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

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



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry H. Gibson, Editor and Manager 



Edwin W. Meeker"! a rj- 



,, ,, ,, >Associate tditors 



Hu Maxwell J 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 

 Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087-8088 



Vol. XXXVI 



CHICAGO, AUGUST 10, 1913 



No. 8 



Review and Outlook 



^Am 



General Market Conditions 



SIFTING DOWN REPORTS from various parts of the country 

 covering the state of the trade during the last two weeks, it 

 becomes evident that there is a noticeable tendency- on the part of the 

 buying trade to show a more active interest in stock. This report is 

 not unanimous, but is sufficiently so to make its authenticity fairly 

 certain. This change has been more of a moral one than one based 

 on actual increase in number and size of orders, as the buying trade 

 has rather increased its inquiries than its actual purchases. It is 

 argued in some quarters that this increase in inquiries is but an effort 

 on the part of the buyers to feel out the market and get quotations 

 on various lines of stock with the idea of using them to "bear" 

 quotations of other concerns. It is not probable, however, that this 

 is an accurate analysis as, while there are still some concessions on 

 hardwoods in a few points in the country, the general tone of prices 

 shows increasing firmness. 



The less optimistic reports come from the more southeasterly hard- 

 wood sections, while in the northern hardwood states and in the lower 

 Mississippi valley hardwood producing territories the trade is talking 

 in a much more encouraging vein and, because of the unanimity of 

 such opinions, there is every reason to believe that the beginning of 

 August marked the commencement of a gradual increase in hardwood 

 demand, with commensurate strengthening of prices and perhaps an 

 increased level of prices in certain lines. A favorable indication is 

 seen in reports that the yellow pine situation is improving notice- 

 ably and if this is an actual and a permanent fact, the effect cannot 

 belp but be beneficial as far as hardwoods are concerned. The 

 markets through the Middle West are showing the greatest activity 

 at present. In this section of the country, the trade reports that it is 

 now receiving a great number of inquiries on all lines of stock and 

 that the actual shipments have kept stocks down to a very satisfactory 

 condition. 



In the small towns and cities more or less dependent upon agricul- 

 tural conditions, the favorable crop reports are certainly having a 

 wide effect in that they stimulate the demand for all kinds of lumber, 

 including lumber for building purposes and more indirectly, lumber 

 for house finishing and house furnishing purposes. 



In the larger cities the furniture exhibits have been going on and 

 at the close it was evident that the actual purchase of furniture had 

 been very satisfactory. The result is that furniture factories are 

 entering upon a period of marked activity. In conjunction with this, 

 in the larger' markets the furniture exhibits had a marked influence 

 upon the piano trade, inasmuch as a great many of the visitors to 

 those exhibits embraced the opportunity to make their piano pur- 

 chases whic-li. in the aggregate, were very satisfactory in themselves. 



Most of the larger cities, in the Middle West particularly, are plan- 

 ning or are actually engaged in an above normal amount of building 

 which, with the successful settlements of strikes in various centers 

 such as in Chicago, is resulting in an active call for building con- 

 struction material, with the consequence that the yard trade is in a 

 very optimistic frame of mind. 



As to general conditions, the two main barometers of business — 

 the iron and steel industry and the crop reports — are everything that 

 could be desired. The iron and steel mills are in very good shape as 

 far as orders and shipments are concerned, while all reports on general 

 crop conditions are extremely favorable. With these two funda- 

 mental business factors in such a condition, any tendency on the part 

 of affairs of the national government to retard business should be 

 offset. 



There is one factor to which business men must give increasing 

 attention and that is the gradually increasing realization that per- 

 haps the railroads of the country are not altogether wrong in all the 

 claims that they make regarding the unfavorable condition of their 

 finances resulting from unfavorable legislation and reduction of 

 revenues through decreased freight and passenger rates. Western 

 and southwestern railroads are preparing a desperate appeal for help 

 from the tide cf low rate legislation. The recent decisions of the 

 United States Supreme Court upholding rate legislation in Minnesota, 

 Missouri and Arkansas have placed the transportation companies in a 

 condition they never before had experienced. Railroads term the 

 prevailing low tariffs forced on the roads of the West and Southwest 

 as confiscatory, unwise and uncalled for and are preparing to appeal 

 to the Interstate Commerce Commission and to the rate regulating 

 bodies of the various states. Whether the railroads are right or 

 wrong in their contentions, it must be remembered that the power 

 behind them is tremendous and is capable of affecting the business 

 situation of the entire country. Under present more or less unsatis- 

 factory conditions, this fact should be borne in mind and the railroads 

 should not be pressed too closely at bay. 



Oak Still in the King Row 



THE CARTOON IN THIS ISSUE of Hardwood Record illustrates 

 the position of oak in the wood-using industries of the country. 

 It occupies the whole king row on the checkerboard, with no sign of 

 a break by which any other wood can get a position in that advanced 

 line, although other woods are ready to move up at the first oppor- 

 tunity. Oak holds and has long held that position because its prop- 

 erties make it a wood suitable for almost innumerable purposes. It 

 is the most generally used wood in this country, though the cuts of 

 pine and of Douglas fir exceed it. Practically every industry that 



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