there Is 

 an abnudance of slock just at present 

 there will only be a certain amount avail- 

 able for Hie season with which to meet 

 all demands until navigation opens next 

 spring, and if consumption continues at 

 anything like the present^ volume northern 

 hardwoods will be as scarce in the city 

 miirkets next winter as they were last. 



The fact of the matter is that the ex- 

 treme scarcity, due in large part to 

 freight blockade, as regards southern hanl- 

 woods. has been relieviMl to some extent, 

 and the arrival of millions of feet of north- 

 »'ri'. hardwoiKls by boat has started some 

 talk of lower prices in the near future, but 

 so far as we are able to determine it is 

 mostly talk with nothing substantial to 

 justify it. There is but little change in 

 111! condition of demand and supply. 



Ill the eternal warfare wage<l by the pro- 

 ducers to advance iirices and the con- 

 sumers to de|iress tlieiii. I he position of the 

 lucilucers is as strong as ever. A few of 

 the skiriiiisliers have been driven in but 

 the iii.iiii liody Is as strongly entrenched as 

 e\er. 



-Ml this talk that a reaction has set in 

 and that prices are to be lower had as 

 well stop. 



The lumber is not in the country. If 

 you think it is you start out and try to 

 tinil it. 



The .1. W. Hickson Coinp.uiy. successors 

 of the J. W. Dickson Lumber Company, 

 have .sold their \ ear's output, consisting 

 mainly of gum and cotton wood, to the ,1. O, 

 Nessen I^umber Company. Mr. Dickson is 

 an expert in the manufacture of the kinds 

 of wood above mentioned. 



