28 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



don is at present working its plant overtime to 

 catch up with its ordei-s. The company reports 

 Ibe best business at present in its history. 



The R. Connor Company of Marshtieid is over- 

 hauling its mill at Auburndale, a tract of tim- 

 ber having been purchased to insure a run of 

 eight or ten years. The mill, which was built 

 thirty jears ago tor the sawing of pine, was a 

 few years ago turned into a hardwood mill when 

 the pine surrounding it was exhausted. 



The real estate and factory property of the 

 Two Rivers Manufacturing Company at Two 

 Rivers, Wis., was sold recently at auction to 

 J. C. Bradley of Milwaukee, for ?23,000. The 

 property was appraised at $155,000 and in view 

 of the lowness of the price offered by the suc- 

 cessful bidder it was thought that no steps 

 would be taken to have the sale sanctioned. But 

 last week a petition was filed in the bankruptcy 



court in Milwaukee asking that the sale be ap- 

 proved and conlirmed. A settlement was reached 

 a few day thereafter by which the creditors 

 agreed to accept twenty-one cents on the dollar. 

 The company will be reorganized and the chair 

 factory will he put in immediali' oi>eration. It 

 is expected that the other departments will be 

 opened a.s soon as raw material can be gotten 

 on the grounds. 



London. 



Mr. Benson, American manager for James 

 Kennedy & Co. of Glasgow, has been on a visit 

 to Great Britain. 



E. G. Willingham, manufacturer of hardwood 

 specialties of Memphis, Tenn., who has been in 

 London for some time, left recently for the conti- 

 nent, lie expressed himself as disappointed with 

 the- present state of business in Kngland. 



Hardwood Market* 



(By HABDWOOD BECOBD 



Chicago. 

 The local demand fiu- hardwoods is better 

 than it has been at any time during 1905, hut 

 still the trade lacks buoyancy. The furniture 

 factories, the makers of interior finish and the 

 (looring factories are all busy and are constant- 

 ly replenishing their stocks with new purchases. 

 i'lain oak still has the call, while the only item 

 that is apparently a little in oversupply is 

 thick maple. 



Boston, 



The local market for hardwoods has ruled 

 moderately active. A few dealers state that 

 they have not felt the improvement in the 

 demand to the extent their neighbors claim, 

 yet all are receiving a fair amount of new 

 business. There is no accumulation in the 

 yards. An occasional car is received for which 

 there is no immediate call. Where this is so 

 it has to be unloaded. The various wood- 

 working plants turning out interior hardwood 

 finish are fairly w-ell supplied with orders and 

 are working full time. Furniture manufac- 

 turers are keeping their plants well em- 

 ployed. They arc not buying so much in an- 

 ticipation of future requirements as for imme- 

 diate wants. 



One Inch plain oak, ones and twos, is mov- 

 ing in a moderate way only at $40 to $52. One 

 dealer with his own mill is said to have 

 quoted down as low as .$-10. Quartered oak con- 

 tines to show a slight gain in favor. Inch ones 

 and twos are held at $76 to $80. Michigan 

 brown ash. Inch ones and twos, is quoted here 

 at $51, The demand Is good and offerings 

 siuall. There Is a movement on foot to boom 

 red gum. Several dealers have been in corre- 

 spondence with mills In the southwest and are 

 now showing samples. In some instances these 

 samples show to good advantage, but in others 

 It Is evident that the mills have not yet over- 

 come the dIBiculty In proper drying. Quota- 

 tions range from $.'J5 to $:{". 



Clear maple (looring is In very good demand 

 at $30, although dealers state that there Is a 

 tendency to use more rift hard pine than maple. 

 The demand for cypress Is increasing without 

 a corresponding Increase In the olTcrlngs. This 

 has made dealers very stiff. It Is freely pre- 

 dicted that prices will be advanced. Some mills 

 are said to he asking $47.50 for Inch ones and 

 twos, but $45.50 is nearer the price for busi- 

 ness. 



The whitcwood market has stiffened up some- 

 what. The demand Is not active, especially so 

 far as the low grades are concerned. Inch ones 

 and twos arc quoted at $46 to $40. 



Exclusive Market Beporters.) 



practically all the hardwoods are moving freely 

 iu all branches of the trade. The demand is 

 general, but the furniture and general manufac- 

 turing trade are probably more active buyers 

 than the yards, the latter having purchased freely 

 for fall wants during the summer and early fall, 

 riain oak, birch and ash are the most active 

 sellers and stocks in those lines are still 

 scarce at mill points. Poplar also contin- 

 ues to show improvement all along the 

 line, particularly as regards demand ; al- 

 though prices have not shown any up- 

 ward tendency, they are firm. The outlook for 

 an active trade during the fall and early winter 

 continues good and dealers generally are opti- 

 mistic in that direction. The building trades 

 continue active, and with the approaching activ- 

 ity in furniture and other manufacturing lines 

 to take care of the Christmas holiday business 

 there is every indication that the movement of 

 hardwoods in all channels will be active for 

 tlie next sixty days 



New York. 

 There has been very little change In local 

 hardwood conditions from that reported a fort- 

 night ago. The general market Is firm and 



Baltimore. 



Hardwood trade conditions continue excep- 

 tionally favorable. Not only is the demand 

 very active, but prices rule high. All the 

 mills are being operated to the full limit of 

 their capacity, but they fail to gain on the 

 distribution. In fact, the trade would be able 

 to take more lumber if it were obtainable. 

 Good dry oak has never before been more ac- 

 tive. Local and out-of-town dealers compete 

 with each other for stocks and the mills 

 have orders ahead for months to come. Con- 

 sumers here are in the market for large quan- 

 tities of lumber. Every business in which 

 hardwoods are used is booming and the re- 

 quirements are accordingly extensive. Much 

 interior work in the new buildhigs now being 

 erected calls for oak, and the factories which 

 turn out doors and other articles needed are 

 pushed to make deliveries. Many structures 

 are behind contract time, delays being due to 

 failure to deliver material and to other causes 

 conected therewith. 



The call for ash is hardly less urgent, this 

 wood ranking next to oak In point of popular- 

 ity. Prices are very firm and tending upward, 

 and there Is enough business In signt to keep 

 the mills going for a long time. 



One of the most striking developments of 

 the present activity is the large demand for 

 mahogany, which Is doubtless greater than 

 it has ever been before. Interiors of many 

 of the new buildings and shelving and coun- 

 ters of retaurants, drug stores and other 

 places have been In numerous Instances made 

 of mahogany, and the country's supplies have 

 been heavily dr,awn upon. At no previous 

 lime In the history of the city has the retail 

 trade of Baltimore been so disposed toward 

 display In the equipment of stores, and only 



the best is being demanded. This has kept 

 the cabinet makers and the manufacturers 

 of wood work going and has held the market 

 for mahogany at a high tension. Nor is the 

 movement ended. There are numerous or- 

 ders ahead or in the hands of manufacturers 

 and far more could have been done with lar- 

 ger facilities. The reconstruction of the burnt 

 section has of course contributed much to 

 this development. It has not only created a 

 direct demand, but has prompted the owners 

 of property in other districts to follow the 

 lead, furnishing an object lesson that had to 

 be followed by the owners of stores else- 

 where. 



All the other hardwoods have been in good 

 request at prices that encourages manufac- 

 turers to keep their plants in full operation. 

 In this endeavor they have of course been 

 more or less handicapped by the scarcity of 

 labor, especially at the southern mills, that 

 depend largely on blacks. These latter found 

 employment at railroad building and other 

 enterprises which paid better, though the 

 work is only temporary, and they left the 

 lumbering regions by the thousands. 



The one unsatisfactory feature in the do- 

 mestic trade is poplar, the demand for which 

 continues to lag, even though prices have 

 eased off somewhat. Dealers attribute this 

 to the action of mill men in advancing the 

 quotations arbitrarily and thereby turning the 

 attention of consumers to other woods. 



Far from remunerative, also, is the export 

 business. Values on the other side of the 

 Atlantic are far from encouraging to shippers, 

 and a number of the export firms here are 

 forwarding very little lumber. Kven the best 

 prices quoted in foreign markets do not rep- 

 resent an advance over the returns to be ob- 

 tained here, and make no allowance for the 

 freight charges and other additional expenses. 

 The advance in prices has naturally encour- 

 aged the foreign brokers to make all kinds 

 of exceptions on the score of shipments being 

 below grade or having some other fault. Not 

 a few exporters, therefore, are determined 

 that the foreign consumers will have to do 

 without American hardwoods or pay higher 

 prices. 



Pittsburg, 



A more diversified market and stronger prices 

 are two very encouraging features of the hard- 

 wood situation. Opposed to these is the increas- 

 ing car shortage which of coiu'se interferes with. 

 bu.siness. Generally speaking, business is ex- 

 cellent, and there are no signs Just now of the 

 customary holiday shortage in trade. 



liailroads continue to be large buyers, espe- 

 cially of oak. Their business along with the 

 demands of the government for oak river tim- 

 bers and the list of calls for oak for the new 

 filtration plant keeps that wood in the best of 

 demand. Oak ties are also a big seller at pres- 

 ent. White oak of good quality is hard to get. 

 Red oak Is more plentiful and the quotations 

 are well mnlntalned. Tills mnnth there has 

 been a noticeable increase also In demand for 

 finishing oak, and firms which handle No. 1 mill 

 work of this description are doing a nice hiisl- 

 noss. No. 1 and 2 oak Is reiiorted scarce and 

 In some quarters mill cull oak Is plenty and has 

 been a little hard to sell. 



Chestnut Is In good call for sale to I'ollin 

 manufacturers and furniture men. Some birch 

 Is being sold for doors, fiu- which purpose It Is 

 becoming more popular In this city every yi»ar. 

 Red birch Is In best call fiu' Interior finish and 

 for furniture making, and Is being shipped In 

 largely from Virginia, although some comes from 

 northern rennsylvania and New Kngland. There 

 Is a good call for maple llooring, which has 

 advanced one dollar per thousand. Beech and 

 cherry are selling more freely than for some 

 lime, as the hub factories of western I'ennsyl- 

 vanla and Ohio are Just now taking a large 

 (|iinnllty of the former wood. 



