floMWolRoSa 



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

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



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry H. Gibson, President 

 Burdis Anderson, Sec'y and Treas. 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street. CHICAGO 



Vol. XXXIII 



CHICAGO, MARCH 10, 1912 



No. 10 



'"' C»e>g^:aEE5: 



.M^MMi>il^)tWit ' JiTOati;JtB^mirotV^<6t»>^^ 



Editorial Comment 



General Market Conditions 



Xotwithstauding the i-oiitiuuance of liad weather conditions dur- 

 ing the last fortnight, there has been a very substantial demand 

 in all commercial centers for hardwood lumber. Sales in the 

 aggregate are large, but are made up of a multitude of small 

 orders. Where a few large sized requisitions have been placed. 

 Ihe general trend is buying for immediate necessities. The rail- 

 roads have reached a point where they have been obliged to make 

 •consideraVjle lumber purchases, and there is an unusual quantity 

 •of requisitions out for bids which will go into the form of orders 

 within a short time. 



The export hardwood trade would be in a fairly satisfactory 

 •situation today if it were not for the unusual situation of a paucity 

 of across-the-ocean shipping facilities. There is an absolute dearth 

 of bottoms at the present time, and ocean rates are showing a 

 marked advance. Steamship companies are accused of taking new 

 lousiness at current rates, and neglecting to fill old contracts for 

 the transportation of lumber. It is said that there are more than 

 three thousand cars of himlier on track at New Orleans that have 

 not even been placed on dock, awaiting opportunities to secure 

 ocean transit. To the extent of nearly one thousand cars, the same 

 situation obtains at Norfolk, and doubtless there is a good deal of 

 lumber at other export points awaiting freight facilities. 



The good end of plain red and white oak is one of the scarcest 

 items in the market, and prices are ranging very firm. Owing to a 

 variation in grade, values placed on oak vary from three to six 

 ■dollars a thousand, and it is hard to determine exactly what the 

 market price is, although it is known that orders for a particularly 

 liigh grade of plain oak in firsts and seconds was sold in the Chi- 

 cago market at close to fifty-three dollars a thousand during the 

 ilast fortnight. In other instances, sales have been made on off- 

 grade, alleged firsts and seconds, as low as forty-five dollars. 



There are very few items of anything like desirable hardwood 

 lumber that are not in very short supply at points of production, 

 and it is equally notorious that stocks in jobbers' hands are light, 

 as well as the holdings of wholesale consumers. 



Quartered oak is moving with more freedom ami at more satis- 



factor.y prices than iluriug the jiast two years, and the manifest 

 shortage of jilain oak will undoubtedly materially assist in clean- 

 ing up the over-stock of quartered oak. On the other hand, the 

 oak situation is such that many buyers are employing the lower 

 grades, on which the demand is increasing and values stiffening. 



The whole range of southern hardwoods is in about the same 

 situation. The stock of dry lumber at the mills of nearly all 

 varieties is close up to the green piles. This is true of ash, cotton- 

 wood and red gum, and all other standard varieties. 



In first hands, in the northern producing hardwood country, the 

 good end is also down close to green stock, and there is the smallest 

 quantity of No. 3 on hand in the history of several years' opera- 

 tions. There seems to be a little surplus of medium grades of 

 maple, largely utilized in flooring making, but this overstock will 

 probably be absorbed with the renaissance of building operations 

 in the early spring. 



Owing to the remarkably inclement weather, building opera- 

 tions have been retarded and materially reduced in volume, which 

 is making a very unfavorable showing in the hardwood flooring 

 business. A manifest overstock in manufacturers' hands in both 

 maple and oak flooring is noted, and the prices of such sales as 

 are made are on an unprofitable basis to the manufacturer. 



Veneer and panel producers are usually fairly busy, but prices 

 are not on a highly remunerative basis. 



With the bulging prices prevailing on mahogany and Circassian, 

 there is apparently an increased sale of both solid wood and 

 veneers, with the old story of short supply stimulating a strong 

 purchasing demand. 



Supply and Demand 



The fact that supjily and demand are the regulators of values 

 has been preached in the lumber trade for years, and certainly they 

 do effect values to a marked degree, but only so to the extent 

 that both seller and buyer are thoroughly acquainted with the 

 stock situation that obtains and with the demand in prospect. As 

 is well known, the hardwood manufacturers of Michigan are thor- 

 oughly organized, through an association which works closely along 

 lines of statistical information. Nearly every Michigan lumber 



SUBSCRIPTION TERIMS: In the United States and its possessions, 

 and Canada. $2.00 the year; in foreign countries, $1.00 extra postage. 



In conformity with the rules of the postoflice department, subscrip- 

 tions are payable in advance, and in default of written orders to the 

 contrary, are continued at our option. 



Instructions lor renewal, discontinuance, or change of address, 

 should be sent one week before the date they are to go into effect. 

 Both old and new addresses must be given. 



Both display^ and classified advertising rates furnished upon 

 application. 



Advertising copy must be received five days in advance of publica* 

 tion dates. 



Telephones:— Harrison 80S6-S087-80S8. 



Advertising Representatives; Jacob Holtzman, 5254 Larchwood Ave- 

 nue, Philadelphia, Pa. ; E. W. Meeker, 537 South Dearborn Street, Chi- 

 cago, III. .^ 



Entered as second-class matter Miy 26, 1902, at the postoflice at Chi- 

 cago, 111., under act of March 3, 1879. 



