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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 10th 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 



C 



Vol. XLII 



CHICAGO, DECEMBER 25, 1916 



No. 5 



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Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



THERE HAS BEEN QUITE A TENDENCY of late, in spite of 

 tlie season, to contract for large purchases to cover the coming 

 year, and the average figures would undoubtedly be found to ex- 

 ceed the present market levels by a substantial percentage. With 

 these orders, and in spite of a lessening in purchases for current 

 needs (this resulting naturally from the inventory period), the 

 aggregate transactions have shown great increases over previous 

 months and over the same periods for a year ago. 



The most pertinent way of describing the state of mind of the 

 shippers is to say that they simply do not know which way to turn. 

 They have the orders both in northern and southern woods greatly 

 in excess of orders for the month prior and at rapidl.y advancing 

 prices, but still they cannot make the shipments. So while dry 

 stocks are cleaned up, stocks ou hand at mills, mainly on unfilled 

 orders, are larger than they were, although not by any means alarm- 

 ingly so. This circumstance from the manufacturers' standpoint 

 still diflfieult, and this does not mean only shipments of lumber but 



With everybody feeling the pinch of car scarcity, shipments are 

 still dilBcult, and this does not only mean shipments of lumber but 

 it has gotten into the woods to a large extent in the North as well 

 as the South. In the southern states, the bad weather of the last 

 couple of weeks has assisted the car scarcity in holding down pro- 

 duction, while at northern points there is a crying need for every 

 bit of rolling stock that will haul logs from the woods to the mill. 

 Indeed, operations in the northern woods are very much hampered 

 and it will be surprising if the cut this year is not seriously reduced. 



The southern mills have worked along so energetically for the 

 past few months, in the face of difiiculty in shipping out, that they 

 have in many cases filled all their yard room with the result that 

 some of these plants are going to be short on their season's pro- 

 duction. 



H.iKDWOOD Record has quite often repeated that it sees no possi- 

 bility, as far as discernible indications are concerned, of any con- 

 ditions that can make for other than a strong hardwood market, 

 and there surely is a growing indication of and belief in the fact 

 that this strength is going to continue for the greater part of 1917. 

 The price level has continued to go up and it is going a lot higher 

 before it reaches the top. 



Proper Veneer Packing 



THE SLTB.JECT OF PROPERLY PACKING VENEERS is handled 

 very ably by H. F. Arnemann, Chicago, in this issue on pages 

 18-19. It is well and entirely necessary and justifiable to urge 

 upon and explain to manufacturers the things necessary to proper 



handling of veneers in transit and to and from markets. Every 

 veneer manufacturer who will read Mr. Arnemann 's suggestions 

 and analyze them and impress their importance upon his superin- 

 tendents will prafit; of that there is no doubt. 



On the other hand, the man who suffers equally with the manu- 

 facturer, but is totally blameless, is the consumer — the man who 

 buys the veneers for remanufacture in his own plant. As he suffers 

 a tangible loss whenever, through poor packing, a shipment of 

 veneers is received in a damaged condition, he should take it upon 

 himself to do what he can to remedy the conditions making that 

 result possible. The man at the receiving end seeing the result of 

 this or that method of loading veneers is able to point out the 

 methods which are wrong and the reasons for their failure to 

 insure the safe arrival of tlie stock. The buyer not only can see 

 definitely the results of unintelligent handling of shipments, but he 

 knows to a considerable extent the firms which are giving careful 

 attention to right packing and those which neglect this important 

 feature. 



If every buyer would imjiress upon the veneer manufacturer that 

 he expects of them the right care in the preparation of material for 

 shipment, and if necessary, if he would even go so far as to de- 

 termine the placing of orders, at least partially, on the proper 

 fulfillment of packing obligations, he would do more to correct the 

 evil than any other man or group of men could do. There is no 

 question but that the veneer manufacturers who have not properly 

 considered packing, and there are many of them, have brought upon 

 themselves anything that might result from their handling of this 

 matter. There is no reason for the methods that have prevailed. 

 There is no excuse for them; it is merely up to the veneer shipper 

 to see that the question is given careful consideration in the future, 

 and the buyer can do a great deal toward determining the shipper's 

 state of mind on this score. 



Customs Ruling on Japanese Oak 



A DECISION HANDED DOWN BY THE CUSTOMS COURT 

 at Washington on December 4th held that Japanese Oak shall 

 be classified for tariff purposes as a cabinet wood instead of 

 lumber. The case had been carried up by appeal by a Japanese 

 company in a suit in which the United States was defendant. 

 The decision will place this foreign wood in a higher class for 

 tariff purposes, and it is yet only of incidental interest to Ameri- 

 can lumbermen. The Japanese exporter may have to pay more 

 for the privilege of sending his oak to this country. 



This ruling may have let down the bars in a place that may 

 later bring worry to American lumbermen, especially those who 

 handle oak. The ruling by the Customs Court may be followed 



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