THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



23 



plain oak there is consideralile trading in 

 Srrcen inch on a basis of about $32 and JlL'L'. 

 bill Ihcre is pi-actieally no thicli st0(k 

 coiiiins' in. Prii-os on S-inoh oalc range ail 

 the way up to !?.•?(•> and $2G. and the mar- 

 kei is in a recoptive niontl for considerably 

 mere stock than is coniinir in. Dry stock 

 in botli Inch and thicker would bring 

 hijrher jirices than these, as the lumber is 

 Wiinted by all of the local dealers. Those 

 handlini;- car oak and other specialties 

 note an excellent trade, but are havina ' 

 some diffii-nlty in purchasing as mucii 

 slock as they need at initial points. 



There liave been sales of furniture 

 couimon gnui during the past week at -SIT. 

 with box common at .$14..50 to $lo.."iii. 

 These prices indicate the strength of the 

 market and -also show that the local peo- 

 ple do not fear an overproduction in the 

 \ery near future. In Cottonwood there 

 have been very few transactions of late, 

 liut the range of jirices is al)0Ut $21 for 

 box common and .$24 for select common. 

 Keceipts of this wood are ver.v light, .'il- 

 ti'ough heavier receipts are expected this 

 fall. Cypress is coming in very freely 

 lor a few of the larger operators, but 

 smaller dealers are having ditJiculty in ob- 

 taining that stock which they ordered 

 from the mills several months ago. Prices 

 are tirm, although it is not bejieved that 

 an advanc-e will be made within the very 

 near future. Poplar, also, is in excellent 

 shape, but is in rather poor supply in St. 

 I.ouis. All grades of hickory and upper 

 grades of ash are wanted by all of the 

 local dealers, but common ash has been 

 somewhat slow sale of late. Other woods 

 handled in this market have changed but 

 little since last report and all are com- 

 U'anding high prices. 



NEW YORK. 



It is probable that the fall business in 

 li:iril\voods will be very good, but the un- 

 settled conditions in the metropolis re- 

 garding building make the matter just a 

 probahilit.v. Outside of Xew York the 

 dealers are stocking up preparatory to 

 ■■getting busy"' in a month or two. This 

 is particularly true of door and trim. 

 They are ordering largely of these stocks, 

 while the metro[iolitan retailer shows a 

 tendency to hold off a while. He is some- 

 what afraid, but luckily, he is not a large 

 enough factor to affect the condition of 

 the market, which is generally tirm. 



This refers to all the hardwoods except 

 poi)lar, basswotKl and the others that have 

 been used to substitute for pine. These 

 threaten to sag off in i)rice somewhat, in 

 sympathy with pine, although that result 

 has not yet been arrived at. 



As regards the other woods, they are 

 more than holding their own. Quartered 

 oak, for instance, is being snapped up 

 eagerly wherever it can be found, and 

 buyers do not liesitate a moment at pay- 

 ing the price asked, which ranges from 

 $77..")0 to over .$S0 on occasion. Plain oak 

 is also very firm at .$44 to $46, while ash 

 is in good call at .$45, and chestnut is 

 steady at .$12..50. 



There is not much movement noticeable 

 in iioplar and a tendency is evidenc(>d to 

 hold off. For ones and twos $51 to $52 is 

 a fair price. 



The export trade in hardwoods continues 

 to be somewhat draggy. A partial rea- 

 son for this is that a great deal of stock 

 is going foi-ward on consignment on the 

 open market, and seeing this the foreign 

 buyer finds it hard to believe the stories 

 ho hears as to prices here. Instead of 

 realizing that conditions are firm here, he 

 thinks it is all a game of American bluff. 



MINNEAPOLIS. 



Dealers here report a fairly satisfactory 

 market in the N'ortlnvest. although the 

 factories are still buying oidy for immedi- 

 ate needs and in smail quantities. The 

 f.Ht is. much of the stock wanted by fac- 

 tories is in very scant supply, and only 

 a few dealers are able to supply quartered 

 oak if wanted, while red and white plain 

 ii.iU .ire both very hard to get, and held 

 by m.-iiiufactm-ers at stiff prices. There 

 is no weakness here in the prices of any 

 sort of hardwood. wlii( h are held (irmly to 

 list, and a dealer's business is measured 

 hy tlie amount of stpck he is able to sup- 

 ply. There is a fair run of basswood lum- 

 ber, but reports fi-om the mills lead the 

 .iobbers and large consumers to think there 

 will be another serious .shortage this .sea- 

 son. For some time there was no bas.s- 

 wood heading to be had, and coopers be- 

 gan to buy gum .stock. Basswood rose to 

 such fancy prices that some factories 

 which had shut oft' and were selling their 

 logs for lumber turned again to make 

 heading, which is now comin,g in small 

 quantities. There is a good call for birch 

 and ash, and elm finds a. ready sale. Con- 

 siderable gum is coming here now in bar- 

 rel staves and heading. It is not alto- 

 gether satisfactory, but the coopers are 

 trying to make it do. and are paying a 

 go<id iirice for it, $8,75 a thousand for 

 staves and cents for heading. 



PITTSBURG. 



AA'ith strikes and "tight" money to con- 

 tend with, the lumber market in Pittsburg 

 is keeping up remarkably well. Prices on 

 the whole are softening a little, and the 

 demand for hardwoods is not quite so 

 heavy as a month ago, but the decrease in 

 business is so slight as to cavise on un- 

 easiness among local firms. July was one 

 of the best summer months the dealers 

 have experienced for years, and there is 

 every prospct that August will make a 

 creditable record. 



The chief drawback to a big trade in 

 Pittsburg the last two weeks has been the 

 f.illing oft' in the contractors' orders, due 

 chiefly to the trouble between the con- 

 tractors and lalior unions, which threat- 

 ened to cause a complete tie-up of building 

 operation. This dispute has now been 

 settled, but not until several large orders 

 had been countermanded and the trade in 

 general had felt the eft'eet of the halt in 

 building operations. Next to this difficulty 

 the tight money market has been the most 

 serious drawback to good business. It is 

 very hard to get funds in any amount for 

 speculative purpose huilding. In fact, it 

 IS very hard to get money for even legiti- 

 mate operations or investments unless se- 

 cured by first mortgages on the very best 

 of real estate or bonded projierty. This 

 has taken the speculative builders out of 

 the field at present and just at a time 

 when there were in contemnlation building 

 projects that would have called for hun- 

 dreds of thousands of feet of lumber. It 

 is very doubtful if this condition will be 

 relieved before October 1 in Pittsburg, and 

 dealers do not look for a big lot of oiders 

 from this source. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Despite the fact that the local dealers 

 are feeling the effects of the regular sum- 

 nior sluini). the prices of nearly all stocks 

 aie holding their own with no signs of a 

 biar market. Lumbermen regard this as 

 the normal season for a slack trade and 

 are taking advantage of the inactivity 

 for their vacation trips. One of the prin- 



W. V. DaTiUson (..umber Co. Benedict Bros, 



W.V. Davidson. M.P.Greene. J. N. Hicks. 



C. H. Benedict. c. B. Benedict. 



Davidson-BenedictCo. 



Wholesale .Manufacturers and Shippers 



l.ljivibe:r 



ROUGH AND DRESSED OAK, POPLAR, 

 ASH, CHESTNUT, WALNUT, 



NASHVILLE, - TENN. 



GEORGE B.ZEARINQ 

 CO/V\PANY, 



Manufaeturersand Dealers in 



Gum, Oak, Ash 



AND COTTONWOOD. 



DE VALLS BLUFF, ARKANSAS. 



The Best of All 



The Shimer Cutter Heads 



Are made like the Illustration above, 

 which shows the Expansion feature. 

 Other styles are shown In ourcatalofjue 

 No. 24. A copy free for the asking. 



S. J. Shimer & Sons, 



.Mll.TON, PENNSYLVANIA. 



JOHN 



BENEDICT 



WAGON STOCK 

 and HARDWOOD LUMBER 



ALWAYS IN THE MARKET. 



135 N. HALSTED ST. 



CHICAGO. 



