' ^i :^^m^:^^^m^ ^^ ^i^y.^e^^ 



flaMwoM RocoM 



Copyright. Thb Haedwood 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 



Vol. XLII 



CHICAGO, JANUARY 10, 1917 



No. 6 



^\ TO>i>^^™MSiaMiTO^WB^>^i<^<^^Jt^W 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



THE CLOSE OF 1916 developeil many surprising conditions, one of 

 which was the sustained buying right through the Christmas 

 week." It very seldom happens that there is enough business placed 

 at that time to make it worth while going after it, but there was a 

 really surprising consistency in the continuance of demand right up 

 to the end of the year. This is probably accounted for by the fact 

 that the factory stock had never been brought up to the mark, and 

 therefore unless the plants were actually shut down there was usually 

 the necessity for taking in just so much lumber to provide Tor a con- 

 tinued run. 



It is probable that not very many people had expected that busi- 

 ness would open up with a rush with the first month of the year, but 

 it is likely that the average prediction wUl be fulfilled, and it has 

 been. Opening up very gradually with the first few days, there has 

 been a developing tendency toward greater expansion in purchases, 

 evidently induced, in a measure at least, by the apparent acceptance 

 of the price situation and the promise^ of higher rather than broken 

 values. Just what the buying trade has been waiting for is difficult 

 to say unless it is merely that there was always a chance that unfore- 

 seen conditions outside the industry might react unfavorably upon 

 the hardwood business, thus tending toward softening in values. But 

 there seems tp have been a general abandonment of this theory, and 

 as it stands today the buying trade is showing a developing disposi- 

 tion to place orders as far ahead as possible on the basis of present 

 values. 



On the other hand, the selling trade is not showing any remarkable 

 inclination to accept contracts for any length of time on that level. 

 There have been various opportunities for signing up on the year's 

 requirements, based on top values that prevailed toward the end of 

 1916, but in almost all cases these were turned down, and in many 

 instances in which contracts were made the price finally determined 

 upon went well into 1917 as far as its level is concerned. 



As to the conditions at the producing end which determine the situ- 

 ation at the market end, any changes have been conducive to strength. 

 In certain parts of the South there have been changes in weather con- 

 ditions that were rather helpful to logging in a way, but in most 

 cases these were offset by other changes which have tended to retard 

 production. For instance, water rises in the Mississippi around 

 Memphis made it possible to bring in a good quantity of logs to the 

 Memphis mills ; but, on the other hand, the cold, snowy, slushy weather 

 has kept down the possibility of woods work to the minimum so that, 

 whde those logs brought in on the river will take care of the present 

 situation, there will not be a sufficient quantity at the river banks to 

 take the place of timber now being brought in. 



The car situation is still practically as serious as it was, and week 

 after week come reports of mUls closed down because of the absence 

 of further yard room. 



Nothing especially new is noted in the northern situation except the 

 rapidl}' growing strength in selling prices. One big order for birch 

 was placed a little over a week ago at full list price, and there have 

 been suggestions of other orders that figure beyond even this. There 

 cannot possibly be any piling up of lumber at the northern mUl points 

 this winter any more than accumulation is possible in the southern 

 hardwood belt. 



The development at the furniture shows promises one of the big- 

 gest buying seasons in the history of the industry, and the promise of 

 budding operations is most excellent. So the outlook is not only 

 stronger since the first of the year, but definite developments rather 

 indicate a general conviction of the stability of conditions as they 

 are now indicated. 



Merchandising Wood 



IT IS BATHER ANOMALOUS that one of the most logical, sens- 

 ible and modern efforts to increase the use of wood shoidd come 

 from vidthout the industry. But it is a fact that the indirect results 

 of a plan for the sale of certain materials used in conjunction with 

 wood products wUl be to increase the understanding of wood among 

 its users and also among the laymen. On page 35 there is an item 

 describing a plan that has been formulated through careful analysis 

 and long sustained effort by a prominent manufacturer of wood fin- 

 ishes. The plan wUl be given more detaOed discussion in future 

 issues, as it is one of the biggest market developing suggestions that 

 has ever appeared. It will without question be fruitful for the lum- 

 berman both in the matter of stimidating direct sales as a direct result 

 of its adoption by the retail yard trade, and in the matter of broaden- 

 ing the markets for lumber through increasing the sales of products 

 made from Imnber. 



In the first instance, the plan as it is applied in that direction, aims 

 to educate the home builder, the contractor and carpenter ajid the 

 architect through the retail hmiberman; thus with a general expanded 

 knowledge of the possibilities of the different kinds of wood, creating 

 a greater interest in wood for house construction. 



In the second instance, the plan works just as effectively, but in a 

 more indirect manner. People everywhere have raised their standard 

 of living, and this is nowhere more strikingly shown than in the rapid 

 changes in the interior of the average American home. There is more 

 supplanting of this or that piece of furniture for a more pleasing and 

 a more harmonious piece. Wliile in the old days the one set woidd not 

 only serve one generation, but might serve two or three, today there 



