THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



21 



r^^^: 



MARKET Report^ 



CHICAGO. 



A degree of security prevailes the liard- 

 wood liimbei- niarUet here, as everywhere 

 else. The excellent farm crops, the prices 

 at which they are selling njid, in fact, the 

 general prosperity of all the people. Make 

 the demand for all goods into whicli hard- 

 Avoods enter excellent. Tlie Imying of 

 furniture, wagons and agricultural imple- 

 ments, caiTiages and pianos, the building 

 of houses— eveiT business that goes to- 

 wards making the hardwood lumber Inisi- 

 ness prosperous is flourishing. 



Yet it is not a boom, it seems like a 

 natural condition. The factories are all 

 busy, not to .say crowded, yet the call for 

 manufacture*! ])rodncts is steady. In 

 fact, during the past thirty or sixty days 

 business seems to have steadied down a 

 trifle. September was not as active as 

 August, and A\igust Avas less active 

 than July, from all reports that we can 

 get 



It is altogether a healthy condition that 

 pre-vails, and that is why there is such 

 a sense of security domimiting the hard- 

 wood business. Xo one is afraid to buy. to 

 buy moderately. I)ecause it is almost a cer- 

 tainty that prices will be maintained ap- 

 proximately for .another six or ei°ht 

 months at least. " 



There are no specific changes to be noted 

 Each kind of hardwood is in about the 

 same deniaml as stnted in our la.st issue 



NEW YORK. 



Everything is optimistic in the New 

 York lumber camp, and the only dark 

 shadows cast are those caused by 'the too 

 vivid glare of the sun's rays on some par- 

 ticular wood. Like all shadows, it dis- 

 appears as you approach it from a differ- 

 ent angle. 



Hardwoods are never in the shadow 

 now. Retail stocks are all low. for has 

 not the small buyer been purchasing from 

 hand to mouth for months, hoping against 

 hope that prices would go down and lie 

 could then plunge. But prices didn't go 

 down, and now, Avhen he wants lumber he 

 has to -iMy what is asked, and it isn't al- 

 wa.vs an easy task to find the man who 

 has the stock you want and is willin"- 

 to pay for it even then. 



It is always interesting to go back and 

 seek out the conditions that have brought 

 about certain results. It is currently be- 

 lieved that retailers believed that by 'hold- 

 ing oft' during the summer month's they 

 would see selling prices cut so that mid- 

 summer accumulations would move. They 

 were mistaken, the market was never 

 stronger, and recognizing that they would 

 be wise in getting the balance of tlie year's 

 supply as (juickly as possible, they rushed 

 in with their orders. The result was that 

 prices stiffened and the proof that it was a 

 seller's market was forcibly driven home. 



The reason for the advance in the price 

 of poplar and (luartered oak is largely due 

 to the continued scarcity of stock, while an 

 added factor in the case of poplar is con- 

 tinued drought in West Airginia. Xot 

 alone are reports coming in of streams dry- 

 ing np and logs left high and dry on tlie 



b;mks. but in certain districts water suf- 

 licieiit to supply the boilers in the mills 

 could not be secured. 



Inch firsts and seconds in poplar can be 

 <luoted anywhere from $43 to !f4."i. while 

 there has arisen quite an unusual demand 

 for poplar culls, which are to be had at 

 ■fi;(l to .$21. and are stift' at those figures. 

 I'oplar manufacturers claim that they have 

 more orders than they can till. 



In plain oak the demand is very good. 

 .$40 being a fair quotation for inch stock, 

 while even better prices are obtainable for 

 <-ertain stock in which the supply is un- 

 usually low. 



Ash and chestnut are also in fairly good 

 call, and taking it as a whole, it is safe to 

 sa.v that the hardwood market has seldom, 

 if ever, been in better shape. 



Export trade in hardwoods is not par- 

 ticularly lively .iust now. and there is 

 good reason for it. Your foreign buyer 

 will not pay the figures demanded by the 

 manufiiictnrers here. In proof of this, wit- 

 ness the departure from these shores last 

 week of a (^erman dealer who came over 

 to bu.y, but found it was not a' sensilile 

 proposition at this time of the year and 

 at the prices now being asked. Of course, 

 some hardwoods are being sent abroad 

 right along, for there are exporters who 

 think .something of future conti'acts and 

 do not mind making sacrifices to hold 

 their trade. 



BTJFFALO. 



The yards are all Imsy. In fact, a num- 

 ber of them find it difficult to procure 

 and keep men sufficient to do the work. 



One reason for this is the fact that 

 the works of the steel plant, now in active 

 operation, give work to over 7,(MJ0 men. 

 It is exi)ected that fully I2.<h:m) men will 

 be employed when all the departments get 

 to running. This, of course, includes 

 skilled and unskilled laVxir and makes 

 Buffalo a more desirable place than ever 

 for the wage-earner. The ordinary labor- 

 ing man or lumber handler gets $"l.7.'5 per 

 da.v, where in tlie ina.iorit.v of cases he got 

 from 1.2.5 to 1.40 i>er day less than tw<i 

 years ago and was not any too sure of his 

 .I'ob at that. 



Of course, there is the other side of the 

 (lue.stion. Still, with plenty of work and 

 wages as good as they are, there is not 

 much room for complaint. If the men 

 ^\\\\ onl.v profit b.y the lesson being taught 

 them every d-ay. and not listen to the talk 

 of the agitators who advocate strikes, 

 tlie.v will be in good shaiie for some time 

 to come. It is aliout time that working- 

 men learned the lesson tliat striking should 

 be the ver.v last resort under any circum- 

 stances—and after making' up their minds 

 to strike, the best thing the.v can do is 

 to take oft' their coats and go to work 

 again. They will be money ahead every 

 time. 



As I started by saying, all the .vards 

 are more or less busy. The amount of busi- 

 ness lieing done lieing dein'iident hirgel.v on 

 the .imount of stock on hand to fill orders 

 with. There is little excuse for any one 

 being one of stock, on general lines, at 

 tlie present time. True, one has to pay 



more money for lumber lionght now than 

 he would for the same lumber if bought 

 a year ago. but it is a question if the 

 profit would be any less on the lumber 

 bought now. There is certainly no ques- 

 tion about lieing able to sell at a proflt— 

 before prices declined. Ash lumber is 

 about the onl.v lumber on which there is 

 no scarcity of dry stock. Still I think it 

 is only a (juestion of a short time when 

 .111 the ash that is now on hand here at 

 Buffalo will move out at fairly good prices. 



(Quartered oak from t inch to 2 inches 

 tliick.: plain oak. white, from 1 inch to 4 

 inches: phiin oak. red, from 1 inch to 2 

 inclies: basswood frcmi 1 inch to 2 inches; 

 cherry from 1 inch to 4 inches; liickory 

 IM; and 2 inches; Avhite ash 1-inch wide 

 run, white ash 2 to 4 inches, running well 

 to 14 and K! feet lengths: chestnut. "l, IV2 

 and 2 inches, running good widths and 

 well to long lengths; quartered sycamore 

 1 to 2 incihes, well figured and good 

 width. The foregoing are all moving 

 briskly and bringing good prices. An.v 

 mill man with lumber to sell in the above 

 kind and thicknesses cannot do better than 

 t<i shiji it to this market. 



One thing is especially noticeable alxiut 

 wliite ash and tliat is. that since the de- 

 mand for white ash has been as it has. for 

 thicker than 1 inch, it is veiy hard to 

 get hold of 1-inch ash with any width to 

 it to speak of: and I do not think it 

 would be a bad scheme for any millman 

 h.iving good fair-sized ash logs to change 

 oft', ;ind saw them all into 1-incli lumber. 

 I do not think he will lose any mone.v by 

 doing so. and he will certainl.v please his 

 I'Ustoincr. aiul more than all. he will please 

 himself, for it goes without saying that 

 the average mill man would rather saw 

 1-inch lumber than an.v other thickness. 



CINCINNATI. 



Taking everything into consideration, the 

 state of trade is not as flattering as it 

 might be. There has been a great falling 

 oft" in business during the past month and 

 a half, and while reiwrts and statistics 

 ma,y show a slight improvement, these can- 

 not be taken as a criterion, liecause most of 

 the shipments are on account of old con- 

 tracts and not the result of new business. 

 Ever.v now and then trade takes a little 

 spurt and inquiries come in pretty livel.v. 

 giving the impression that the slump is 

 alx>ut over, but that this impression is a 

 mistaken one is proven by subsequent 

 ilulne.ss. Septendier usuall.v marks the 

 opening of the fall trade but this has not 

 been the case this year and is causing 

 much speculation as to what this may lie 

 attributed and what the outcome will be. 

 .Inly and .August were prett.v fair months 

 and gave promise to a heav.v fall trade, 

 but up to now it has not materialized. 

 Prices are firm and stocks seem a littie 

 more plentiful than during the summer 

 months. 



For the past week or so there has been 

 lots of rain in this section, all of wliich has 

 been ver.v welcome and hoped for. for some 

 time. The river has been too low to per- 

 mit river traffic and this had the eft'ect of 

 raising the price of coal ver.v materiall.v 



