February 25. 1910 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



43 



allied interests. However, the conviction Is growing that business will 

 open up considerably as soon as the building season starts and a better 

 tone will prevail. 



=-< BUFFALO >• 



Little improvement in trade has thus far occurred at the hardwood 

 yards and orders are coming in slowly. Some increase In inquiry is 

 reported over a month ago, but the prospective purchasers generally come 

 back with the comment that prices are too high and that they will wait 

 until they can buy cheaper. They are not likely to have their hopcjs ful- 

 filled, for mill costs are high and lumber stocks are not being added to 

 largely. Some big mills have been closed down for thfe past month, while 

 the general report is of running at reduced capacity. 



The outlook for business is regarded as more or less uncertain, and some 

 dealers do not anticipate that much will be doing before the middle of the 

 summer. Others think that April will start things moving in a fairly 

 active way. Most everybody believes that this is going to be a busy year, 

 though the activity may be late in making its appearance. Manufacturers 

 are eager to get to work, but wish to feel assured that raw materials are 

 somewhere near bottom before they start their operations. 



Buffalo is planning to spend some millions in carrying out municipal 

 building this year. New schools alone will be erected at a cost of about 

 $8,000,000. and it is stated that the plans will be ready for beginning 

 work on the first of these schools within ninety days. Councilman A. W. 

 Kreinheder has outlined work in public Improvements which are much 

 needed, and which will run into several hundred thousand dollars and give 

 employment to several thousand men. 



=-< PITTSBURGH >-= 



Hardwood men are waiting patiently tor what they feel sure will come 

 soon, a larger and more varied demand for hardwood. Just now every- 

 body is marking time. Nobody is buying. Retailers are determined that 

 prices must come down. Purchasing agents for manufacturing and indus- 

 trial concerns take much the same view of the situation. The market suffers 

 chiefly from this belief that quotations will be lower. Add to this the 

 fact that mining operations are falling back steadily and that many 

 plants are shutting down or laying off a large proportion of their employes 

 and it makes a lack of orders and Inquiries for hardwood which is keenly 

 felt even at this season. It is predicted that the automobile and furniture 

 trade will do much to bring up this demand within the next few months. 

 It is believed that a building movement cannot be delayed much longer. 

 Meantime wholesalers are sitting tight and trying to look cheerful. 



> BOSTON > ^ 



Those who made optimistic predictions regarding the season's trade have 

 been more or less justified. The hardwood demand has kept a slight but 

 steady improvement and is relatively stronger than other branches of the 

 trade. Cancellations upon a large scale have not seriously affected this 

 field, and prices remain well up to the figures of last fall. Buyers are still 

 holding that there is more to be gained by waiting, but this is not borne 

 out as a sound position when the state of available stocks is considered 

 with relation to the very large normal usage of New England. Credit 

 conditions, so far as open embarrassments are concerned, are very good ; 

 numerous agencies are at work, both public and private, in and out of the 

 lumber business, to rapidly develop industry and construction, and there 

 seems to be a good support to the forecast of many dealers that the present 

 piecemeal and mixed car buying, while it now totals up to a fair volume, 

 will soon have to be extended radically toward heavier purchasing. 



< BALTIMORE >= 



The hardwood trade continues to enjoy a fair volume of busines-s, with 

 orders coming in more freely than might have been supposed under the 

 circumstances, but with the movement naturally affected by conditions that 

 prevail. Much uncertainty prevails as to what the near future may bring 

 forth, and buyers are not disposed to make provision for needs in the 

 more distant future. They enter into commitments when there are imme- 

 diate wants to be met, but are influenced, like many other divisions of 

 business, by the feeling t±at the quotations will go lower. So far nothing 

 has occurred to make recessions a certainty. Labor has not become more 

 plentiful, at least as far as the sawmills and lumbering camps are con- 

 cerned, and rates of wages are as high as ever, so that it is necessary for 

 the producers of hardwoods to get about the same amount of money for 

 their stocks as they obtained before. That a readjustment will take place 

 in course of time is generally admitted, but all indications now show that 

 it will not be precipitate and is likely to extend over a considerable period 

 of time. Buyers are not disposed to hold back on prices when they really 

 need .stock, but cannot be interested when it means merely making addi- 

 tions to their holdings. Much business waits on developments that shall 

 afford a clearer indication than has yet been furnished of what turn events 

 may be expected to take and what the effect of certain measures now under 

 consideration will be. Wtih these questions once settled there is every 

 reason to believe that the demand will come and that the mills will be 

 in a position to book all the orders they can take care of. Stocks in the 

 hands of the dealers here are sufficient for such necessities as are likely 

 to develop at this time, but they do not attain proportions which might 

 be expected to cause real pressure upon the market. All kinds of lumber 



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1 Plain & Qtd. Red & White I 



I OAK i 



AND OTHER 

 HARDWOODS 



= Even Color 



MADE 



Soft Texture = 



RIGHT 



OAK FLOORESfG 



We have 35,000,000 feet dry stock— all of 

 our own manufacture, from our own tim- 

 ber grown in Eastern Kentucky. 



= PROMPT SHIPMENTS = 



I The MOWBRAY I 

 I & ROBINSON CO. i 



5 (iNOOJtPORATED) = 



I CINCINNATI, OHIO I 



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I SHOOT IT AT US \ 



I Your Inquiry for | 



I 4/4 to 8/4 Plain Red and White Oak. | 



4/4 to 1 2/4 Cypress. | 



4/4 and 5/4 Gum. 1 



4/4 to 1 2/4 Ash. 1 



6/4 to 1 0/4 Hickory. | 



6/4 and thicker | 



Oak and Hickory Dimension Stock | 



LET us DEMONSTRATE THE I 



REAL MEANING OF SERVICE | 



Memphis Hardwood I 



Flooring Company I 



MEMPHIS, TENN. i 



