flidwoi RocoM 



Published in the Interest of Hardwood Lumber. American Hardwood Forests, Wood Veneer Industry, Hardw^ood Flooring, 

 Hardwood Interior Finish, Wood Chemicals, Saw Mill and Woodworking Machinery. 



Vol. XXI. 



CHICAGO. DECEMBER 10, 1905. 



No. 4. 



Published on the 10th and 25th of each month hy 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry II. Gibson, President 



Frank W. TUTTLE. Sec-Treas. 



OFFICES 



Sixth Floor Ellsworth BIdg., 355 Dearborn St., Chicago, III., U.S.A. 



Telephones: Harrison 4960 Automatic 5659 



TERMS OF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION 



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 Subscriptions are payable in advance, and in delault of written orders to the 

 contrary are continued at our option. 



The entire contents of this publication are covered by the general copy- 

 right, and articles must not be reprinted without special permission. 

 Entered at Chicago Postofiice as Second Class Matter. 



Advertising copy must be received five days in advance of 

 publication date. Advertising rates on application. 



General Market Conditions. 



The year 's hardwood lumber business is rounding out wonderfully 

 well. In strength of values and volume of business this month shows 

 the greatest activity of any December since 1892. It is rare indeed 

 that December is a strong selling month, and the situation augurs 

 well for a heavy trade throughout the entire winter. Of course, the 

 volume- of lumber business will be handicapped owing to the very 

 broken condition of stocks. 



Plain oak in shipping condition is very nearly out of the market, 

 and a good many of the minor southern hardwoods are in exceedingly 

 short supply. Even northern stocks of maple, birch, basswood, etc.', 

 which at this time of year ordinarily are plentiful, are very badly 

 broken, and northern operators will inventory less hardwoods on 

 Jan. 1 than for many years past. 



The maple and oak flooring business still holds very active, with 

 prospects of increased demand, rather than any falling off. 



The veneer people are all busy, and there seems to be an increasing 

 demand for made-up stock for furniture, chair and carriage building. 



Poplar is showing increased strength, and even the common and 

 coarse end is moving off very freely at satisfactory prices. Gum and 

 Cottonwood are both doing well. 



Buyers of hardwood dimension material are finding considerable 

 dilBculty in supplying their wants in satisfactorily manufactured and 

 seasoned material. 



Generally speaking, the export trade is not nearly so satisfactory 

 as the home business. 



The New Hardwood Dimension Association. 



It is very gratifying to the ILiRDWooD Eecord to nute the interest 

 which is being taken by manufacturers of all sorts of hardwood 

 dimension materials in the new Hardwood Dimension Association 

 which was born in Chicago on Nov. 21. The editor of this paper 

 is already in receipt of more than a hundred letters from pro- 

 ducers of this class of material, in various parts of the United 

 States, asking to be listed, expressing great interest, and making 

 promises of cooperation in the work of the association. This prom- 

 ise of cooperation is particularly pleasing to President E. L. Davis 

 of Louisville, who is very earnest in his effort that the Hardwood 



Dimension Association shall be brought not only to a successful issue 

 as an association, but for the betterment and thorough commercial- 

 izing of this important branch of the hardwood industry. 



In this connection the notice which appeared in the Hakdwood 

 Record of a fortnight ago is repeated: Every manufacturer of 

 wagon, carriage, agricultural implement, furniture, chair, handle and 

 other dimension stock, who has not already done so, is requested to 

 forward his address to Henry H. Gibson, editor Hardwood Eecord, 

 that a list of producers may be collated and classified. Thus infor- 

 mation pertaining to the future work of the association will be fur- 

 nished to all interested, and facilities will be at hand to obtain 

 their opinions and advice relative to a correct system of manufac- 

 ture, correct grading, and just prices. Manufacturers of dimension 

 stock, by interesting themselves in this movement, will be not only 

 benefiting themselves, but rendering a signal service to the totality 

 of hardwood dimension producers. 



The Hardwood Record and Its Clients. 



The Hardwood Eecord under its present management has attempted 

 to render itself of value to its patrons in all ways possible. It is 

 the desire of the editor to make this value not only general, but 

 specific; not abstract, but concrete. It therefore invites patrons, as 

 in the past, whether they be advertisers or only subscribers, to utilize 

 the fund of general information collated at this ofSce day by day 

 for their personal advantage in any way they see fit. Intelligent 

 information on almost any point regarding hardwood timber, hard- 

 wood production, the details of manufacture, and a thousand and one 

 other things pertaining to the industry, if not on file in this office, 

 can be readily obtained for anyone interested. It is a distinct pleas- 

 ure for the publication to make itself as thoroughly useful to its 

 clients as possible, and everyone is invited to ask for any informa- 

 tion that will be of service in his business. 



The Eecord maintains a competent news and market correspondent 

 in every hardwood trade center in the United States, and in several 

 of the principal foreign markets. It is not only the office service that 

 is at the disposal of patrons, but the service of its scores of corre- 

 spondents as well. 



Concerning Mahogany. 



The Timber Trades Journal of London, in republishing the edi- 

 torial on mahogany which appeared in the Eecord of Oct. 25, chooses 

 to accept with some grains of doubt the statement that there ia at 

 least two years' normal stock of mahogany in this country today, 

 and that the wood is slow of sale. The English publication conceives 

 that the Hardwood Eecord has discovered a ' ' mare 's nest ' ' and 

 takes exception to the statement that the accumulation of mahogany 

 stocks in this country is unwieldy. It concedes, however, that, grant- 

 ing it is mistaken, the present scarcity and phenomenal values of 

 American domestic furniture lumber will speedily find a market for 

 the mahogany in question. 



The Eecord wishes to reiterate the statement that, at the rate 

 of the present normal consumption of mahogany lumber in this 

 country, there is fully two years ' supply in first hands. One house 

 alone has mahogany lumber in stock that will inventory considerably 

 in excess of $.500,000, and there are several other concerns whose 

 stock runs well into six figures. In this connection it may be well 

 to quote from a letter dated Nov. 22, from one of the foremost if not 

 the foremost myhogany manufacturing house in this country: "We 



