THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



21 



CHICAGO COMMENT. 



There has lieeii a slight slump in busi- 

 ness in Chieago in the hardwood lumber 

 line during the ixist week or ten days. 

 This is prolvably caused by the fact that 

 during the last two months shipments from 

 the ^^outh were very much delayixl by one 

 thing or another. The first of this month 

 the embargo appears to have been raised 

 and a vast amount of lumber has come to 

 Chicago. 



A buyer would place an owler for what 

 he thought he would need, and wlien it 

 did not arrive he would give another or- 

 der to somebody else who would assure 

 him of his aliility to deliver same promptly. 

 That order would fail to arrive and the 

 buyer would probably place another oixler, 

 and during the last two or three weeks all 

 three of the orders have been piled in upon 

 him. and he has enough to supply his im- 

 mediate wants and is not placing many. 

 new orders. 



This is only a temporary condition, how- 

 ever, as the consumption lias not fallen 

 off at all. and in all lines immense quan- 

 tities of lumber are being cut up. 



Chicago is enjoying a building boom, as 

 more liuilding is going on here at present 

 than any other time since the World's 

 Fair, so that the demand for all kinds of 

 building material is especially good, and 

 in the hardwood lines will improve as the 

 season advances, and the various buildings 

 are far enough along for their interior 

 finish. The piano and organ trade reports 

 a most excellent business and the car 

 builders have more business than they can 

 manage. In furniture making, and. in fact, 

 in all lines of consumption, conditions could 

 liardly be more favorable to the hardwood 

 trade. 



Plain oak is still the leader, especially 

 in plain red. This wood has been strong 

 all through the past year and is stronger 

 now than ever. 



Quartered oak, especially in the upper 

 grades, is very strong, and we hear of 

 prices being obtained fully up to the 

 prices of 1899. Poplar is very scarce and 

 prices high. Cottonwood is strong, with 

 an upper tendency, and basswood would 

 bring very good prices if an.vone had it 

 for salt. It is so scarce, however, that 

 it ma,y be said to be practically out of the 

 market. 



During the last two months the condi- 

 tion of northern hardwood luis been greatly 

 improved. The fact that the log crop put 

 in last winter at the mills in the North 

 is now conceded to be much below the 

 average, and that what surplus stock there 

 is will prol.iabl.v be absorbed l>efore the 

 year is ovit, has had a stiffening effect 

 uijon the market. 



The whole line is strong in the Chicago 

 market with the prospects for business for 

 the balance of the year very good. 



The Big Bay Lumber Company is a new 

 corporation, organized at Kalamazoo. Mich. 

 The company has acquired extensive tim- 

 berland holdings in the northern peninsula 

 of Michigan, about thirty miles from 'Slav- 

 Quette. 



GOTHAM GLEANINGS. 



New York. April !.">. lOlliJ. 



Short stock and high prices is the cry, 

 and while the retailers are not particu- 

 larly happy because of it, there is no doulit 

 that manutactiirers and wholes,! lers who 

 have good hardwood stocks to dispose of 

 e.vperienee no trouble in disposing of them 

 at good prices. 



The tendency on the part of builders to 

 curtail bu.ving bec-ause prices of building 

 lumlier have soared upward ha.s not af- 

 fected liardwood stocks. 



.lust now the n-ade is acting on the stand 

 taken at Nashville in regard to the price 

 of poplar and are finding little difficulty 

 in getting the .^2 advance. Tliis brings 

 firsts and seconds up to a .$41 basis here. 

 The scarcity of stock, short log supply and 

 tmusually good demand are excellent rea- 

 sons for the rise in figures. 



A good demand is noted for quartered 

 oak, and this too is stiffening in price, with 

 dry stocks scarce South and the stock that 

 is moving here selling freely at .fiili to 

 Sf(\'<. Prices of plain oak, the dry stocks of 

 which are still very scarce and in good 

 call, are selling on a $42.-50 to .$4."'i base for 

 inch stocks. 



Prices keep steady for ash, a good de- 

 mand being noted, and chestnut is called 

 for freely, good stocks meeting with ready 

 sale. A considerable amount of low grade 

 chestnut is to be had at the sources of sup- 

 ply and it is moving freel.v at good fig- 

 ures, but more desirable grades are scarce. 



Maple, birch and basswood are in good 

 call among the local furnitiu-e and trim 

 manufacturers and bring good figures. 

 There is a large call for cherry, and inch 

 firsts and seconds bring firm $S5 to $90. 



Taken altogether the prospects locally for 

 the future of hardwoods is bright. In the 

 export trade there is a little more move- 

 ment and the pro.spect for improvement 

 ill the foreign market is good, even though 

 tiiere has been liut a slight increase in 

 suipments lately. 



On Friday last -James D, Leary, one of 

 the wealthiest contractors and shipbuild- 

 ers in the East, died in this city, aged 05, 

 Mr. I^eary will lie best remembered as the 

 inventor "of the Leary raft. The first was 

 destroyed in 1S87, causing a loss of 

 .>!;:',.:.,( lOo. Three years later a larger one 

 v>as fioated down from Nova Scotia, Jlr. 

 Leary's profits indemnifying him for for- 

 mer losses, with -$50,CHX> over, ilr. Leary 

 was a member of the New York Lumber 

 Trade Association and a delegation from 

 that body attended his funeral. 



Stevens, Eaton & Co., of No. IS Broad- 

 way, who has been acting as New York 

 agent for White Gratwick & Co.. of North 

 Tonawanda. have taken the exclusive sales' 

 agency for the Cobbs & IMitchell, of Ca- 

 dillac. Mich., and will hereafter handle 

 their electric maple flooring in the Met- 

 roiwlitan District. Long Island .-ind South 

 of Albany. 



It has been learned that the Colonial 

 Ivumber & Box Comi>an.^-. incorporated at 

 Trenton. N. .1.. on JIarch 28. with $15,- 

 iKMj.CMiO, means the amalgamation of be- 

 tween -30 and 40 wooden box man- 

 ufacturing companies in New England. 

 .Vll the details will be arranged and the 



officers of the company elected at a meeting 

 to be held in about 10 days. 



Recent visitors to the city included: W. 

 S. Wilson. Wilson Lumber Company, At- 

 lanta, Ga.; E. R. Safford, A. Shenna Lum- 

 lier Company, Potsdam, N. 1'.; W. F. Ab- 

 bott, of the Rumbarger Lumber Company 

 Phil.ulelphia; Ralph (Jrey. Cleveland, Ohio; 

 II. .M. Poide. of H. M. Poole & Co.. Buf- 

 falo; E. F. Henson. of E. P. Burton & Co., 

 I'hiladelphia: Alfred Haines, of Haines & 

 Co., Buffalo; Mr. Parsley, of the Hilton 

 Lumber Company. Wilmington. N. C, and 

 (reorge E. Stone, of the Stone Lumber 

 Company. Boston. 



Only routine business was attended to 

 at the regular meeting of the New York 

 Lumber Trade Association on the 9th inst. 

 There was a large attendance of nieml>ers. 



An involuntary petition in liankruptcy 

 has been filed against the George Hage- 

 meyer & Sons Lumber Company, foot of 

 East 11th street, this city, which went in- 

 to the hands of a receiver on JIarch 31. 



}}. W. Higbie, Col. Charles M. Betts and 

 .John .1. McKelvey have been active in 

 Washington lately at the hearings of the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission amend- 

 ments. 



The parlor furniture factory of Masel & 

 Huebner, Nos, 29 to 35 AValworth street, 

 Williamsburg, was totally destroyed by 

 fire on Sunday. The loss is put at $-">o.Ooo. 



The George W. Pack Land vV: Timber 

 Company was recently incorporated at Al- 

 bany, with a capital of $2ri0.(XH:i. The di- 

 rectors are P. A. Rollins and C. F. Hickey, 

 New York, and George W. Pack, Asheville. 

 N, C. 



CINCINNATI CONDITIONS. 



Cincinnati. i>.. April l-'>. 1902. 

 No startling changes have taken place 

 in the local "lumber market during the 

 I'ast two weeks, and everything is about 

 the same as at last report. 'Tis trtie the 

 weather has .moderated some, and unmis- 

 takable signs of spring can be noticed 

 everywhere. Building permits are being 

 issued in great numbers and business is 

 commencing to boom with the retail deal- 



Gl'S. 



Cottonwood lumber is still very active, 

 and at present several barges of this wood 

 are being unloaded at the river front. 

 Firsts and seconds in all thicknesses are 

 fetching good prices, and the supply does 

 iK>t seem'to be equal to the demand. Al- 

 though box common cottonwood is more 

 plentiful than the higher grades, neverthe- 

 less there is a great scarcity of dry stocks, 

 and in view of the fact that there is an 

 awful heavy demand for this grade, it 

 would not be suprising if prices were ad- 

 vanced. Jlill cull cottonwood is also in 

 demand at good prices. 



About the only thing that can be said 

 about poplar is that there seems to be a 

 tendency to put prices away out of reach. 

 No doubt this is due to the exceedingly 

 lieavv demand there has been for this 

 wooci for some time past. While the 

 hea^- advances have been made chiefly 

 in the price of firsts and seconds, the 

 other grades were boosted also and some 

 manufactnrers are already commencing to 

 sulistitute other woods. 



Quite a number of local lumbermen have 



