flaMiilRecoM 



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, APRIL 10, 1906. 



No. 12. 



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



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry H. Gibson, President 



Frank W. TUTTLE, Sec-Treas. 



OFFICES 

 Sixth Floor Ellsworth Bldg., 355 Dearborn St^ Chicago, 111., U.S.A. 



Telephones: Harrison 4960 Automatic 5659 



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COMING ASSOCIATION MEETING. 



National Hardwood Association. 



The ninth annual convention of the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association will be held at the Gayoso 

 Hotel, Memphis, on Thursday and Friday, May 3 and 4. 



General Market Conditions. 



The last fortnight has developed the fact that there is just as 

 great a shortage of northern hardwoods as there is of southern lum- 

 ber products. Jobbers and leading wholesale consumers have been 

 very active for some months in the north country in securing con- 

 tracts for the dry lumber on hand and the output of logs in sight. 

 There is not one hardwood manufacturer in twenty throughout Wis- 

 consin and Michigan who has not sold his entire hardwood cut of 

 the season or a good portion of it. This is particularly true of the 

 total cut of rock elm and black ash. It is safe to say that fully 

 seventy-five per cent of the birch, basswood, gray elm, maple and 

 beech output is also contracted ahead. This proportion of advance 

 sales is greater than ever before in the history of the northern hard- 

 wood trade. There are but a few items in anything like normal sup- 

 ply in dry stock at the present time. This includes thick maple, 

 common birch, the coarse end of basswood and beech. 



The tail end of the winter logging season gave northern operators 

 two to three weeks of cold weather, which assisted them materially 

 in skidding and cleaning up their rollways. Nearly all took advan- 

 tage of these conditions and the comparative!}' light stocks of hard- 

 wood logs are generally in reach of the sawmills. 



In the South bad weather conditions continue to prevail and it is 

 with the utmost difBculty that mills are being stocked to anywhere 

 near their capacity. There is very little dry stock in first hands 

 save perhaps in gum, eottonwood and poplar, and these woods are in 

 much lighter supply than normal. Oak, ash and cypress still remain 



remarkably scarce, and active buying prevails. 



Wagon stock of all descriptions is in good call, and every wagon 

 maker in the country is looking for additional supplies. The prices 

 on wagon material made at the Cincinnati dimension association 

 meeting some weeks ago, iu most items, are fully maintained. This 

 is especially true of pattern stock. Some few sales have been made 

 at slightly less than this list on tongues and reaches, but it is prac- 

 tically certain that the full li.st price will become standard within a 

 very short time. 



There is a very heavy call at the present time from the furniture 

 and chair manufacturers for dimension stock, and all manufacturers 

 seem to be perfectly willing to pay the advanced prices, which are 

 still considerably lower than the cost of the same material cut out 

 of lumber. 



The trade in veneers remains strong, with somewhat advancing 

 prices. The call for mahogany, black walnut and cherry is increas- 

 ing, owing somewhat to the high range of oak values. This promises 

 to be a banner year in both foreign and domestic high class woods. 



The hardwood fiooring people, both in oak and maple, are still 

 buried out of sight with home orders, while the foreign demand for 

 oak and maple flooring is steadily increasing. 



The export lumber business is in very fair shape — better than it 

 has been for many months — and the call for oak of high quality is 

 especially good. 



Farm Wagons and the Hardwood Industry. 



There are approximately 500,000 farm wagons manufactured in. 

 the United States annually. Concerns that make 300 and upwards 

 of these wagons a year number about seventy. The woodwork 

 included in the production of a farm wagon runs from 300 to 40O 

 feet, an average of about 350 feet to each vehicle. Since 1898 manu- 

 facturers of farm wagons have secured an advance in the price of 

 their vehicles on an average of $8.50 each. This advance has prac- 

 tically corresponded with the increased cost of materials, and has 

 not resulted in any additional profit to the manufacturers. It is 

 claimed that the maximum efficiency of plants was reached some 

 years ago, and that since then the cost of wagon building has not 

 been reduced, nor can it be reduced. These wagon plants to a large 

 extent are distributed throughout the middle West, the greater num- 

 ber being in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Penn- 

 sylvania, with a few in Kentucky, Tennessee, Minnesota, North Caro- 

 lina, Arkansas, Virginia and New York. 



The total quantity of lumber necessary to produce this great 

 number of farm wagons is about 175,000,000 feet annually — -a not 

 inconsequential item to be considered by the hardwood industry. 

 Wagon making requires oak, hickory, birch, rock elm, poplar, cotton- 

 wood, yellow pine, maple and some quantities of red gum and other 

 woods. 



At the hardwood dimension association meeting held at Cincinnati 

 on February 22 a price list was formulated on dimension stock, which 

 advanced values on wagon material to a considerable extent. These 

 prices generally have been conceded just by the wagon manufactur- 

 ing trade, and today are being paid by wagon producers. The 

 market on all wagon material is very strong, and the demand is still 

 in excess of the supply. At current prices this line of trade is 

 a profit-bearing adjunct to the hardwood industry of considerable 

 importance. As a whole the making of wagon material does not 



