56 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



3uBf 10, 1022 



Manufacturers 

 ■ ^ of 



Stimson's 



HARDWOOD 

 LUMBER 



Annual Output: 50 Million Feet 



J. V. Stimson 



Huntingburg, Ind. 



Stimson Veneer & Lumber Co, 



Memphis, Tenn 



J. V. Stimson Hardwood Co. 



Memphis, Tenn., and Helena, Ark. 



STRABLE 

 Lumber & Salt Company 



' SAGINAW, MICHIGAN 



Manufacturers 

 Hardwood Lumber, Maple Flooring 



ALL GRADES AND THICKNESSES 



MODERN DRY-KILNS AND PLANING MILL 



Insist upon 



Wolverine Maple Flooring 



"Bast by Test" 



S'jilS.'FiSiS: Maple. Birch, Basswood, Elm, Beech 



The Hardwood Situation 



In view of prevailing conditions in this important market, 

 we have considered the present an opportune time to pre- 

 sent a chart on the movement of hardwood lumber prices 

 as a basis for an analysis of the situation. In the chart we 

 show the movements of two composite groups of hardwood 

 lumber prices from July, 1916, to March, 1922, compared 

 with the movements of Bradstreet's Index Number repre- 

 senting the general level of prices for the same period. 



A free copy of this chart rvilt be mailed 

 upon request. Write Department M today 



The Brookmire Economic Service, Inc. 



25 West 45th Street, New York City 



"The Original Sywtem of Forecasting from Economic Cycles** 



lumlicr and forest products, but they ai-e meeting with no success for the 

 reason that sellers are unwilling to go short of the marliet in their present 

 knowledge of the smallness of offerings. Other consuming groups are buy- 

 ing now for immediate shipment just as rapidly as they can get their 

 orders accepted because they appreciate that the advance in prices between 

 now and July 1 is almost certain to be much greater than the limited 

 reduction in freight rates. 



Building trade interests are very active in their efforts to secure their 

 requirements. They are doing a record business and they have consumed 

 enormous quantities of low grade red and white oals. making tremendous 

 inroads on available supplies. Other building trade interests, too, are 

 actively in the market, with every prospect that they will continue free 

 buyers as a result of the unusual activity in construction work in all 

 parts of the country. The enormous home-building campaign is stimulat- 

 ing demand for furniture, and furniture manufacturers are buying with 

 much greater freedom than even two or three weeks ago. They are show- 

 ing some concern about their needs during the next few months and they 

 are gettjng away from the hand-to-mouth policy of purchase they fol- 

 lowed so long. It is now beginning to appear, according to hardwood 

 manufacturers, that the furniture group will be the most active in the 

 market for lumber this fall when building trade interests will begin to 

 feel some decrease in their business as winter approaches. 



There is a fairly active demand from manufacturers of agricultural 

 implements and vehicles, from the piano and other musical instrument 

 producers, and from manufacturers of wooden containers and heavy pack- 

 ing crates, while automobile interests are in the market in a bigger way 

 than at any time this year. There is rather more export business in 

 progress although overseas demand is not up to normal for this time of 

 the year. 



From a demand standpoint there is little to be desired. From a price 

 standpoint, the marketing is improving every day. Sellers are in full 

 control of the situation and higher prices are regarded by the majority of 

 the trade as inevitable as a result of the very strained relations between 

 supply and demand. 



Plain red oak in No. 1 common is selling at $48 to $50 per thousand, 

 f.o.b. cars at Memphis, while plain white oak, In the same grade, is com- 

 manding $53 to $55 per thousand. Sixty dollars for the latter by July 1 

 is freely predicted. Plain white oak, in No. 1 common, is selling at almost 

 as much as quarter sawn stock of the same grade, which Is a condition 

 almost without precedent. This is the result of the abnormal activity 

 on the part of flooring manufacturers and the comparatively limited 

 buying heretofore experienced on the part of furniture manufacturers 

 and other consuming groups. Ordinarily there Is a differential of at least 

 $10 per thousand between plain and quarter sawn stock In that grade. 



II.Trdwood manufacturers throughout the lower Mississippi valley are 

 "<m their toes" to resume production of hardwood lumber on the heels 

 of the recession of flood waters from the lowlands. 



In the territory north of Greeneville, Miss., logging is already being 

 resumed and some of the mills which were forced to close down have 

 already started again. In the territory south of Greeneville, however, 

 there is still so much water in the woods that it is Impossible to make 

 appreciable progress with logging, with the result that only an occasional 

 mill in that area is able to resume. The volume of water that has had 

 to l>e drained off was so much greater this year than ever previously 

 known that an unusual amount of time Is being required for its disappear- 

 ance. 



Logging In the Memphis territory is getting well under way and there 

 should be material increase by the middle of the current month in the 

 quantity of logs arriving at the mills. It is estimated, however, that it 

 will be well along toward the end of June before anything like normal 

 production of hardwoods in the lower valley, comprised in southwestern 

 Mississippi, southeastern Arkansas and northern Louisiana, will be seen 

 again, even If weather conditions are unusually favorable. 



J. W. Dickson, president of the Valley Log Loading Company, made 

 the statement a few days ago that "there are only two or three days' sup- 

 ply of logs awaiting loading on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley lines of 

 the Illinois Central because flood waters and excessive precipitation have 

 prevented logging." He says that there will he substantial increase in the 

 quality of logs available within the next two or three weeks and he 

 predicts that his firm will have three machines in operation by the end 

 of the current month. The company is now loading at the rate of about 

 200 cars per month compared with an average of something like 1,000 cars 

 at this time of the year. 



LOUISVILLE 



The general hardwood market is in good shape as a resiit of better 

 demand from planers and jobbers for hardwoods, while the auto trade, 

 implement, wagon and some other lines are buying In larger quantities. 

 The furniture trade Is a bit slow, and veneers and panels are not as good 

 as they should be but showing promise. Poplar siding has been very 

 good, due to active building. Hardwood flooring is active and taking a 

 lot of oak. Railroad buying Is more active. The turning trades are taking 

 a fair amount of material, and there is a little export business. Produc- 

 tion is Increasing In the South, and due to kiln drying there will probably 

 be better supplies of short Items on the market before long, as the water 

 is running out rapidly in the southern woods and logging Is increasing. 



