The Hardwood Record 



VOL. XIV. 



SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1902. 



No. 4 



The Hardwood Record. 



PUBLISHED 



EVERY OTHER SATURDAY 



BY 



C. V. KIMBALL, 



134 MONROE STREET, - CHICAGO, ILL. 



ENTERED AT CHICAGO POST OFFICE AS 

 SECOND-CLASS MATTER. 



TERMS OF subscription: 



I). S., Canada and Mexico $1.00 per year. 



Foreign Countries 2.00 per year. 



ADVERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION. 



The cost of advertising in the Wanted and For Sale 

 columns will be found at the head of that department. 



ADVERTISING INDEX ON PAGE 25. 



Contrjbt/tions on subjects of interest 

 to lumbermen are invited from any 

 person. Subscribers and others are re- 

 quested to notify us of changes in per- 

 sonnel or organizations of hardwood 

 lumber firms. We desire especially to 

 receive particulars of installation of 

 new plants, transfers of property and 

 timber holdings and experiments in 

 new methods of manufacturing or the 

 utilization of by-products. New publi- 

 cations of interest to the trade, including 

 catalogues, stock lists and circulars will 

 receive attention if sent to this office. 

 Our columns are also available for 

 criticism and comment on any article 

 published or for news of any sort con- 

 cerning the hardwood trade. 



Our readers will confer a favor when 

 writing to advertisers if they will state 

 that they saw the advertisement in the 

 Hardwood Record. This is little 

 trouble and costs nothing, but it helps 

 us and is information wanted by the 

 advertiser. 



GENERAL HARDWOOD CONDITIONS. 



Tho hardwood lumber market continues 

 to be .strictly a seller's marlcct, tliat condi- 

 tion now extending" to all lines of the 

 trade. There has probably not been a time 

 in years when all items on the list wei-e 

 as strong as they are to-day. From quar- 

 ter-sawed oak to log run gum the demand 

 is strong and prices firm. As is usual in 

 such circumstances, prices are higher in 

 the country than the city prices seem to 

 warrant. It takes a good deal of courage 

 for a lumber dealer to start out in the 

 countr.v to buy lumber, expecting to sell 

 it again and make a profit. The fortunate 

 dealers are those who have large contracts 

 with responsible producers, made early in 

 the year. In times of plentiful supply it 

 is always possible to find some cheap lum- 

 ber in out of the way places or among pro- 

 ducers who are, for one reason or another, 

 anxious to sell, but such lumber is hard 

 to find at the present time. The situation 

 seems to be not so much that the demand 

 is exceptionally sti'ong, as tliat the supply 

 is abnormally light. The condition which 

 the Record predicted six mouths or more 

 ago has come to pass. 



In all lines of manufacture the consump- 

 tion of hardwood lumber continues steady 

 and unabated. Manufactures of all kinds 

 are running at about their full capacity, 

 witli abundance of orders ou their books. 

 There seems to be an absence of that fever- 

 ishness which characterized aJl lines of 

 business a year or two ago, immediately 

 after the beginning of good times. Peo- 

 ple seem to have settled down to a convic- 

 tion that business is going to continue 

 good and wiU let an occasional order get 

 away if it doesn't show a substantial profit. 

 It would be better all around if the sup- 

 ply of hardwood lumber at jjresent was 

 somewhat larger. It is rather a hard mar- 

 ket to do busine.ss on, because of the pres- 

 ent short supply of stock and the feeling 

 that it will probably lead tO' some over- 

 production later in the season. It is a sort 

 of hand-to-m<iuth bu.?iness, but anyone hav- 

 ing a good lot of stock is in a very in- 

 dependent ijositiou and is the master of 

 the situation. 



Quarter-sawed white oak is in excellent 

 demand in all grades. Firsts and seconds 

 have been strong all the year and the sur- 

 plus of commou, which was on the market 

 early in the season, has been absorbed to 

 a great exteut, and this grade has strength- 

 ened in price and demand materially in the 

 last few months. In fact, there has not 

 been enough of high-gi'ade quarter-sawed 



white oak to meet the demand, and this 

 has led to a great increase in the use of 

 mahogany. There is now more mahogany 

 cut up for furniture in Grand Rapids than 

 tliere is of oak and the percentage is in- 

 creasing. The number of importers and 

 manufacturers of mahogany has in- 

 creased immensely in the last year and it 

 is coming to cut a very large figure in the 

 lumber market., The prosperous condition 

 of the country has led to a demand for a 

 higher grade of furniture, and the differ- 

 ence in price between an article made of 

 mahogany and one made of oak does not 

 frighten the average buyer. 



Plain-sawed oak still holds its sti-ong 

 position and will probably never be much 

 weaker. The demand for it is in excess 

 of the supply, but the price is probably 

 as high as it will go, for the reason that 

 people are now paying about all that they 

 will pay, and if it cannot be obtained at 

 such prices they will use something else. 

 It is practically certain, however, that the 

 supply of plain oak will never greatly e.x- 

 ceed the demand again in this country. 



Poplar is very strong in price and very 

 scarce in supply, as it has been for the 

 past year-, and, as every indication points, 

 it will be for another year. 



Cottonwood is also strong at as high 

 prices as the wood has ever known. The 

 new cut of basswood is coming on the mar- 

 ket, but it is a light cut and is taken up 

 easily. 



Almost all of the northern hardwoods 

 are in a stronger position than they have 

 been for some time. The season's cut will 

 be light and is largely already sold. The 

 Michigan Maple Company seems to be 

 master of the situation, as it owns a large 

 percentage of the season's cut, which is 

 yet unsold. The strength extends to the 

 entire line, with xiossibly one or two ex- 

 ceptions, notably soft elm. 



Gum lumber under the circumstances is 

 coming rapidly in use and now bears a 

 liriee which leaves the manufacturer at 

 least a saw bill, and enables many of them 

 to run where the scarcity of logs of more 

 valuable varieties would otheriNrise compel 

 them to be idle. 



The fact is, it seems to us, as we liave 

 before said in these columns, that unless 

 in very exceptional circumstances we will 

 not see a burdensome supply of hardwood 

 lumber in this country again. The country 

 is increasing so rapidl.v in population and 

 wealth and our timber resources shrinking 

 to such an extent, that the tendency of 



