RMmi MM 



Cof'yuglit, The Hardwood Company, 1919 



Published in the Interest of the American Hardwood Forests, the Products thereof, and Logging, Saw 

 Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the 10th and 25th 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 St., CHICAGO 

 Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087 



Vol. XLVI. 



CHICAGO, FEBRUARY 25, 1919 



No. 9 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



TAKING the country over, hardwood purchases have shown a 

 slight improvement during the past few weeks, though the 

 change is rather spotty and not well enough distributed for every- 

 body to have seen the benefit. This has undoubtedly resulted from 

 greater use for hardwood lumber among factory lines which in turn 

 has been brought about by developing orders for manufactured 

 goods. 



Conferences at Washington have considerably clarified the situa- 

 tion regarding government owned lumber and there is little like- 

 lihood of any of this material getting into the market precipitously. 

 At the most the volume of stock in government hands is not 

 large enough to be a serious factor, although had it been turned 

 loose without regard to commercial transactions it might have had 

 a very injurious effect. With the matter now well worked out there 

 is no chance of government owned material influencing the com- 

 mercial trend to any noticeable extent. 



The passing weeks show developing scarcity in log input, 

 strengthening the forecast of inadequate hardwood production dur- 

 ing the winter months. The season of favorable logging will not 

 come around for another month or six weeks and in the meantime 

 stocks are lessening and log piles rapidly vanishing. 



A serious drawback in export business is difficulty in getting 

 shipping space and favorable rates, but it appears that the near 

 future must bring about some improvement in this matter as the 

 call from importing sections abroad is so insistent that it must 

 eventually be heard. 



The most promising feature of the building prospects is the real 

 strength and influence behind the movement to build now as with 

 government recognition of the desirability of activity in the build- 

 ing fields, which recognition will undoubtedly take the form of 

 financial help, many people will take advantage of this condi- 

 tion enabling them to build on a cost basis which will be spread 

 over a number of years. Arguments against building on ac- 

 count of high cost of investment are very logical, but they will not 

 necessarily hold indefinitely if those costs continue high for some 

 time to come. The demand for building is increasing radically and 

 someone is going to start operations just as soon as it becomes 

 evident that there is no immediate hope of a decided cut in the 

 cost of construction, in taxes, in supply and in maintenance. 



In the meantime it may be expected that prices in general will 

 reflect this situation. As a matter of fact reports coming from 

 many sources lately have shown a tendency to clarify rather than 

 recede. On the whole, therefore, the outlook is very good so far 



as the value of hardwood products is concerned but it is all a 

 question of how necessary it is for the trade to market its lum- 

 ber. 



There is no doubt whatever as to the intrinsic value of stock 

 based on cost of production alone. The main question is as 

 above stated, one rather involving the ability of those responsible' 

 for marketing hardwood lumber to stand out for what they con- 

 sider the worth of their product. 



Production and Wages 



SOME OF THE STRIKERS in the English miues recently de- 

 manded a five-hour day with more pay than they formerly re- 

 ceived for ten hours. Nothing quite so radical has been demanded by 

 real laborers in this country, though some of the walking delegates, 

 who are agitators and loafers by profession, advocate measures equally 

 impossible. 



A great many articles are being written these times, intended to 

 show that labor must be paid from the proceeds of labor, and that if a 

 workman receives in wages as much as he produces by his labor, he 

 has reached the limit of possibilities. The only way to receive more 

 is to produce more. If hours are continually being shortened, without 

 a corresponding improvement in methods whereby production is in- 

 creased, the logical result will be that wages must be accordingly low- 

 ered. That may not follow at once, but must follow ultimately. 



Strikers usually take it for granted that increased wages can be 

 paid, whether production increases or not. They usually do not rea- 

 son far enough to draw conclusions from the fact that it is physically 

 impossible to pay to labor more than labor produces, and keep it up 

 very long, though the wish is general to pay the workman as well as 

 business will permit. 



Take the lumber industry as a concrete case to the point. Prac- 

 tically every meeting of lumber manufacturers, furniture and vehicle 

 makers, and others who depend on lumber for raw material, since the 

 signing of the armistice has expressed the wish to keep wages as 

 nearly up to the present level as possible ; but everyone recognizes the 

 impossibility of doing so, unless good markets can be found for plenty 

 of lumber. Similar sentiments have been voiced by nearly aU indus- 

 tries. There must be plenty to sell, and markets must be good, if 

 wages are to remain high. 



Suppose that a general shortening of hours ia many industries cuts 

 production down until a scarcity of commodities results? The manu- 

 facturer's income will decrease, and he will have less wherewith to 

 pay his workmen, though he might receive a higher price for the re- 

 duced output which he lias for sale. 



