52 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



August 



crews are difficult to maintain. The hot weather and insects are the 

 objections registered by the men against summer logging. Several other 

 large operators have suspended because a shortage of logs. The I. 

 StephensoQi Company, operating a large plant at Wells, is preparing to 

 resume operations on a large scale along the Escanaba & Lake Superior 

 line in the Ralph district. 



TORONTO 



Tbe position of Commissioner of Conservation at $10,000 per year, a 

 new post in connection witli Ontario's forests, has been offered to Judson 

 Clarke, the forestry expert, who has declined it with thanks. Mr. Clarke 

 has large timber interests in Canada, and as a result of his recommenda- 

 tions it is a foregone conclusion that the Doyle rule, which for time 

 immemorial has been used for the measuring of lumber contents of logs. 

 will be abandoned and a more accurate system adopted in Canada. 



The Nipissing Lumber Company, Ltd., which was dealing in hardwood 

 and general lumber, has surrendered its charter and the Government has 

 .cancelled It. 



The K. & S. Tire Rubber Goods, Ltd., Paton Road, Toronto, has disposed 

 of its western factory in this city to the Satin Finish Hardwood Flooring 

 Company for $45,000. The company, which was recently incorporated, 

 is capitalized at $100,000 and is under the management of W. C. Gardiner, 

 formerly of the Builders* Moulding, Toronto, who is the president, and 

 W. T. Cole, secretary-treasurer. 



Sparks* sawmill at Osseo, on the Elk Lake branch of the T. & N. O.. 

 near Englehart, Ont., was completely destroyed by fire and 800,000 feet of 

 lumber, including a lot of hardwood stuff, lost. 



The Muskoka Wood Manufacturing Company of Huntsville. Ont.. w^hose 

 hardwood flooring plant and sawmill were destroyed by fire recentl.v, have 

 rebuilt the sawmill and have resumed operations. The mill is 40xl2."i 

 feet with a capacity of 4."^. 000 feet of hardwood or the same quantit.v of 

 softwood in ten hours. Nothing has definitely been decided upon as yet 

 in connection with the rebuilding of the hardwood plant. 



The Kingston Road Lumber Company, 828 Kingston Road, Toronto, 

 have acquired a site at Scarboro Junction, about two miles east of their 

 present one, and will open up another yard at the new location. A stock 

 of hardwood and other lumbers will be placed there and in the spring the 

 company will erect a planing mill. 



Word from New Brunswick is to the effect that the recent reduction 

 in railway freight rates has had a good effect in the province, as it has 

 stimulated tbe export lumber trade and from indications the accumula- 

 tions of years in the niillyards and vacant lots all over tlie province will 

 be moved. 



Hon. T. Dufferin PattuUo, Minister of Land and Forests in the British 

 Columbia Cabinet, was a visitor to Toronto during the past few days.- 

 Hon. Mr. PattuUo is the first Cabinet Minister to utilize air craft in thi' 

 discharge of official duties, he having taken a seaplane trip recently, visit- 

 ing many points on Vancouver Island and the Mainland Coast. British 

 Columbia now uses seaplanes as an essential part of its forest protection 

 system, thereby economizing greatly the traveling time of its chief officials. 



H. E. Howe, who for the past ten years has been manager of the sawmill 

 department of the Belgian Industrial Company, and is well known to the 

 hardwood lumbermen of Ontario, has gone into the wholesale and retail 

 lumber business for himself at Shawinigan Falls. Que., and among other 

 lines will handle hardwoods. 



The Clatworthy Lumber Company, Ltd., London. Ont., which was re- 

 cently Incorporated, has elected A. J. Clatworthy of Granton, president : 

 T. A. Clatworthy, vice president, and M. F. Clatworthy, secretary-treas 

 urer. A. J. Clatworthy is a director of tbe Southwestern Ontario Retail 

 Lumber Dealers' .\ssociatlon. 



Loss, estimated at $10,000. was sustained by the burning a few days 

 ago of the saw and planing mills l)elonging to D. K. Wallace, at Thames- 

 ville, Ont. An overheated planer is stated to have caused the blaze. 



Alex. L. MacLaurin, iiresident of the ('.'impbell-MacLauriu Lumber Com- 

 pany, Montreal, and of MacLinirin Bros.. Ltd.. Lachine, and widely known 

 iu the Canadian hardwood lumber trade, died a few days ago in tbe Mon- 

 treal General Hospital. The late Mr. MacLaurin was connected w'ith many 

 lumbering and allied industries and was an outstanding figure in Canadian 

 l)usiness circles generally. 



The Hardwood Market 



BUFFALO 



the Buffalo markt't has been helped thereby. Cooisumers who have been 

 in a hurry for stock have been placing their orders here, knowing that 

 this market held a good assortment of everything in the hardwood line. 

 If the strike should last for a number of weeks, the local yards would 

 undoubtedly be cleared out of a large amount of lumber. 



Among the woods leading in the demand are oak, ash and maple, with 

 a fair amount of cypress selliaig at some yards. Most manufacturing 

 plants are buying in a cautious manner, feeling that the timt s are so 

 luK-ertaiu that production may have to be checked by a shortage of fuel 

 or of cars. A good many manufacturing plants are short of coal and are 

 unwilling to buy much at the prices now asked for it. Car shortage is 

 nut as pronounced in this territory as in some others. 



Very little lumber is moving by lake this summer, owing to the shortage 

 of fuel and the high prices asked for what is available. The partial settle- 

 ment of the coal strike which was reached at Cleveland has not yet resulted 

 in any largely increased coal movement to the lakes, but early improvement 

 is looked for. 



A good deal of hardwood for fuel is expected to be used the coming 

 winter, as coal will be very scarce, in all probability. At present seasoned 

 maple is being offered at about $5 a cord at country poiaits. a price which 

 is likely to look cheap within a short time. 



PHILADELPHIA 



The hardwood situation here is less favorable than it was a month ago. 

 This is due, dealers maintain, to the unsettled conditions incident to the 

 strikes and the car shortage and general difficulties of rail transportation. 

 In addition, the old distressing price-cutting war on low grades has been 

 resumed with the result that the widest line of quotations may be obtained 

 for the under cuts. This is particularly true of floorings, which are selling 

 for almost anything. 



Uppers were less firm during the past week, but the differences in price 

 are scarcely worth mentioning. Lowers all along the line have gone down. 

 Industrial buying has been less active due to the strikes although the 

 shipyards, now crowded with work, maintain a fine flow of orders. Several 

 specialty lines are also doing well and one or two companies, such as the 

 Baldwin Locomotive Works, Brill Car Works, etc., are doing nicely. With 

 the tariff out of the way there is a fine business forthcoming in the great 

 textile section of this city. The mills have been refraining from ordering 

 not only spindles but for almost all their lines. 



Hardwoods used in house construction, particularly floorings, have been 

 very aetive of late. u\\t seem to be lessening in volume this week. 



Curiously tbe railroads are said to be in the market for considerable 

 material. Another situation of great interest to hardwood dealers is that 

 in the anthracite fields. Just as soon as the strike is si'ttled there will be 

 a fine flow of business for mine timbers and for the hundred and one grades 

 employed in and around the mines. 



BOSTON 



Trade in hardwoods in Boston has improved considerably of late, but 

 this improvement unfortunately has been largely nullified in value by the 

 eftVcts (if the present railroad situation. M;ia:y consumers are hesitating 

 about placing orders at the present time owing to the general difficulty of 

 wholesalers in making promises of value on the matter uf date of delivery. 

 This is the stumbling block of the present situation iu hardwoods here. 

 Hut. somewhat compensating for this, there are some consumers who are 

 buying now rather than take the risk of having no lumber at all when 

 they most need it later. As a result of this situation, prices show con- 

 siderable variation as among the different mills supplying the wholesalers. 

 Some very wide ranges have resulted here, in some instances amounting 

 to as much as $25. The lower prices quoted, also, are not wholly the 

 result of cheaper quality for good quality is the one big thioig beside date 

 of delivery buyers just now are fussy about. Transportation difficulties 

 are hampering badly all dealers here in northern or southern hardwoods. 

 Inquiry for hardwood flooring is fairly good, and demand, while fair, is 

 not so good as a little while ago when opportunities of getting it were 

 better, though the need for it is great to finish up dwelliaig houses and 

 other structures. Maple is wanted for shoe last work. Poplar is in 

 demand for crating and specially box work. Oak, especially plain, is in 

 fair demand. Export here is slight just now. Birch, sap and red, is In 

 fair demand and firm. Bulk of demand is from hardwood yards and 

 furniture people. Piano people are diquiring considerably and buying 

 fairly well considering conditions noted above. Demand and inquiry from 

 chair makers is not yet right. 



BALTIMORE 



The hardwood trade is on a pretty good scale, considering the trans- 

 portation difficulties which have been encountered for several weeks. These 

 have made it difficult to get lumber from distant mills, and to some extent 



Along with other divisions of the lumber trade the hardwood manufac- 

 turers and distributors are troubled Just now by the iinpnirnient of 

 transportation as the result of the railroad and coal strikes, anil more 

 or less ditliciilty is being experienced In the matter of filling orders. Fur- 



