36 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



January 10. 1922 



thing like the lumber demand. We are already finding this true 

 in buying logs for our Southern plant and are today paying 50 to 

 75 per cent more for logs than we were obliged to pay six months 

 ago, and even at the advanced price we are finding great difficulty 

 in supplying ourselves with sufficient logs to run our plant for the 

 next six months. Production in our own plant is rapidly reaching 

 normal. We account for this largely by the fact that we have been 

 most careful to keep up the high quality of our manufactured 

 product while we have at no time reduced prices to the ridiculous 

 and ruinous minimum which has been made by some of our com- 

 petitors. 



We have been fortunate in being able to find a discriminating 

 trade of enough volume for us to continue manufacturing and hold 

 together the best part of our organization. 



As to your question of an overproduction in 1922. I am doubtful 

 if there will be such an overproduction, this for the reason that 

 lumber and veneer niilis will not be able to produce sufficient raw 

 materials to permit an overproduction in the various plants of ply- 

 wood manufacturers. 



The following other carefully considered opinions were ex- 

 pressed : 



B. W. Lord, President Chicago Veneer Company, Chicago 



At present, the business is quiet, which is natural this time of 

 the year, on account of closing of the year's business, taking in- 

 ventories, etc. It is our opinion that there will be an improved 

 demand, but not a boom or run-aw^ay market in any way, as there 

 are a number of sore spots yet to be healed before general business 

 can develop as it should. 



There has been a large amount of veneer sold for less than the 

 cost of production, but stocks on hand have been very much 

 reduced and logging conditions have been largely curtailed and 

 logs have advanced in price, so that stock manufactured today 

 must necessarily be on a higher cost basis. The year 192 1 was a 

 year of severe readjustments and we believe the year 1922 will be 

 a fighting year where everyone w^ili have to figure on very close 

 margins and business will have to be done on the strictest business 

 principles, and buyers will insist upon value and service. It is our 

 opinion that the veneer business, like all other lines of business, 

 must adjust itself to a strict economic basis. 



F. B. Watd, President Hanson-Ward Veneer Co., Bay City, Mich. 



In reply to your letter of December 31 will say, from all indica- 

 tions at this time the demand for plywood and built up stock will 

 be fully double that of last year, ow^ing to the activity in furniture 

 manufacturing as well as, we believe, pronounced activity in home 

 building construction. 



It would seem that many concerns that are nowr manufacturing 

 their furniture from solid lumber would be forced to use plywood to 

 a greater extent owing to the fact that there seems to be a shortage 

 in the higher grades of all hardwood lumber, possibly v^ith the ex- 

 ception of mahogany. It would seem, however, that the mahogany 

 position w^ould be strengthened ow^ing to the fact that a 20 per cent 

 duty is contemplated on mahogany logs, to become effective in 

 March. 



Relative to a nation-wide advertising campaign, will say that 1 

 do not know just when this w^ill be launched, but do know that the 

 veneer industry contemplates something of the sort and that they 

 are working on it. 



Veneer and ply^A'ood values are at a ridiculously low level in 

 comparison with lumber and log values and will be forced higher 

 before the year is out owing to supply as w^ell as demand, princi- 

 pally supply. 



We expect that our plant w^ill be on practically normal basis 

 before the year 1922 comes to an end. We are employing at the 

 present time about the same number of hands as w^e did in pre-war 

 production. There is no question that the market is broadening 

 very materially for plywoods at this time. One feature that is very 

 noticeable is the fact that many concerns have ordered right 

 through the holiday week, showing that stocks are low and they 

 are buying from hand-to-mouth. There is no question but that the 

 hardwood lumber industry is decidedly on the mend. Some items 

 of stock may get so scarce as to have a run-away market on these 

 items. We sincerely trust not, as we think this would work damage. 

 C. B. Allen, President Allen-Eaton Panel Co., Inc., Memphis, Tenn. 



The values of veneer and plywood are very much lower than 

 othf r products of logs that are advanced as far in manufacturing as 

 plywood, and the demand is not as great as other wood products, 

 for the reason that during the war plants manufacturing plywood 

 and built up work were expanded to take care of the volume of 

 business offered and in addition to this, a great many of the large 

 users put in their own equipment, and naturally when the demand 

 fell off, such manufacturers as had put in their equipment were in 

 position to make all the material they were using. 



The phonograph industry took a large amount of built up and 

 plywood material, and this industry has ceased to function and 

 probably will not get going for several years to come, to any great 

 extent. Therefore, the demand for plywood and built up wood will 



not be as great in proportion as other lines of the wood industry; 

 unless, through the nation-wide advertising campaign some new 

 lines can be found for the use of this material. 



I do not wish to be quoted as a pessimist, but believe until that 

 time veneer and plywood industry will not recover its normal con- 

 ditions during the coming year. Prices are much lower than they 

 should be, based upon the cost of the raw material, and with indi- 

 cations that raw material, such as logs, will increase and not de- 

 crease. The reason for this is, there is very little demand for lum- 

 ber and very few^ mills are operating: therefore, the veneer and 

 plywood manufacturers are called upon to pay a price for the grade 

 of logs w^hich they demand, it being the best, to allow the log men 

 to leave the other or poorer grade of logs in the woods. 



Weather conditions in the South are such, w^e cannot expect to 

 get any volume of logs before the first of April, and then in the 

 event only we do not have high water. 



E. J. Ross, Manager, Medford Veneer Company, Medford, Wis. 

 We are in receipt of your letter of Dec. 31st m which you ask 

 for our opinion of what the year 1922 will develop for the manu- 

 facturers of veneer and plywood. In reply will state we are looking 

 for a real revival for this material about the first of March and we 

 base our opinion on the fact that there must be a great deal of 

 building done in I 922 and it w^ill call for a large amount of veneered 

 doors, panels and veneers and plywood for furniture to furnish 

 these new^ buildings. The building program got well under way 

 the last half of 1921, but no doubt will slack up to a certain extent 

 during the winter months. 



We are of the opinion that there will be a big shortage of veneers 

 and plywood before 1922 gets fairly started, owing to the fact that 

 there will be less than fifty per cent of a stock of veneer logs put 

 in this winter. The prices of veneers are too low at the present 

 lime to warrant the mills paying a very high price for logs, and if 

 the lumbermen cannot get a fair price for their logs they will not 

 put them in. Consequently the veneer mills will not get fifty per 

 cent of their usual supply. 



It does not look to us as though there would be an over-produc- 

 tion of veneers and plywood in 1922. At our plants we figure on 

 getting about forty per cent of our usual cut in 1922, and all of 

 the mills that we know^ anything about are in the same position. 

 W. W. Knight, Owner, Long-Knight Lumber Co., Indianapolis, Ind. 

 Replying to yours of the thirty- first, note your request for my 

 opinion as to the prospective developments for the year 1922 in 

 the veneer and plywood business. 



I can only answ^er rather indefinitely for the veneer situation, as 

 I see it. I look for a steadily increasing demand, although it will 

 probably not go to the extent of a real boom. In fact. I hope it 

 w^ill not, as we have just passed through one boom, and the results 

 thereof, and don't want another one. 



We question very much whether the public, or the individual 

 consumer, will be very greatly affected by the advertising cam- 

 paign being put out by the panel people. It will take some time to 

 educate the individual consumer, and, while we think the campaign 

 is directed in the right direction, and expect to subscribe to it. in a 

 modest way, we think it will be more effective in its genera! results 

 rather than in any individual direction. 



The values of veneers in most woods, must appreciate. Quar- 

 tered oak veneer is being sold considerably lower than the cost of 

 reproduction, and some other woods on a very close margin. The 

 supply of logs will be plentiful if the price paid for them is enough 

 to justify bringing them out, but we are advising our log men to let 

 the trees grow a little rather than bring them out at the present 

 prices. 



The business v^^ill have to increase in a very alarming w^ay to 

 take care of the possible production, but we think most of the 

 manufacturers appreciate fully that they cannot pay the present 

 prices demanded for logs, particularly oak logs, and get a new 

 dollar for an old one. 



We think most of the manufacturers will be very conservative, 

 and are not likely to overproduce. 



Out present production of walnut veneers is about the same as 

 for the past year, but our oak mills are down and will remain so 

 until the users of quartered oak veneer arrive at the point v^fhere 

 they are willing to pay us a small margin of profit. 



L. P. Groffmann, St. Louis Basket & Box Co., St. Louis, Mo. 

 We look for a slow^ return of business. In other words, w^e expect 

 it to become normal so that everyone can operate their plants full 

 time, but we do not anticipate a rush for goods, which some are 

 prone to think. 



As to values on plywoods, they are not only low but actually 

 below the cost of production, so the natural consequence would 

 be a gradual stimulation of prices, depending entirely of course 

 upon the demand. 



Good veneer logs are scarce because of no logging having been 

 done as compared to a year ago. With the cost of logs stiffening 

 up, the naturally necessity is better prices for plywood, and we 

 hope in time to get enough for the stock to make everyone a fair 

 profit. 



{Coiititntrd on pane 41 > 



