HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



the weather and the inability for contractors to 

 carry on work, some of the larger yards report 

 January and February so far as having been 

 very satisfactory. There is one thing certain, 

 howeyer, and it is impressed strongly on any- 

 body who visits the hardwood trade, and that 

 is that the hardwood situation as a v/hole, both 

 as regards the outlook for demand, as well as 

 the situation at mill points, all indicate an ex- 

 tremely satisfactory year to both wholesaler 

 and retailer, and the mere tact that the cur- 

 tailment of business at the present time in the 

 local district is merely on account of the 

 weather, affects the real business situation but 

 slightly, and that anything in the way of a 

 moderation in temperature everybody believes 

 that things will hum. 



The recent action of the Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association on prices has been pretty 

 generally received in the local trade as having 

 been wise and consistent, that action having 

 been more in line with actual business conditions 

 than any action which that association has ever 

 taken in this matter of prices. It is generally 

 conceded that those items which were advanced 

 should have been, as no one who has made a 

 trip to producing sources has failed to be im- 

 pressed with the fact that some of the hard- 

 woods, notably ash and plain oak. are going to 

 be short in supply for spring demand, while 

 there will be only a very medium amount of sev- 

 eral other kinds to go round. 



Then again, as regards the local district, 

 many of the buyers are not in possession of 

 anything like normal supplies of hardwood lum- 

 ber. This is particularly true with those 

 buyers who work their lumber up into various 

 manufactured articles, and even at that many 

 of the yards are not carrying their full quota 

 of stock. The whole situation can be reason- 

 ably termed very satisfactory and the outlook 

 excellent. Prices are exceedingly firm all along 

 the line. There is practically no sacrificing 

 of stock for the purpose of movement and the 

 situation is strong throughout the list. The call, 

 of course, is principally tor plain oak, ash, 

 birch and chestnut. Poplar is strengthening 

 right along, although it will take some months 

 for it to get to moving in its normal volume, 

 but the poplar situation is improving steadily. 

 Maple and basswood are also in very fair call 

 and. taking the list throughout, there does not 

 seem to be any surplus stock whici would war- 

 rant any holder in forcing the market at the 

 present time, owing to the excellent prospects of 

 the future, and there is practically no such 

 action being taken by the wholesale trade at 

 large. 



Liverpool. 



The importations have been light. The con- 

 sumption has been fair and stocks generally 

 show some diminution. Although competition is 

 still very keen and profits small a distinctly 

 firmer teeling pervades the market. The import 

 of round southern oak has been moderate, but 

 sufficient for the limited demand. Prices are un- 

 changed. The market is heavily stocked with 

 square logs. There is an opening for Baltimore 

 waney logs of the first quality. Walnut logs 

 of medium and lower grades have arrived freely 

 and are amply stocked ; prices for these descrip- 

 tions are slightly easier. There is an opening 

 for prime wood in good dimensions, and for this 

 description good prices are still obtainable. There 

 is a limited inquiry for prime seasoned boards 

 of satin walnut, but lower grades are unsalable. 

 TTie market is weighted by a heavy surplus of 

 last season's import of ash. In hickory the im- 

 port lias been mod,?rate and the arriving parcels 

 have sold readily at fair prices. 



is fairly on. A year ago buyers were slow in 

 placing orders and bought in small lots. This 

 year the situation is entirely different and the 

 inquiry is active for every kind of hardwood and 

 for all grades. Furniture factories and other 

 large users are placing contracts freely and 

 there is a large amount of business in sight. 

 Therefore from the viewpoint of demand the 

 outlook is entirely satisfactory, \\1at is worry- 

 ing the hardwood people here and elsewhere is 

 the short supply, and it looks as if 1905 would 

 be a repetition of conditions in 1903, when buy- 

 ers had great difficulty in filling their needs 

 because of general shortage of dry stock at the 

 mills. Nineteen hundred and four closed with 

 practically no dry stock at the mills not al- 

 ready contracted for, and so far this year the 

 weather has been so continuously bad in Ark- 

 ansas and other parts of the South that the 

 hardwood mills have cut comparatively little 

 lumber. The woods are very wet and well posted 

 lumbermen say that it will be sixty or perhaps 

 ninety days before the mills can prosecute log- 

 ging operations successfully. At the mills where 

 they have logs on liand they are in shape to get 

 out considerable stock in the near future, but 

 these points are in the minority. It is therefore 

 a safe prediction that if present trade prospects 

 materialize the demand will be considerably in 

 excess of the supply for prompt shipment. Nat- 

 urally the movement of lumber from the mills 

 has been slow for the past few weeks, and there 

 is general complaint because of slow deliveries. 

 The price situation is very satisfactory. With 

 few exceptions hardwoods are firm with an up- 

 ward tendency. This is particularly true of 

 plain oak, which is very scarce. Within the past 

 year or two the demand for plain oak for in- 

 terior finish in substitution for quartered stock 

 has increased materially and the local demand 

 is running largely to plain oak. It is harder 

 to get than the quarter sawed and the price has 

 advanced materially of late. Birch is coming 

 into extensive use for inside finish for office 

 buildings and flats, and the dealers here note a 

 better demand for birch than ever before. Maple 

 flooring is in good demand, but oak flooring is 

 still the favorite in this territory. There is 

 some call for beech flooring. Cottonwood is not 

 as firm as a year ago, but is steady. Cypress, 

 ash, gum and poplar are reported firm and 

 steady, and the indications all point to stiff and 

 well maintained prices on hardwoods through 

 the spring and summer at least. There is an 

 unusually" active demand for railroad stock and 

 the railroad mills are all contracted ahead sev- 

 eral months. Bridge stock is in fairly active 

 demand, but the big trade in this line will not 

 set in for another month or two, when the 

 various counties have made their requisitions for 

 bridge work. 



New Orleans. 



The cold wet weather of the past three or 

 four weeks has stopped a large proportion of 

 the lumber shipments from this section and 

 made business seem dull. 



The mills all have a good supply of orders 

 on hand and clearing weather will make a big 

 change in business. 



The demand for cypress is strong and there 

 is very little shading of prices below the list. 



Nos. 1 and 2 plain oak is in demand and 

 choice stock is readily sold at the high prices 

 asked by the manufacturers. 



Inch Cottonwood is slow sale for export, as 

 the leavy stock shipped on consignment last 

 year is not all disposed of yet ; 5/4 and thicker 

 is selling readily at advanced prices. 



so disabled by the strain it has been put to 

 digging snow, not to mention the men, that 

 it will be a long time before the congestion 

 is over. It is getting to such a pass now that 

 there is scarcely a road, here at least, that is 

 up even with its freight business long at a 

 time. 



There is no letting up of the solid feeling in 

 hardwood. As a rule the dealers are saying 

 that the outlook is growing steadily better. 

 The stock is not going to remain as good as 

 it is now very long unless there is a serious 

 and successful effort made to keep the saw- 

 mills active. One good reason why this hard- 

 wood market is better stocked than it was for- 

 merly is that there has been a good run of 

 weather in the southwest for getting out and 

 sawing logs. It is different now. Every' re- 

 port from that direction is discouraging. First 

 it rained to excess and now there is all sorts 

 of cold weather to interfere. A thaw is next 

 in order. 



Memphis. 



The export trade is improving somewhat now 

 and during the very bad weather this was a 

 feature that interested the many firms in Mem- 

 phis that sell abroad. The market in England 

 and Germany seems to pick up very slowly, but 

 those firms with established connections there, 

 and who have always been careful to avoid 

 reckless consignments, are doing better than a 

 month ago. The domestic trade seems to be 

 getting along all right in point of demand. Many 

 country mills are closed down and the roads in 

 some of the interior manufacturing districts are 

 reported impassable. Plain oak, quartered white 

 oak, gum, Cottonwood, cypress and ash are all 

 sharing in the rtade. 



Nasli'vllle. 

 The feature of the lumber situation at Nash- 

 ville now is the pursuit of logs by the manu- 

 facturers located up and down the Cumberland. 

 The tides have been bringing in some good stuff 

 and the lumber folks are consequently busy 

 landing same and at the same time taking 

 care of a somewhat increased volume of orders, 

 as the weather conditions are slowly improving 

 for the last two weeks, excepting the last two 

 days. This section of the state has been cov- 

 ered with snow and ice and business for that 

 reason has been somewhat retarded. The 

 market rules quite firm here on plain oak and 

 chestnut, high grade poplar and quartered oak 

 with a tendency to strengthening in the last 

 wood even more. Cedar stock of all kinds is 

 always in requisition in the domestic and ex- 

 port pencil trade. Woodenware concerns here 

 are full of business. The one hardwood floor- 

 ing establishment is busy. The furniture fac- 

 tories are not quite so rushed and some of 

 them in this belt make complaint. Walnut 

 stock is much sought after and hard to find. 

 The export trade from criterions here is im- 

 proving slowly and in only a small way. 



Kansas City. 



The Kansas City hardwood men are more than 

 encouraged over trade prospects, and from the 

 present inquiry and the amount of business al- 

 ready done this year they have reason to antici- 

 pate a very active time when the spring season 



Buffalo. 



It is not easy to size up the lumber market 

 just now, as the railroads have been in such a 

 terrible condition of late that it was next to 

 Impossible to ship anything. There is promise 

 of some improvement now, but there is so much 

 waiting for them and their motive power is 



Louisville. 



The severe weather which has prevailed over 

 Ibis section for the past two weeks has com- 

 pletely paralyzed the lumber business so far as 

 shipments are concerned, although sales of 

 lumber have continued of fair proportions. These 

 have necessarily been restricted, because of the 

 inability of brot.ers and dealers to move ma- 

 terials. The factory demand shows considerable 

 improvement, although the general trade is 

 quiet. Plain oak has been in strong demand, 

 but quartered oak has been a little quiet. 



The chief item of interest in the lumber trade 

 In. Louisville aud Kentucky during the pa.st two 

 weeks lias been the condition of affairs on the 

 various logging rivers in the state. The Ken- 

 tucky. Red and Licking rivers, of course, are the 

 chief logging rivers of the state, and news from 

 these quarters has been anythiug but encourag- 

 ing, in view of the vast ice floes that have 



