July 



1919 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



53 



paying the present high prices for lumber or closing down altogether 

 and they do not want to do this. Vehicle manufacturers say it is abso- 

 lutely impossible to get all the hickory they want. Quartered white and 

 red oak, as well as plain white and red oak are in strong demand, as is 

 ash, maple and poplar. Walnut has been dragging some on the local 

 market for the past several weeks. Building operations are looking up. 

 Planing mills are busy and sash and door men report that for some time 

 past their out of town trade has been picking op. Yellow pine dealers 

 say that their trade is now much better than it was this time last year. 

 Kox factories are doing little business at the present time and trade with 

 both the slack and tight barrel cooperage manufacturers is sluggish and 

 has been in fact for some time past. Most of the wood consuming plants 

 in Evansville and in other cities in the tri-state territory are being op- 

 erated on steady time and the outlook for fall trade is good. 



BEAUMONT 



In the upper grades of hardwood, especially of oak and gum. it is no 

 longer a question of price but dry stocks. The mill fortunate enough to 

 have the stocks can get a dozen customers the day the tact becomes known. 

 Ked gum has become so scarce and high that some of the former users have 

 quit trying to secure it and are using sap gum instead. Mills have not 

 recovered from the onslaught made by exporters on their high grade oaks 

 and this is liable to be a scarce article for some months to come. 



The higher grades have necessarily carried the lower with them to a 

 certain extent and there is a better market for that class of lumber than 

 at any time since business was resumed. Satisfactory prices are being 

 secured and dry stocks are being rapidly disposed of. The most pleasing 

 feature of the present situation so far as the mill men are concerned is 

 the fact that the woods are drying out and they have hopes of logging 

 their mills regularly. For the past several months they have had to close 

 down frciiucntly from this causi^ and it has seriiiusly interfered with 

 production. Some of them have been closed down for as much as a week 

 at a time and when they did get logs out of the woods it was a very 

 expensive undertaking. Swollen streams continue to keep the strictly 

 bottom lands impassable, but practically all of the mills are in position 

 to secure enough logs to keep them running. 



Labor is not quite as plentiful as general reports would indicate, the 

 small mills being the chief sufferers from this cause. More than one mill 

 of this class is still short enough that they have to shut down to load a 

 car. Railroads are again after material, particularly cross ties. They are 

 finding it a hard job for wholesalers and mill men claim that they can 

 secure better prices from the commercial trade than the railroads are 

 willing to pay. Bridge timbers and car material are also in deman{l, but 

 the railroads are facing the same condition as is presented by the tie 

 market. It is reported that the railroads have been offering $1,05 for ties 

 •quoted at $1,30, a difference which the wholesalers will not sacrifice. In 

 fact they are Independent of the railroads and do not propose to sur- 

 render an advantage which has come to them once in a lifetime. 



There is a big demand for oak rig timbers in the west Texas oil fields 

 and prices are not considered with this trade, for every day's delay ma.v 

 mean the full cost of the rig. They are being hampered by embargoes 

 and the railroads seem helpless to relieve the situation. This is partially 

 due to the fact that the fields are extended so rapidly that the railroads 

 <;annot keep up in laying sidings. The Prairie Oil & Gas Company fur- 

 nishes a good example in this respect. It laid a siding of its own capable 

 of accommodating seventeen cars, which was deemed ample. One day 

 this week it found fifty-eight cars in the yards consigned to them with 

 accommodations for onl.v seventeen. This resulted in the railroads refus- 

 ing further consignments to them until the cars were unloaded. 



One mill has reported a shortage of cars, hut this is an isolated case, 

 and sawmill men in general do not expect a tightening up in this respect 

 before Septpmber, when the big crop movement starts. 



MILWAUKEE 



Firmer prices all along the line, and a continued lirisk demand for all 

 ijrades and classes are the features of the immediate situation in the hard- 

 wood industry in the North. There seems to be not the least prospect of 

 relief from the broad and insistent demand that has grown up by leaps and 

 bounds in the last three months, and producers are falling almost hope- 

 lessly behind in their strenuous efforts to meet requirements. 



Industries are raiding the hardwood manufacturers for material, the 

 di'iiiand lieing especially stn»ng and overwhelming from the furniture, 

 juusical instrument, automobile and farm implement trades. The situation 

 at this time is wholly unusual, for ordinarily at mid-summer hardwood 

 trade is about as slack as at any time of the year. Now. however, the 

 industries which are the principal consumers of hardwoods are being 

 rushed to maximum capacity and many of them are building large plant 

 extensions, which presage.s a continuance of the enormous demand for an 

 indefinite period forwarU. 



Export outlets are opening for manufacturers of tight and slack barrel 

 miinufiicturers. one large Milwaukee interpst having shipped a two-car 

 order for beer kegs to Belgium and France within the last ten days and 

 having furthei* orders for England, South America, Canada and Mexico. 

 A New Orleajjs buyer a few days ago telegraphed for a carload of Wis- 

 t^onsin birch to be forwarded by express. Even conservative hardwood 

 manufacturers now express their belief that the situation will soon be 

 3iest described as a veritable famine. 



"WE WANT YOUR ORDERS'* 



OAK— POPLAR— CHESTNUT 



Soft Texture Virginia Stock 



OAK DIMENSION, PINE DIMENSION 



The Kerns Lumber Co., Roanoke, Va. 



PALMER & PARKER COMPANY 



TEAK MAHOGANY ebony 



ENGLISH OAK ifC-MCTDC DOMESTIC 



CIRCASSIAN WALNUT VE.INEE.K& HARDWOODS 



103 Medford Street, Charlestown Dist. 

 BOSTON, MASS. 



WE WANT TO SELL 

 For QUICK SHIPMENT 



lOOM' 6/4" No. I Com, & Btr Birch 

 50 M' 6/4" No. 2 Com. Birch 

 50 M' 6/4" No. 3 Com, Birch 

 1 00 M' 6/4" No. I Com, & Btr. Hard Maple 

 (6" & wider) 

 50 M' 6/4" No. 3 Com, Hard Maple 

 I 00 M' 8/4" No. 2 Com. & Btr. Hard Maple 

 Send us vour inquiries for 

 NORTHERN HARDWOODS and HEMLOCK 



Wheeler -Timlin Lumber Co. 



WAUSAU, WISCONSIN 



QUALITY is remembered long after 

 price is forgotten. When desiring 

 quality write us. 



STOCK LIST JUNE 16, 



J. V. Stimson & Co, 



OWENSBORO 



KENTUCKY 



s. 



ATISFACTORY 

 ERVICE 



