^A^i!i^m!;^^!/^ii!Mi^^mm^^ 



Copyright, The Haedwood Company, 1918 

 Published in the Interest of the American Hardwood Forests, the Products thereof, and Loggin>. Saw 

 Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the 10th and 25lh of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Edgar H. Defebaugh, President 

 Edwin W. Meeker, Managing Editor 

 Hu Maxwell, Technical Editor 



Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 



537 So. Dearborn Street. CHICAGO 



Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087-8088 



Vol. XLVI CHICAGO, DECEMBER 25, 1918 No. 5 



General Market Conditions 



POOR BUSINESS OR GOOD BUSINESS is almost entirely de- 

 pendent upon the mental attitude of the trade in question. 

 Reviewing the matter from this standpoint, then, there never was 

 a time when the hardwood business had such a promising future as 

 at present. The unanimous opinion of the sellers of hardwood lum- 

 ber and veneers is that the immediate future holds great prospects" 

 ^nd that the outlook for extremely strong business is based upon 

 the strongest kind of a foundation. While there is a scattering of 

 price cutting, this is to be expected even under active demand, for 

 there are always some items piled up here and there throughout 

 the country which must be moved in order to meet individual con- 

 ditions. In general, though, there has been no development in 

 regard to prices which gives any promise of degenerating into 

 wholesale cutting and it is extremely unlikely that anything of 

 this sort will materialize. 



At the same time, hardwood men should consider the situation 

 carefully before quoting and not make even individual offerings 

 at a sacrifice. The old lack of backbone that has always charac- 

 terized lumbermen, primarily because they have not known their 

 <50sts, and have not been sufficiently organized, has crept into the 

 situation during the past two or three weeks. It is typified 

 very pointedly in the story of a man selling another product to 

 the woodworking factory trade in the middle west. He recently 

 has returned from an extensive trip which he devoted mainly to 

 analj'Zing the situation and lining up the views of the factory 

 heads. 



In the main, the attitude of the factory man was that he does not 

 ■expect any very large orders immediately, as he believes the furni- 

 ture retailer is waiting for lower prices. The unanimous opinion 

 ■of the furniture men, however, is that furniture prices are going to 

 stick, and in fact, go even higher. There is a very firm and unani- 

 mous opinion on this question and undoubtedly this prediction 

 will come true. 



At the same time, the very same men retaining the aljove view- 

 point are showing indisposition to buy raw materials, believing that 

 prices may come down. The traveling man in question pointed out 

 to numerous factory men the inconsistency of these two viewpoints, 

 asking if they had been given any encouragement so far as lower 

 price is concerned. The general verdict was that there had been 

 no indication of lessened values in raw materials except lumber and 

 lumbermen had shown sufficient disposition to cut list prices as 

 to give encouragement to the factory man to anticipate further 

 reduction, and it seemed to be the old story over again — the lum- 

 bermen are showing themselves the weak sisters and are willing 



to let their material go at less prices in spite of the fact that the 

 goods into which their raw material is manufactured will show the 

 same price for an indefinite time in the future. 



The most stimulating thing possible for any hardwood man is to 

 attend any meeting at which hardwood men gather. There has not 

 lieen a. meeting since peace was declared that has not been a very 

 strong tonic to those present. At least, in their intercourse among 

 themselves, the hardwood men are showing a healthy and normal 

 viewpoint whicli is bound to have a very strengthening effect 

 throughout the trade. Probably this optimism would not serve to 

 effectually control the situation without being backed by condi- 

 tions which any man can see as offering logical reasons for holding 

 up values. The same conditions that have maintained for the past 

 month or six weeks still hold true as being snbst«ntial argument in 

 support of a strong tone throughout the hardwood business. They 

 involve absolute certainty of general resumption in building, which 

 will call for vast quantities of hardwoods; decreased stocks in the 

 North and South as at present on mill yards, and assurance that 

 greatly curtailed log supply will further reduce winter cuts in 

 both regions. This situation will be further aggravated by the fact 

 that under the recent lumber embargo many mills figured that they 

 could not profitably operate and hence closed down and disbanded 

 their organizations, and with labor so tight it was impossible for 

 them to resume even though they might want to do so. To the 

 above is added the mental eft'ect of more accurate determining of 

 lumber costs and the fact that every mill man realizes that the 

 stuff he now has on pile must be sold on the basis of the cost of 

 manufacturing that maintained in the past, and not according to 

 cost of production that will materialize in the next few months. 



The labor situation seemingly is easier. This does not mean 

 necessarily that wages are any less, but it does mean that the 

 laboring element is less independent and is developing a greater 

 efliciency. Illustrating this point is an interesting case cited by 

 one large southeastern manufacturer. It seems that the company 

 had a blowout of a steam pipe in its hotpond and desired to have 

 repairs completed over Sunday to run on Monday. It required the 

 services of an engineer for this work and when approached on the 

 question, the engineer stated he would not work on Sundays except 

 on double time. He was ordered then to call at the office for his 

 money and the next day approached the general manager of the 

 operation, saying he had been discharged and excused himself by 

 saying he was only "kidding" the foreman when he said he would 

 have to have double time. This little incident comes pretty near 

 typifying the attitude that is developing among the laboring class 

 throughout the country, and while it is certain it will not be taken 



