HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



Cincinnati, Ohio. Dec. 14. — Editor Habd- 

 wooD Kecokd : Your kind favor of the 12th 

 Inst, received. While the backbone of the finan- 

 cial scare Is broken, the effects of it will be 

 felt for a long time. The conditions that hav£ 

 prevailed In the country are of a character that 

 the banks have loaned money to people that they 

 had no business to encourase. When times like 

 these come that class of people cannot pay, 

 because they cannot realize. They borrow be- 

 cause they can and they pay after their living, 

 which In many instances Is extravagant, and 

 the banks set the balance, if any, profit. In- 

 restments of that class of people have been too 

 frequent and It has brought about In this and 

 various ways the present condition of affairs. 

 Many people who have discounted their bills 

 have done so because they could borrow the 

 money cheaper from the banks and discount 

 their bills, leaving something in their favor after 

 snch was done, and many of that class wUl 

 have to buy on paper. From the fact that stocks 

 are low and mills shutting down, that seems to 

 be an argument that prices wiii hold good. 



My candid judgment is most kinds of lumber 

 will go lower, and I believe it will be generally felt 

 along the line, and we had just as well get 

 ready for it as to jolly ourselves that It is not 

 going to come. Suppose the mills are not manu- 

 facturing. They would manufacture if they had 

 the money to do it with, and when the demand 

 comes for tlie stock on hand it will be replen- 

 ished immediately as soon as sales are made and 

 the money goes Into circulation in the normal 

 way. We are satisfied there will be plenty of 

 money In the country, but the banks are going 

 to be much more stringent in their loans than 

 they have been heretofore, as they have felt the 

 result of promiscuous loans. Tours truly, 



Bennett & Witte. 



CnATTAXOOGA, Tenn., Dec. 14. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Recobd ; There is evidently an improve- 

 ment in the general outlook, but the process of 

 readjusting financial and business conditions, in 

 our opinion, will be gradual. In the lumber line 

 many mills are shut down, which wiii necessarily 

 decrease the output, and then, on the other band, 

 many factories and large consumers are closed, 

 which wii! correspondingly reduce consumption. 

 It Is hardly reasonable to suppose that a con- 

 dition of depression will last very long. Our 

 opinion Is that soon after the first of January 

 factories that have closed down will begin to 

 resume operations. If this process goes on, neces- 

 sarily It will Increase the demand for lumber 

 products. Rates for money now are high. 



If the manufacturing interests of the country 

 should be running on short time and reduced 

 forces, the demand for money will necessarily be 

 correspondingly reduced, and as a result Interest 

 rates will go down. What is needed now is a 

 general condlton of confidence between the pro- 

 ducer and consumer, between the borrower and 

 lender, and between the employer and employe. 



By the middle of 1908 we look to see active 

 business In practically ail lines. 



Yours very truly, 

 Thb Loomis & Hart Mancfactlbino Company, 

 A. J. Gabagan, Treasurer. 



Beistol, Tenn., Dec. 14. — Editor Hardwood 

 Recobd : We have your favor of the 12th 

 Inst., relative to Information concerning the 

 hardwood situation in this vicinity. 



In reply would say we are carrying about the 

 same amount of hardwood as we bad on hand 

 a year ago. We have had a very good business 

 up to the present month, but December's trade 

 has been rather quiet. However, the lumbermen 

 In this part of the country all feel very hopeful 

 of the future, and at present no one is anxious 

 to push business, as they all feel that conditions 

 are going to Improve after the first of the year 

 and that there will be at least a normal demand 

 for the stock on hand. 



In our case. If we had a normal demand, we 

 would soon be able to clean up all the hardwood 



we have, and with an ordinary demand In about 

 two months our stock would be disposed of. 



Small mills la this part of the country are 

 about all shut down, and also the large ones 

 with a few exceptions. 



We believe the manufacturers have taken hold 

 of the thing In the proper way, and the prompt 

 curt;illment of the output will have a healthy 

 effect. 



We think that the prices have about reached 

 the bottom and we look for better prices before 

 spring. 



We think that the banks hold the key to the 

 situation, and as soon as they loosen up and 

 discount commercial paper the buying will be- 

 gin. 



The banks In this part of the country all 

 claim to have more money than they ever had 

 before, and as the nnanciai situation has so 

 much Improved we think after the first of the 

 year they will be looking for business again. 



Very few people are making sacrifices to 

 move their stock, as they figure that the reduced 

 output will more than equal any reduced de- 

 mand. Very truly yours, 



Favl W. Tleck LniiBEB CompanVj 



George W. Peter, Secretary. 



Cairo, III., Dec. 14. — Editor Hardwood Rec- 

 ord : In answer to yours of the 12th, we take 

 pleasure in giving you any information we can 

 regarding the hardwood situation In our district, 

 which is as follows : 



Business has been very quiet with us for the 

 past sixty days, yet we are receiving a few new 

 orders, and shipping some on our old orders. We 

 have a very good stock of lumber on hand, but 

 are not pushing it on the market at a sacrifice, 

 as we fail to see' any need of it. The supply 

 of good hardwoods is becoming very scarce and 

 there will be a demand for all in sight before 

 new stock comes in. 



We have had the mills which were operating 

 for us shut down, sixty days ago, and we are 

 in touch with a number of others throughout 

 the South which have done the same, and It 

 is our opinion that the cut of hardwoods have 

 been curtailed at least 75 per cent in the past 

 ninety days, and this is the season of the year 

 most of the milling is done in the South, which 

 means higher prices for lumber In early spring. 

 We cannot help but take an optimistic view of 

 the situation. Yours truly, 



E. D. Matthews LuiiBER Company. 



Detroit, Micu., Dec. 17. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : What sales of hardwood lumber have 

 been made in this section during November and 

 r-ecember have unquestionably been on a con- 

 siderably lower basis than that which prevailed 

 earlier in the year. The cut In prices has, we 

 think, averaged about 10 per cent. Such sales, 

 however, were practically all forced, and do 

 not fairly i-epresent the market. The stronger 

 firms, both manufacturers and Jobbers, have 

 made and arc making no considerable price con- 

 cessions, so far as we know. Weil-manufactured 

 and honestly-graded hardwood lumber Is still 

 mighty good property. 



We are sorry to note that the large mills at 

 Bay City and on the Mackinaw division of the 

 Michigan Central railroad are not curtailing 

 their cut to any appreciable extent. This, In 

 our judgment, may seriously injure the market 

 in this section, as regards the more plentiful 

 woods. Sensible lumbermen do not merely thlnl: 

 — they know — that the 1908 trade will be less 

 11 volume than that of 1006 or 1907. Reason- 

 able curtailment of product will keep the market 

 right side up. And the curtailment should not 

 all be left to one's neighbors. Each should do 

 bis share. The Brownlee-BlELLy Company. 



Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 17. — Editor Haedwood 

 Record : We have your favor of the 12th ask- 

 ing fo»- our opinion as to the future of the 

 hardwood lumber business In this territory. At 

 present we are not doing very much business. 



from the fact that the buyers seem to have 

 gotten the Idea that prices on hardwood lumber 

 would be slightly lower later on. For the fol- 

 lowing reasons we think they are making a very 

 grave mistake In not buying at least sufficient 

 for the current necessities at the present prices : 

 The stock of dry hardwood lumber Is at least 

 30 per cent less than at the corresponding period 

 of 1900, and from 70 to 80 per cent of all the 

 mills in the territory have been closed down 

 for more than thirty days, and the mills that 

 are running, as a rule, arc running on short 

 time and with light crews, and only doing that 

 amount of work that is necessary to take care 

 of logging contracts that have already been 

 made. It is hardly probable that many of the 

 mills will resume operations before late in the 

 spring, and allowing four months for air drying 

 the lumber the production of these mills will 

 not come on the market before midsummer at 

 least. If there should be even a moderate de- 

 mand for lumber the dry stocks on hand and 

 available will be exhausted before this new sup- 

 ply of stock Is ready for shipment. For this rea- 

 son we are firmly of the opinion that prices 

 will at least be maintained, if not advanced. 

 Summing the whole matter up, we are of the 

 opinion that there will be a resumption of busi- 

 ness soon after the first of the year In all lines 

 of lumber sufficient to take care of all the 

 stocks available. There has been very little ac- 

 tual price cutting so far, and this has been 

 confined entirely to small lots of stock held by 

 parties that were compelled to realize on same, 

 regardless of profit. There has been no dispo- 

 sition on the part of the producers that were 

 able to hold stocks to reduce prices, especially 

 In view of the fact that prices on lumber have 

 never reached the high level of other products. 

 Y'ours truly. 

 The Davidsox-Benedict Company. 



Norfolk, Va., Dec. 16. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : In reply to your favor of the 12th 

 lieg to state that in our opinion the hardwood 

 business will materially improve after the 1st 

 of .January, 1908, as the financial condition of 

 the country has very much improved within the 

 last few weeks, and we look for Improved con- 

 ditions in the money market all over this coun- 

 try by the first of the year. Of course, orders 

 for hardwoods at this time are scarce, but this 

 Is usually so at this time of the year, as no- 

 body wants to have any more lumber to take 

 in to their Inventory than Is absolutely neces- 

 sary. There are no surplus stocks of first-class 

 hardwoods anywhere, and when business begins 

 to open up early next year we fully beileye 

 prices will be maintained and a fair volume of 

 business transacted during the year 1908. 

 Yours very truly. 

 The Ferd. Brenner Lumber Company, 



N. W. Brenner, President. 



Baltimobe, Md., Dec. 17. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : Replying to yours of the 12th Instant, 

 onr trade is exclusively export In wagon oak 

 dimension stock, coffin oak planks, coffin oak 

 boards and wide yellow poplar lumber, also black 

 walnut logs, yellow poplar logs and hickory logs, 

 and as far as we can judge the foreign markets 

 arc buying at about the same price as early 

 this year, n'lth the exception of some shipments 

 of undesirable lengths and sizes of wagon oak. 

 We may say that considerable quantities of 1- 

 Inch, IVi-lnch, 1 Mi-Inch and 2-lncb oak hare 

 been offered to us, the greater part of It, how- 

 ever, from small mills, which has been of Irregu- 

 lar quality and manufacture, and It is a well- 

 known fact that the prices of this class of 

 stock arc much lower than they have been. We 

 also notice that considerable of this kind of 

 lumber has been sent abroad on consignment. 



For the special lines of our trade we find that 

 prices arc high, and It Is difficult to always 

 get just what is wanted. Our letters from abroad 

 Indicate that foreign buyers arc not making 

 large purchases at this time, principally on ac- 

 count of the reports that have been cabled 



