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

 Mill and Wood-working Machinery, on the 10th and 25lh of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry H. Gibson. President 

 Louis L. Jacques, Sec'y & Treas. 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street. CHICAGO 



Vol. XXXIII 



CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 25, 1911 



No. 3 



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Editorial Comment 



General Market Conditions 



In many respects the market the country over is featureless. In 

 the aggregate there is a large volume of buying that is made up of 

 small orders. Without question buyers have awakened to the fact that 

 many standard and desirable items of hardwood lumber are in short 

 supply and there is a manifest prospect of advance in values, but 

 still they are buying for immediate requirements only. Speculative 

 values in hardwoods do not seem to appeal to either the ultimate con- 

 sumer or the jobber. The holdings of many harciwood merchants are 

 lower than they have been in years, and there is a paucity of stock 

 in the hands of remanufacturers. 



Quarter-sawed white oak seems to be the only item in full general 

 supply. Plain oak of all thicknesses and in nearly aU grades is mani- 

 festly short. As a matter of fact, low grades of all varieties are in 

 smaller quantity in first hands than has been known for years. The 

 situation in the northern producing section parallels that in the South. 

 Nowhere are there stocks that can be regarded as in surplus or extra 

 heavy. Furthermore, there is little disposition on the part of pro- 

 ducers to increase their yard holdings. 



There is a notion in the minds of many hardwood consumers that 

 the range of lumber values, as compared to other commodities, is 

 unduly high, but this impression is not warranted by the facts. From 

 the present base of stumpage value, it is a question if lumber of all 

 kinds is not lower today than ever in the history of the lumber manu- 

 facturing industry. It must further be borne in mind that there has 

 been no increase in stumpage values for more than three years. Very 

 few lumber producers, if they take into account the price at which 

 their stumpage could have been sold in the open market, are making 

 much profit at the present sales schedule. It is firmly believed by 

 good authorities that all varieties of hardwood will be materially 

 higher in the near future. 



Current lumber production statistics quoted in this issue of Hard- 

 wood Eecord indicate a material lowering of hardwood production 

 year by year, occasioned partially by exhaustion of timber supply, and 

 partially by the fact that there is very little profit in lumber manu- 

 facturing. Both operating and sales costs have increased in undue 



proportion to the advance in values obtainable for nearly every variety 

 of hardwood, and there is very little in the situation that warrants 

 an attempt by operators to increase production. 



While hardwood prices may be regarded as tlrm, and in much better 

 situation than building wood values, stiU the paucity of profit in 

 either manufacturing or merchandizing hardwood is not aUuring 

 enough to warrant a larger volume of business. For the season of 

 the year, especially on account of the inclement character of the 

 weather for the last month, the volume of hardwood business remains 

 remarkably good, and there is every prospect of an increase in demand 

 for some time to come. 



Hardwood Cost and Supply at Memphis 



An editorial appeared in last issue Hardwood Record, under the 

 heading of "Log Cost at Memphis," in which it was recited that 

 reports indicated that sawmill operators of that city have awakened 

 to the fact that for some years they have been engaged in a very 

 foolish contest with each other to see who could possibly pay the 

 highest price for logs. The editorial also suggested that on top of 

 the high log cost there was a general extravagance in cost of log 

 loading, log transportation and other items that made a total cost 

 from stump to cars, via the Memphis channel, in the neighborhood of 

 twenty-one dollars a thousand feet, which was very much in ex- 

 cess of the sum found necessary in producing hardwood lumber in 

 other districts of the country. It was suggested that the cutting of 

 log cost at Memphis mills, five dollars a thousand feet, would put 

 the sawmiU operators of that city in a much better position for secur- 

 ing profit. 



This editorial has inspired several replies from Memphis operators. 

 One leading manufacturer says he believes it will do a great deal 

 of good, as every operator in Memphis knows that what was said could 

 not be denied. 



Another leading manufacturer takes some exception to the article. 

 He says he feels it does the Memphis sawmill contingent an injustice, 

 and would lead the reader to believe that the men in the hardwood 

 business in that city were not very conversant with their own line of 

 goods, and were hardly capable of managing their own business. He 



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