48 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



July 10, 1919 



ASH 



We manufacture a splendid quality of White, firm 

 textured, Louisiana ASH, in thicknesses 1 to 3 inch. 



Sound, Square-Edge Oak Plank 

 TIMBERS 



.-ILSO 



Gum Cottonwood Elm Pecan 



HIDTHS. LENGTHS AND GRADES TO PLEASE 



Pelican Lumber Company 



MOUND, LOUISIANA 



The Tegge Lumber Col 



High Grade 



Northern and Southern 



Hardwoods and Mahogany 



Specialties 



OAK, MAPLE, CYPRESS, POPLAR 

 Milwaukee,,, Wisconsin 



The Hardwood Market 



CHICAGO 



(.'liicago is bowling along with steady consistency in sales, and with 

 fnttories here and in surrounding points going to the limit of labor avail- 

 able. The furniture show.-^ this month have been consistently successful, 

 with record-breaking attendance, and buyers of many of the factories are 

 already sold up to the absolute limit of producing capacity. Building is 

 steadily improving in all directions, quite a number of new apartments, 

 stores and similar structures having gotten under way during the last 

 month or two. While inquiries are not so overwhelmingly plentiful as 

 they were a couple of weeks ago, the price outlook is just as strong as 

 ever, and with new buying elements constantly entering the field, com- 

 pftltion for from six to eight months ahead is going to be not on the sale 

 hut on the purchase nf the stock. 



unc large buyer of international reputation, who by the way has cov- 

 ered himself on a plentiful supply of hardwoods, predicts a twenty-five per 

 rent further advance in price before the first of the year. That opinion is 

 belli as conservative by many other well-posted men. The situation locally 

 is strong In every particular. 



BUFFALO 



The hardwood trade leads all others in activity, the advance being so 

 1,'reat in price that some dealers are afraid it will bring forward substitutes 

 prominently and builders are wondering where they shall turn to keep 

 going at all. The market is said to be "crazy," and likely to remain so 

 until conditions change radically. The dealer with a yard full of lumber 

 bdught at lower prices is now the best man in the trade and fast going back 

 to his old strictly hardwood business, which some have neglected somewhat 

 during the war period for the easier selling yellow pine and other softwoods. 



The leading wood is plain oak, in which prices are very strong. Maple 

 and poplar are also doing well. As evidence of the strength of prices, it is 

 said that plain oak has advanced about 2;") per cent during the past forty 

 days. Inch stock has gone from $80 to nearly $100. The furniture fac- 

 tories are all busy, except where, as in some cases, labor troubles have 

 developed to curtail production. 



PITTSBURGH 



Things are pretty hndly mixed up in tlio lumber business in this section. 

 There is a general opinion that prices are too high. On the other hand, 

 all reports from mill centers indicate such a shortage of lumber as to 

 guarantee high quntatious for a long time. The volume of last month's 

 business was quite satisfactory. Profits were no larger than if prices were 

 lower. Retail trade naturally increased considerably. Industrial and rail- 

 road business was yery slow. Hardwood inquiry in the mining section is 

 small. Stocks are liadly broken and it is difficult in many cases to get just 

 what is wanted. .Altogether, the situation is anything but satisfactory. 

 Retailers are buying pretty carefully owing to the fact that buililing is not 

 going ahead in this immediate district as they hoped. 



BALTIMORE 



The last two weeks haye emphasized the prevailing tendency in tlie hard- 

 wood trade, this tendency being a continuance of the rise in the quotations 

 and an expansion in the demand for lumber of all kinds. Hardwoods are 

 liciiig cnlleil for in every direction, with the selection apparently narrowing. 

 :is the productive capacity of the mills is still more or less impaired, chiefly 

 nn account of the small stocks of logs available. The prospect of shortage 

 ill the selections has become more distinct in the last fortnight, and the 

 ide.is of the sellers as to values are accordingly revised upward. High as 

 tlic recent prices have been, the top does not yet appear to have been 

 leached, and there is no indication that any of the quotations will be low- 

 "i-ed. The ilemand covers the entire ran,ge of stocks, from the better grades 

 li> (b(< lower classificMtions. and the prospect of a deficiency naturally makes 

 tile buyers all the iiiiin' determined to place orders. Some of the largest mills 

 have withdrawn all price lists and the purchasers must pay whatever the 

 exigencies of the moment dictate. Sellers do not find it necessary to main- 

 tain salesmen on the road, getting as many and more orders than they can 

 lake <are of. To the domestic inquiry is added a very brisk foreign move- 

 iiieut. which gives promise of soon cleaning up the accumulations at Atlantic 

 liorts. just as the holdings at Gulf ports were reduced with the increase in 

 the available tonnage. Words of caution as to overloading the foreign 

 markets are being sounded, but little attentioji is paid to them, for the users 

 "I' liiirdwoods aliroad seem willing to pay the prices that prevail, which 

 iiMliinilly suggests that the need of lumber is very urgent and that extensive 

 slocks of American woods will Ije called for. Practically all the foreign 

 inrwardiiig is on c.msignment, there being no time to wait for orders before 

 stocks are allowed to come forward. The lumlier must be on hand when a 

 vessel is ready, and the exporters therefore are obliged to take chances on 

 the market. So lar there has been no occasion for the shippers to modify 

 their methods, an.l the movement is still on the increase. Local stocks of 

 hardwoods have undergone further reduction, the dealers finding it by no 

 means easy to place orders, and there is every prospect that attractive 

 returns will be realized on virtually all of the stocks for an indelniite 

 l.eriod. 



