THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



21 



BUFFALO BITS. 

 Hiiffalo, X. Y., .May 13. lOilJ. 

 Ill my l.-ist letter I made the remark that 

 it the business situation wa.s not disturl)e<l 

 liy hibor strikes to any gi-eat e.Ktent. the 

 lirnhabilHies were that our good times 

 \\ oukl remain with us for some time. Since 

 tlien, one strike alone, that of the antlira- 

 eite coal men, has caused 150,000 men to 

 go out. and the probabilities are that these 

 men may be out on strike for soinc time 

 to come. 



\Mtli llie cost of living as liigh as it is — 

 it is as much as the laboring man with a 

 family can do to provide for them decently 

 by keeping at T\'ork every day. Wow do 

 these strikers with families expect to get 

 along? Their allowance from their union 

 will not amount to one-third, certainly not 

 to one-half, of what their salary would 

 be. As a rule, striking for higher pay is 

 poor jiolicv, as even when the strikav iip- 

 piiTently gains his tight it is dearly buayht 

 and leaves a sting behind, which is apt to 

 hurt the striker in the long rim. 1 suj)- 



'pose some strikes are really necessary, al- 

 though I am inclined to doubt it. and think 

 it would be much better for the conniin- 

 Jiity at large if there never was a strike. 

 There" are several strikes on now, minor 

 pnes, at different places— carpenters, Imild- 

 ers. plumbers, etc., and their effect is fell 

 ill business quite noticeably. It Is strani;>' 

 that, in seasons of prosperity, the greates' 

 danger tj the ones most interested— the me- 

 cauics— comes from themselves. They are 

 apt to lose their heads and ask for things 

 that they would otherwise never think (.f. 

 simply because there seems a possii'ility 

 pf their getting what they ask for. OiU- 

 ■side of strikes business in all lines is in 

 a prosperous condition. Prices are high and 

 orders are plenty In the hardwood lum- 

 ber business in almost all lines, and the 

 only one who get.s left is the unforttmate 

 who has not the stock. Of course, anyone 

 buying now has to pay high prices, as 

 the millman is wise to the situation. The 

 one who had his lumber or his logs con- 

 tracted for last year at old prices is the 

 one who is making the money. The lum- 

 bermen of Buffalo all seem to be wearing 

 a pretty broad smile just now, and all seem 

 to be feeling pretty good over the sitii.-i- 

 tion. 



There will be a fair-sized delegation at 

 tlie !St. Louis convention on the IGth. There 

 is unusual interest shown in the coming 

 ■meeting, and it promises to be very largely 

 attended by members of the association 

 from all over the country. There will !>e 

 a more than interesting discussion on .grad- 

 ing and inspecting rules, and there v,-iU 

 probably be a revision of the rules— some- 

 thing that lias been asked for by many for 



' some time i)ast. 



There is no such thing as market prices, 

 either in buying or selling, at the present 

 time. Everyone having stock make their 

 own prices. If price suits the prospective 



•buyer, well and good, he can take 't or 

 leave it. as suits him. That is about the 



conditioii of the market as regards prices. 



Words of i)raise and admiration are 

 heard on all sides about the enlarged edi- 

 tion and new cover in which the Itecord 

 has appeared. 



Jlr. W. A. McLean of Xew .Vlbaiiy. Ind., 

 is in town visiting his brothers, Messrs. 

 Hugh -Vngus and Robert JIcLean. Mr. Mc- 

 Lean expresses the cpiniuu that now the 

 iBoer war may be said to be at an end 

 lexiiort business will pick up, and that there 

 -will be a general improvement all round. 



ST. LOUIS SITUATION. 



St. Louis, May 1.5, 19(J2. 



The convention of the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association, which is as- 

 sembled in this city to-day. is the leading 

 item of imirortance around town this week 

 and every hardwood lumberman in the city 

 is giving up his whole time to it. It is a 

 wonderfully successful affair, so far as at- 

 tendance is concerned, and the program 

 of the work ahead of it means that some- 

 thing will be accomplished. At any rate, 

 business is being given up to it this week, 

 and it may be as well, for there is such 

 a small amount of di'.v lumber in this city 

 that there is no necessity for any strenuous 

 work in the disposing of it. There is not 

 a great number of traveling salesmen on 

 the road at the present time, as the local 

 jicople claim that they are alile to dis- 

 pose of more stock than they are able to 

 furnish by mail. It has been evident for 

 .some time that a number of the consum- 

 ers in the northern country are of the 

 opinion that all this talk about high prices 

 and sliortage at sources of supply is mere 

 wind. They have refused to buy until tlieir 

 stocks are down, on a rather low basis, and 

 are just beginning to realize that they have 

 missed something. Each day seems to 

 bring an increased number of them into 

 the market and there is evidence that a;l oi 

 them will be willing to buy in the very 

 near future. This same condition is re- 

 ported by all other markets, but the evi- 

 dences of a coming change are also appar- 

 ent in other sections. 



The question of supply is still the para- 

 mount problem of the present situation and 

 it is one which Is even more serious than 

 at last report. All of the local people re- 

 port that they are securing some lumber, 

 but they also say that their .shipments ex- 

 ceed their receipts and that this has been 

 the case for some time. Some have doubled 

 the number of their men in the saw mill 

 coimtry in the effort to secure a greater 

 amount of lumber, but the shortage is still 

 growing more apparent in the local yards 

 and it is only an occasional mill operator 

 who reports that he has any lumber what- 

 ever on hand. Buyers are so thick in the 

 southern country that they seem to be 

 standing around waiting for the lumber to 

 be cut. Such a thing as finding dry lum- 

 ber at the mills is almost unheard of and 

 buying is so decidedly aggi-essive that even 

 the green is absorbed. The river receipts 

 of this market are smaller thus far this 



niontli than for several years during May. 

 The Tennessee River, which usually shii)s 

 out heavy amounts during tlie spring, has 

 been doing very little and the receipts from 

 the lower Mississippi, except for an oc- 

 casional barge of cottonwood. gum or cy- 

 press, are practically nothing. And still it 

 is reported that the mills are quite busy 

 and are turning out a greater amount of 

 lumber than during last month. The whole 

 situation is so queer that it is very hard 

 to understand and the majority of the local 

 people admit that they do not undcrsbind 

 anything about it except that they are able 

 to sell much more lumber than they are 

 able to secure. 



The local factory consumption is quite 

 heavy at the present time and the factory 

 stocks are much below the normal. This 

 is true of all woods and the indications are 

 that there will be no change in the near 

 future. Cypress has been called for in all 

 World's Fair mill work and this is giving 

 a local demand for this wood whicli is al- 

 most unprecedented. 



As is stated above, cypress is having 

 such a demand as has seldom been ex- 

 ceeded. The mills report a shortage of 

 stock which is apparent from the delays 

 in filling back orders, and this condition 

 makes it so easy to maintain the higher 

 liasis of values recently decided upon. 

 I'oplar is also particularly strong and the 

 fact that the poplar manufacturers are per- 

 fecting their organization is having the ef- 

 fect of placing it in a stronger position. 



Oak is still gaining in strength and the 

 demand for dry quartered white is such 

 that the local supply is nil. Local quota- 

 tions for it are now ifoO, which is a higher 

 price than has been obtained within almost 

 three years. Common is easily bringing 

 if:iO and is gaining. Plain white in heavy 

 thicknesses is selling for $.32 to .$.34. and 

 1-inch plain red and white is quoted at -$20. 

 (Juartered red has been improving some- 

 what of late, but is easily the dull item 

 among the oaks. It is being sold at prices 

 in the neighborhood of $38 and .$2G, but it 

 takes good stock, which is wide and does 

 not run too much to common to bring these 

 figures. The demand for dimension oak in 

 all sizes, especially car oak, is wonderfully 

 strong and is improving. 



Cottonwood and gum are holding to a 

 steady gait and there is a ready demand 

 for more stock than is arriving. Ash and 

 hickory are also on a firm basis, but seem 

 to be hard to secure at first hands. Maple 

 and sycamore are rather slow sale, as they 

 are not handled on this market very ex- 

 tensively, but there is a call for IVj-inch 

 elm from the chair manufacturers. 



W. D. Reeves of Helena, Ark., is in the 

 city to-day and reports that he has an 

 excellent stock of oak at his mill. He says 

 this is rather a peculiar statement to make 

 in view of the fact that nearly all hard- 

 wood stocks are very small, but he has 

 been very conservative in his sales. 



\A'. A. Bonsack, of the Bonsack Lumber 

 Company, states that country trade is won- 



