The Hardwood Record 



VOL. XIV. 



SATURDAY, SEPTFMBER 6. 1902. 



No. 11 



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: 



U. 8., 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. 



G>ntributions on subjects of interest 

 to lumbermen arc invited from any 

 person. Subscribers and ottiers arc 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. 



We scarcely believe tliei-e was e.xpecta- 

 tidU on the part of aiiylxxly tliat general 

 Imsiness conditions would at the end of 

 tlie summer be as they are. July and Au- 

 gust are usually months in Avhich manu- 

 facturers in most lines e.xpect to accumu- 

 late a surplus against the fall trade. This 

 season very little, if any, gain has Ijeen 

 made, new orders having come in about 

 as fast as old orders were filled. In very 

 few lines has any surplus been accumu- 

 lated. This situation, we believe, holds in 

 the hardwood lumber trade. We believe 

 there is no more hardwood lumber in tlie 

 country to-day than three mouths ago. 



A lai-ge consumer of hardwood lumber 

 e.xpressed surprise last week that so little 

 stoclv was being offered. "Usually at this 

 season," he said, "I get a good many bar- 

 gains ottered me, and talie advantage of 

 tlie situation to increase my stock. This 

 year there is nothing much doing. I doubt 

 if I have as much lumber on hand as at 

 the beginning of the season. What am I 

 going to do? Must I pay these lumbermen 

 all they want?" We told him we hoped 

 and lielieved that was his only course; and 

 then asked how his business was. 



"Well," he replied, "I can't take an order 

 now and promise delivery in less than (50 

 days. I am getting orders, however, right 

 aloug, for that is about as soon as anyone 

 in my line can jiromise delivery." 



Iron and stee! from Great Britain is 

 being delivered in Chicago and other 

 .Vmerlcan markets to-day. The demand is 

 so strong and the foundries are so far be- 

 hind with orders that prices have advanced 

 to a point where the European product can 

 be sold at a profit, under the shadow of 

 tlu' jilaut of the Illinois Steel Company, 

 after paying freight and tariff charges. 

 Sucli a condition has not existed in this 

 country in many years. 



Tlie conditions prevailing in the steel 

 trade prevails, to a greater or less extent, 

 in almost all lines of business. The prog- 

 ress in prosperity which has been made 

 in the last Ave years, in this country, is 

 tremendous. It was only six years ago 

 tli.-it Hryan's first free silver campaign was 

 raging so furiou.sly, and all liusiness was 

 at a standstill. 



The impi'bvement Is largely due to the 

 great iirosperity of the farmers, resulting 

 from heavy crops and high prices. The 

 farmers have been getting rich in the past 

 few years, and there is an immense in- 

 tern-al development going forward all over 



tlie country. The last two elections have 

 also settled the free silver and other wild- 

 cat financial propositions and establislu'd 

 the single gold standard— and that helps. 

 The people have the money and are not 

 afraid to invest it; and they are invest- 

 ing it. 



There will come a change from present 

 conditions after a while, of course, but 

 witli a "bumiier" corn crop in sight and 

 with no political or financial disturbance 

 in pi-ospect, we feel safe in saying that 

 in all probability there will be no abate- 

 ment in our present prosperity for another 

 six months at least. Something may ari.se 

 to set the bells jangling out of tune, of 

 coui-se, but it is not likely; and we be- 

 lieve our readers may .safely make calcula- 

 tions for the next six months Iiased on 

 present conditions. 



There is not a burdensome supply of 

 hardwood lumber of any kind that we can 

 learn of anywhere In the counti-y. As to 

 what prices will do we make no predic- 

 tion beyond the statement that they cer- 

 tainly will not go any lower. There is no 

 Innilier in the country in sutficient quanti- 

 ties to break tlie market, uur can it be pro- 

 duced short of another year. Sometliing 

 may occur to impair the demand; but if 

 demand holds as it is we can safely promise 

 that there will be no surplus of hardwoods 

 during tlie next tnvelve months. One thing 

 which strikes us is that a hardwood lum- 

 berman having a stock of hardwood lum- 

 ber of any kind, if it be nothing but elm 

 or gum, should put a good stiff price on 

 it and hold for further orders. 



This Is the logging season down in the 

 Delta country, but from the best informa- 

 tion obtainable nothing extraordinary is be- 

 ing accomplished. The import of logs in 

 that locality cannot be increased with tlio 

 same facility it can in the North, and 

 the high price of fuel and strong demand 

 for labor in other lines is handicapping 

 the loggers of that section this season, and 

 nothing more than an average crop of 

 logs will probably be obtained. Through 

 the northern section of the oak producing 

 territory the manufacturers are doing all 

 they can, but are making but little, if any, 

 gain in the amount of stock on hand, roji- 

 lar is as it has been for sume time past, 

 in strong demand and scant supply, 

 llanufacturers of Cottonwood are in a 

 stronger position than they have ever been 

 and those among the southern manufac- 

 turers who are so situated as to be able 

 to manufacture gum lumber are finding 



