March 10. 1919 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



45 



orders continue excellent, although no especially big orders have been 

 reported during the past few days. Walnut is in generally good demand 

 and picking up steadily. Mahogany is also very active. Quartered oak 

 is scarce and in good demand at high prices. Plain oak is moving freely 

 and the demand for poplar, hickory, ash, gum and elm remains good. The 

 furniture and automobile trades are among the best buyers, while there is 

 also a steady and good movement to the musical instrument trade. Interior 

 trim isn't showing much as yet and many operators believe that it will bo 

 a quiet year for such products. Veneers are very active and the mills have 

 good orders. There is a good demand for extra fine flitches and logs for 

 veneer manufacturing. Prices are generally Arm and if anything a little 

 stronger, due to the scarcity of numerous items. 



BEAUMONT 



Hardwood men in the Beaumont district are of the opinion that thv 

 meetings in New Orleans will tend to simplify the entire situation, and if 

 bottoms become available the present confusion over export business will 

 be eliminated. 



Locally, the greatest trouble confronting hardwood men has been that 

 the exporters, on account of the high ocean rates, wanted only the higher 

 grades, thus leaving the mills stocked with the lower grades. This has 

 been particularly true in white oak. There has also been a wide differeno" 

 in the prices received at the mills and the amount some of the exporters 

 were willing to pay. In one instance this amounted to ?26 a thousand on 

 No. 1 white oak. Many of the mills, however, have let go of their whiti 

 oak, and it is expected to cause the domestic trade to revert to red oak. 

 which may cause greater activity in that wood. 



Ash has been in good demand and the mills are practically cleaned up 

 on this stock. There is a ready sale for both green and dry at the present 

 time. Green hickory is also in good demand. 



The prolonged rains which have interfered so seriously with logging 

 operations for several months have diminished and mills are now not only 

 better logged, but it is being done at less expense. Labor conditions have 

 Improved slightly and this has had a tendency to increase production. 

 Hardwood men claim that sufficient bottoms to bring the ocean rate down 

 to a point where the lower grades can be exported profitably is the real 

 key to the situation at the present time. 



MILWAUKEE 



The trend of the demand for hardwoods during the last fortnight has 

 been one of considerable encouragement to manufacturers and distributors. 

 While business continues to be rather closely confined, the buying grow.s 

 freer from day to day and is assuming a constantly enlarging volume. 

 There seems to be every reason to believe that market conditions are 

 gradually reaching usual activity, since confidence in the future outlook 

 is being restored all along the line. For the present, however, buying is 

 kept closely to Immediate needs and while nearly every factor in the 

 situation tends to indicate a maintenance of prices at the present or an 

 even higher level few buyers will take more than they wUl absorb from 

 time to time. It is felt, however, that this tendency will be overcome 

 in due time. 



The results of the winter logging season are disappointing, although 

 cold waves, snowfall and other favorable conditions have been granted 

 operators during the last half of February and so far in March. In the 

 main, loggers intend to prosecute woods work well into the spring and 

 summer. Reports from the North say that several large concerns are 

 intending to employ motor trucks to get logs out of the woods and to the 

 railroad lines after iced roads have gone. It appears that the input during 

 the regular season is far short of normal and extraordinary measures 

 will have to be taken if manufacturers are to be able to maintain mill 

 operations at a reasonable schedule during the regular sawing season. 



DETROIT 



The hardwood lumber situation seems considerably improved over a 

 month ago. Dealers feel that the worst is over and although far from 

 being normal, a gradual betterment is taking place, regardless of factors 

 still existing to handicap the oldtime prewar movement. 



There is still an opinion among some buyers that prices must drop to 

 lower levels before there will be any widespread stocking up of retail 

 yards. On the other hand conditions in the logging camps and the mills 

 in the North indicate a shortage of production and that no material 

 changes can be looked for. Prices in general for the better grades have 

 been firmly maintained, though some shading has been reported on lower 

 quality lumber recently. 



Demand for oak. hickory, elm, etc.. has been stronger among manufac 

 turers for actual requirements. It has been noted, however, that futures 

 are held for some price concessions. The return of local manufacturers 

 from munition making to their normal lines of production has stimulated 

 business somewhat and this demand will increase as the firms get into 

 the old time swing. 



Labor conditions have improved to some degree. Building operators 

 are more hopeful for a good volume of construction and it is believed the 

 demand from this source will be larger than was expected a short time 

 ago. While there is still a considerable feeling of hesitancy the trade in 

 general is more hopeful. 



WE WANT TO SELL 

 For QUICK SHIPMENT 



100 i\r 6 '4" No. 1 Com. & Btr Birch 

 5 .\r 6/4" No. 2 Com. Birch 

 50 i\r 6 4" No. 3 Com. Birch 

 1 00 M' 6 4" No. I Com. & Btr. Hard .Maple 



(6" & wider) 

 50 M' 6. 4" No. 3 Com. Hard Maple 

 1 00 M' 8/4" No. 2 Com. & Btr. Hard Maple 

 Send us vour inquiries for 

 XORTHER\- HARDHOODS and HEMLOCK 



Wheeler -Timlin Lumber Co. 



WAUSAU, WISCONSIN 



WE MANUFACTURE bandsawed, plain and quarter sawed 



WHITE and RED OAK and YEUOW POPLAR 



We make a specialty of Oak and Hickory Imple- 

 ment, Wagon and Vehicle Stock in the rough 

 Your Inquiries Solicited 



ARLINGTON LUMBER CO., Arlington, Kentadsy 



Wistar, Underhill & Nixon 



PHILADELPHIA. PENNSYLVANIA 



Manufacturers of CYPRESS and GUM 



A FEW items of band 

 -^^^ sawed dry stock now 

 ready for shipment. 



RED OAK 



Good textured stock, cut 

 from our own logs. 



J. V. Stimson & Co, 



OWEiNSBORO KENTUCKY 



ATISFACTORY 

 ERVICE 



