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Copyright, The Habdwood Company, 1916 ,._,- v,- ^ j 



Copyright, The Habdwood Company, 1916 



Published in the Interest of the American Hardwood Forests, the Products thereof, and Logging. Saw 

 Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the lOlh and 25th of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Edgar H. Defebaugh, President 

 Edwin W. Meeker, Managing Editor 

 Hu Maxwell, Technical Editor 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 

 Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087-8088 



f 



Vol. XLII 



CHICAGO, DECEMBER 10, 1916 



No. 4 



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Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE MAKKET reveals a slight effect 

 from the near approach of fiscal year ends and inventories. 

 Aside from this there has been but little of sufficient bearing to 

 warrant' extended discussion. One of the exceptions is the growing 

 evidence of very much broken mill stocks. Reports up to recently 

 were, for some reason, not taken as showing a permanent trend but 

 the consistency with which the mills are reporting "sold out" on 

 a number of items has seemingly convinced everybody concerned that 

 the condition does not occur in scattered cases but is general. 



The oak situation is about the most interesting feature. Just prior 

 to the formation of the oak association there had appeared a condition 

 tiiat directly reversed the relations of certain items. Veneers for a 

 long time led lumber, especially in oak when it was so quiet a short 

 time ago. But the situation changed rather suddenly just before 

 tlic big oak meeting, and certain types of oak veneers became rather 

 ilraggy while lumber began to firm up quite nicely. The sitxiation still 

 holds, though the veneer end is not quite so draggy as it was and 

 manufacturers everywhere are showing every confidence in the situ- 

 ation, which feeling seems to have ample justification. In the mean- 

 time the dry oak lumber on hand at mills seems to be growing less, 

 and to add further interest to the situation there has already developed 

 a tangible result from the oak association. Of course such situation 

 is purely the result of a mora! effect but the possibilities are revealed. 



An equally broken northern stock and growing difficulty in manu- 

 facturing rather precludes the possibility of any weakening in that 

 <|uarter. In fact the country over there is a constantly strengthening 

 faliric that promises a consistent support to the hardwood trade. 



The New Veneer Section 



HARDWOOD RECORD HAS ALWAYS FELT that the purely 

 mechanical end of woodworking in all its departments and phases 

 is well represented in reputable trade papers. It has been equally con- 

 vinced that administrative heads of all woodworking lines welcome the 

 right kind of information and service equally with the mechanical 

 department. So its policy has been directed in the woodworking 

 departments, in all of its woodworking service, to interest the admin- 

 istrative factors. The success of this effort through the many years 

 it has been carried on, it can only leave to the judgment of the 

 woodworkers themselves, whose often expressed approval has, however, 

 been distinctly encouraging. 



Along these same lines the utilization of veneers and panels, and 

 of veneered products, gives a distinctive line of thought as differing 

 from the utilization of solid matej-ial. So considering the question in 

 this light and with a realization of the circulation and prestige of the 



Record among woodworking heads, it has after several mouths of 

 conscientious planning evolved a scheme as represented in this issue of 

 Hardwood Record, namely, the Veneer and Panel Section. This 

 department will be maintained almost entirely by practical men, by 

 men competent to handle the administrative problems involved in the 

 handling of veneers and panels, but it wants to get the ideas of 

 everybody — not necessarily special articles or labored literary efforts, 

 but just little suggestions, criticisms, thoughts here and there on this 

 or that point raised, that will be helpful. No one nowadays disputes 

 the contention that the greater the general knowledge in any industry 

 the more profitable will that industry be for everybody engaged in it. 

 The lack of that knowledge has held back lumbering and woodworking 

 many years. 



"In knowledge there is power." If your comijetitor tells you 

 something you don't know, you are made more efficient, aud if you 

 tell him something that he has never learned, you have better compe- 

 tition. Improving the character of the competition in your industry 

 will make that industry more profitable to you. Will you help spread 

 the knowledge? 



A Big Opportunity Lies Here 



THE CALIFORNIA REDWOOD ASSOCIATION has just insti- 

 tuted a new plan for boosting redwood and making the public 

 more familiar with its lumber producing possibilities. The secretary 

 of this association has issued a child 's story of the Bigtrees of Cali- 

 fornia designed to instill in the minds of the growing generation the 

 fact that the Bigtrees are useful for lumber and make mighty fine, 

 durable material as well as being scenic, interesting and beautiful as 

 they stand in the woods. 



The big point in this campaign is not that redwooil will be given 

 a boost, but that it suggests a policy for lund:;er trade extension and 

 perpetuation which has not been given the attention it merits. The 

 biggest chance for extending and holding lumber's markets lies not in 

 trying to win back fields to which other materials have shown they have 

 at least partial claim, but rather in spreading the knowledge of the 

 true purpose and usefulness, of wood, so that the layman will in the 

 future be able to make an intelligent choice based on knowledge which 

 would be the safest argument against unfairly biased sales talk for 

 substitutes. 



The one big reason why lumber has lost where substitutes have 

 gained is that, being such an old acquaintance, lumber has not pre- 

 sented sufficient novelty to make the public sufficiently interested to 

 learn what it really is, while the so-called substitutes present a new 

 thought and hence the possibility of appeal to the desire for some- 

 thing new. As education is desired the line of least resistance should 



