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Publi&hed In the interest of Hardwood Lumber, American Hardwood Forests, Wood Veneer Industry, Hardwood Flooring, 

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



Vol. XIX. 



CHICAGO, JANUARY 25, 1905. 



No. 7. 



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Published on the lOth and 2Sth of each month 



By The HARDWOOD COMPAISV 



HENRY H. GIBSON President 



FRANK W. TUTTLE Sec-Treas. 



OFFICES: 

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



Telephones: Harrison 4960. Automatic 5659. 



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Subscriptions are payable in advance, and in defaultof written orders to the 

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Entered at Chicago Postoffice as Second Class Matter. 



AdTCrtlsIng copy must be received five days in advance 

 of publication date. Advertising rates on application. 



NOTICi: TO SUBSCRIBERS. 

 The subscription price to the H.ARDWOOD RE.CORD has 

 been changed from $1.00 to $2.00 a year. As announced in 

 issue of January 10. the publishers extend to patrons the op- 

 portunity of renewral, or entering new subscriptions, at $1.00. 

 if accompanied by remittance on or before February 1, 1905. 



A New Traile. 



.Tust now harilwood propertit's are attrai-tiug much attention from 

 lumbermen who hitherto have never had anything to do with any 

 timber save white pine or yellow pine. Of late a good deal of hard- 

 wood acreage both north and south has passed into tlie hands of old 

 time soft wood manufacturers. Tlie hardwood lumber proposition 

 differs in many essentials from either the white pine or the yellow 

 pine business, but it promises very remunerative results in the future. 

 However, it will be well for the recruits to remember that they 

 have a new- trade to learn. 



General Harilwood Conditions. 



The general hardwood conditions throughout the United States 

 and abroad are excellent. Detailed reports of Chicago and nearly 

 all the hardwood market centers will be found in the market de- 

 partment in this issue of the ILuiDW'OOD Eecokd. 



Optimism, tinged with conservatism, is the general tone that pre- 

 vails everywhere. Inquiries for quotations are multitudinous from 

 every consuming district, and sales are incieasing in volume at 

 strengthened values. 



Sentiment lor a Michigan Hardwood Association. 



In a letter received by the Hardwood Kecord from a prominent 

 Michigan hardwood jobber he says that the organization of a Mich- 

 igan state hardwood association seems to appeal to the average man- 

 ufacturer and jobber as being desirable. It is cited that a great 

 many lumbermen of Michigan are members of the National Hard- 



wood Lumber Association, and that nearly all agree that the hard- 

 wood trade should have a uniform set of rules for the inspection of 

 lumber. The writer adds that the idea of having a state organiza- 

 tion is not to antagonize any national organization but to be of benefit 

 to the lumbermen of the state. 



He avers that local hardwood organizations in Wisconsin, Indiana 

 and other states have proved of great benefit to the members, but 

 feels that the National Hardwood Lumber Association has not 

 given Michigan due representation among its list of officers and 

 directors, which is represented by only one member, in the face 

 of the fact that more than 80 per cent of Micliigan hardwoods were 

 inspected under the bonded certificate system of the National Asso- 

 ciation during 1903, and nearly as much in 1904. 



Chicago as a Furniture Center. 



Chicago is the seat of the largest production in furniture of 

 any city in the world. It leads in volume of product, in money 

 involved, in the number of emj>lQyes and in output as represented by 

 dollars and cents. 



The other large manufacturing centers of the United States are 

 Grand Bapids, Mich., New York City, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Eock- 

 ford, 111., and High Point, N. C. There are other large furniture 

 manufacturing points in the country, but all rank less in importance 

 than those named. 



Chicago 's furniture output is approximately $2.5,000,000, while 

 that of Grand Eapids, the next largest center, is about $8,000,000. 

 In Grand Eapids between 6,000 and 7,000 persons are employed in 

 the industry, while the factories of Chicago employ between 25,000 

 and 30,000. The furniture factories of New York, however, produce 

 nearly as many dollars' worth of furniture as is made in Chicago, 

 but in number of pieces (jnly about one-tenth as many, its products 

 being for the most part furniture of a costly character. 



The variety of furniture manufactured in Chicago includes prac- 

 tically all kinds. Altogether there are about 200 factories in this 

 city which produce furniture of some kind. These range from the 

 small shop, with only a few employes, to the mammoth factory em- 

 ploying a thousand or more operators. 



The tendency in furniture-making nowadays is toward special- 

 ization. While one firm makes finely upholstered chairs as its lead- 

 ing line, another devotes itself to the production of fine bedroom 

 sets; one factory makes the low-priced household furniture, while 

 another produces the very finest quality of goods. The market for 

 Chicago furniture is extremely wide, embracing as it does all parts 

 of the United States, besides a considerable export trade. 



The immense demand for hardwoods in Chicago and vicinity de- 

 pends very largely upon the furniture maker — he being the chief 

 hardwood consumer in this section of the country. In addition to 

 his generous purchases of domestic hardwoods, he also buys a good 

 deal of foreign furniture wood — notably mahogany. The range of 

 woods utilized in furniture production covers white and red oak, ash, 

 cherry, birch, maple, beech, poplar, elm, basswood, red gum, tupelo 

 gum and other varieties. 



Less than forty years ago Boston was the center of the furniture 



