44 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



April 25, 1919 



BUSS-COOK OAK CO. 



BLISSVILLE, ARKANSAS 



MANUFACTURERS 



Oak Mouldings, Casing, Base and Interior 

 Trim. Also Dixie Brand Oak Flooring. 



As Well As 



OAK, ASH and GUM LUMBER 



Can furnish anything in Oak, air dried 

 or kiln dried, rough or dressed 



MIXED ORDERS OUR SPECIALTY 



Record Set in Building Contracts 



If the building contracts reported tor the first week in April shall con- 

 tinue at the same rate through the month, the total for the month will 

 be about $260,000,000, and that will be larger than for any single month on 

 record. The nearest approach in any preceding month was in June, 1918, 

 when the total was $248,000,000. 



Complete figures on contracts let In the building and construction indus- 

 try in the territory east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio river, 

 for the first week in April, show a continuance of improvement in the 

 building and construction industry, according to a statement Just Issued 

 by the Department of Labor. 



By districts, indicated by the principal city, the contracts let for the 

 week ending April 4, 1919, are : 



District — Number Amount 



New York 247 $12,207,707 



Pittsburgh 268 8,664,583 



Boston 434 4,240,000 



Philadelphia 364 5,335,871 



Minneapolis 49 ) ..SSs.nOO 



Chicago 1,351 29,007,924 



2,713 $60,864,085 



The record for the five weeks beginning with March 1 is one of steady 

 advance, as clearly appears from the following summary of the amounts 

 for the five successive weeks : 



Week ending March 7,1919 - $27,751,076 



Week ending March 14, 1919 29,851,407 



Week ending March 21, 1919 39,017,308 



Week ending March 28. 1919 43.590,325 



Week ending April 4, 1919 60,864,085 



During March the increase in building contracts was 80 per cent more 

 than the average for the month of March during the preceding eight years. 



Excessive British Ocean Rates 



It looks very much as though the representatives of the British steam- 

 ship lines have put themselves in a position to exact the highest ocean 

 freight rates from the American shippers which they can obtain when 

 there Is no competition, but are prepared to make reductions as soon as 

 the United States Shipping Board gets into a position to provide more 

 adequate facilities than are now available. At a conference of the 

 Transatlantic Associated Freight Conferences, which is the official name 

 of the organization of British steamship representatives, and a special 

 committee of the National Lumber Exporters' Association in New York 

 on April 3, the steamship men made a promise to stabilize ocean freight 

 rates, the exporters having pointed out that the frequent wide fluctuations 

 In the rates had exposed the shippers to serious losses. This promise 

 they have now answered by the adoption of minimum and maximum 

 freight rates, which differ very considerably and can hardly be more 

 satisfactory than was the old arrangement. 



Both tariffs were sent out at the same time and at first rather puzzled 

 the exporters. Careful consideration, however, has led to the conclusion 

 that It Is the purpose of the steamship lines to apply the maximum rates 

 as long as these can be obtained, but to put into effect the minimum rates 

 a£ soon as other facilities for forwarding lumber are at hand. The 

 United States Shipping Board has announced that it will soon be in a 

 position to put into service a number of steamers. Whenever this hap- 

 pens, the lumber exporters feel, the Transatlantic Associated Freight 

 Conferences will immediately apply its minimum rates, which are ap- 

 proximately about the same as those fixed by the United States Shipping 

 Board. 



For the preeent, however, the exporters may expect to be required 

 to pay the maximum rates,, which are about on a level with the war 

 rates, with the exception of a short period when the war rate went up 

 to $8 per 100 pounds and became wholly prohibitive. 



Another thing for which the lumber exporters contended was a reduc- 

 tion in the differential between heavy and light woods, which, before the 

 war, amounted to 10 per cent. In other words, when the rate to Liverpool 

 from Baltimore was 20 cents on oak, poplar, for instance, had to pay 



22 cents. The rates that have been asked of late have differed as muchi 

 as 25 per cent and more in favor of heavy woods. The force of this 

 argument apparently impressed the steamship men, and they virtually 

 promised that the pre-war differential would be restored, which gave 

 much satisfaction to the members of the committee. No doubt, the ex- 

 porters were astonished to note that both in the new minimum and maxi- 

 mum rates the differential amounts to not less than 40 per cent. 



There is in the new schedule a clause which provides that if the shipper 

 desires to ship In excess of minimum or less than maximum, It shall be 

 only by special arrangement with the agents of the line. This Is con- 

 strued by members of the trade to mean that the agent gives himself a 

 chance to make any rate that may be necessary to meet competition with- 

 out further meetings and changes of schedule. 



The new schedules are as follows : 



Newport News 

 New York Philadelphia Baltimore and Norfolk 



Min. Max. Min. Max. Min. Max. MIn. Max. 

 Heavy, planks 2" 



and over $1,00 $1.50 $1.02 $1.52 $1.03 $1.53 $1.05yo $1.55H 



Heavy, including 



boards under 2" 1.23 1.85 1.25 1.87 1.26 1.88 1.28% 1.90 

 Heavv logs, in- 

 cluding ash.. . . 1.13 1.70 1.15 1.72 1.16 1.73 1.19 1.76 



Ash logs 1.73 2.60 1.75 2.62 1.76 2.63 1.79 2.66 



Light, planks 2" 



and over 1.40 2.10 1.42 2.12 1.43 2.13 1.46 2.16 



Light, including 



boards under 2" 1.60 2.40 1.62 2.42 1.63 2.34 1.66 2.46 



Light logs 1.67 2.52 1.69 2.53 1.70 2.54 1.73 2.57 



On shipments of dressed lumber when tongued and grooved, the rate Is 

 10 cents more per 100 pounds on the minimum rate and 14 cents addi- 

 tional on the maximum rate over the respective classification of varieties, 

 heavy or light. 



On shipments of wide lumber the following additional rates will apply 

 over respective classification of varieties, heavy or light : 



Boards 18" and under 24" in width, and 1" or less in thickness, 10% 

 additional. 



Boards 24" and over in width, 25% additional. 



Unless by special previous arrangement no logs, planks, timber or lum- 

 ber to be shipped over 25 feet long, nor any one piece to weigh over 1% 

 tons. 



Lumber, the average weight of which is 10 pounds per piece or less, will 

 not be accepted unless securely bundled. 



The provision in regard to special arrangements for rates at In excess 

 or maximum or less than minimum is included in the schedule. 



Shipping Board Selling Wooden Ships 



Not only has the shipping board stopped ordering wooden ships and even 

 decided not to complete a number of them long ago contracted for, but 

 it is now proceeding to sell its wooden ships. Wooden hulls built at New 

 England ports are not to be fitted with machinery, but will be converted 

 into barges. This will be a big steel ship year, according to the predic- 

 tion of shipping board officials. Four million tons of them Is what they 

 say they expect to turn out. 



The wooden ships are being sold at a loss. Fifteen have already been 

 so sold and twenty-five more are offered for sale. The loss was expetted 

 by the government, which realized that it could not recover the war prices 

 it paid for wooden ships, as it perhaps could not recover the war prices 

 Its steel ships cost. The board in announcing the selling of wooden ships 

 points out that they are given a favorable insurance rate and that they 

 have done and are doing good work. 



The first fifteen sold went to the Nacirema Steamship Company of New 

 York at $650,000 each, or an average of $145 per ton, compared with a 

 cost of $165 per ton on the average. The totals involved in the deal are 

 07,000 tons and $1,340,000 selling price. 



It is understood that the purchasers obtained insurance at a rate rang- 

 ing from one and one-half to three and one-half per cent. This Is taken to 

 mean that underwriters are now coming to regard this type of vessel as 

 a good risk. Their original demand ranged from three to seven per cent. 



While the fuel consumption of these vessels is about twenty-four tons 

 a day, some of them have made very successful runs on a consumption ot 

 twenty and one-half tons per day at sea. 



These vessels taken together have made 245 trips with cargo coastwise 

 and 242 transpacific and transatlantic trips also with cargo. In the 

 Hawaiian sugar trade their utility has been demonstrated by the number 

 of sugar cargoes carried. They have loaded flour cargoes from the Pacific 

 coast. Every commodity has been handled. The performance of these 

 vessels has been excellent. Recently steel rudders were installed. 



■ Record for Hickory Spokes 



Persons well acquainted with hickory will not be surprised that it won 

 first place in wheels for heavy artillery In the late war. Guns exceeding 

 nine inches in caliber diameter, which are very heavy guns, were mounted 

 on hickory wheels made at Memphis, Tenn., and they stood the strain 

 and won first place. The spokes were four inches square and two feet 

 long. The hubs and rims of the wheels were of steel, and each wheel 

 weighed 1,400 pounds. These monster guns were dragged over all kinds 

 of roads, or no roads at all, and never failed to arrive on time and do 

 the work mapped out for them. 



These are said to have been the strongest wooden wheels ever made. 

 Two thousand wheels had been finished when the armistice was signed, 

 and spokes for 9,000 more had been made. Only the best grade of hickory 

 was used for the spokes. 



