Copyright, The Hardwood Company, 1922 



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

 Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the 10th and 2Sth of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Edwin W. Meeker, Vice Pres. and Editor 

 H. F. Ake, Secretary-Treasurer 

 Lloyd P. Robertson, Associate Editor 



Seventh Floor, Ellsworth Building 

 537 South Dearborn St., CHICAGO 

 Telephone: HARRISON 8087 



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Vol. LII 



CHICAGO, APRIL 10, 1922 



No. 12 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



THAT QUIESENCE which has marked trading over the past 

 few weeks is showing evidences of slight relief here and there 

 and getting under the surface of things, there is no difficulty at all 

 in determining for a surety that the major woodworking groups are 

 consistently gaining in solid optimism. The past week or ten days 

 have added considerable of the rose-hued tint to the present land- 

 scape, though the basic conditions have not in themselves per- 

 formed any remarkable evolution. 



Hardwood Eecord has adhered for several months to the con- 

 viction that fundamental progress is satisfactory, though slow, 

 and that the future will be characterized by a similar progress. 

 The outstanding feature of any such orderly process is occasional 

 fireworks on the side-lines, caused by local or otherwise restricted 

 conditions. Insofar as the hardwood industry is concerned, such 

 pyrotechnics are in no way unlikely in the future. 



The past few weeks have been notably quiet, varying explana- 

 tions having been offered of the reasons. Within the last week, 

 though, several similarly startling events of just the opposite por- 

 tent appeared. Hardwood Record's theory is that the wood- 

 using trades at large have been playing with a fair reserve of 

 stock; that is, reserve stock of sufficient quantity under the per- 

 centage of operation which has been maintained at most of their 

 plants. This, though, has gradually been worn away, although the 

 reduced percentage of operation at no time created the impera- 

 tive necessity for immediate and extensive purchases. Not being 

 under the compulsion of unusual production effort, the buyer has 

 more closely watched his purchases and has also been safe in his 

 manipulation of supplies and orders. Having had a reasonable pro- 

 tection for his reserve, through the non-existence of rush orders 

 in his own shop, he has been able to bring pressure through re- 

 stricted purchases where he has found that pressure would gain a 

 better price for what material he might be in the market for. His 

 attitude has without question contributed towards liquidation in 

 lumber values, in many cases beyond the point safe for the pro- 

 ducer, but the practice in itself has not of necessity been an indi- 

 cation of the true state of conditions among the woodworkers as 

 a whole. 



Hardwood Record is still confident that with gradually awaken- 

 ing demand, the buyer will be less and less inclined to play so 

 strenuously with his lumber purchases, and will, too, be governed 

 more in proportion by his manufacturing requirements and less 



in proportion by his bartering instinct. The same thing holds in 

 all lines of business and in all walks of life. 



In the meantime the country is making a definite progress aim- 

 ing towards complete stability. It is doubtful if any of us will 

 recognize when it comes that condition of normal existance which 

 we all desire, as our progress in this direction will be gradual and 

 not marked by any mile posts. As one lumberman recently ex- 

 pressed it, times will be normal when the large agricultural imple- 

 ments manufacturers pay dividends on their common stock, mean- 

 ing, of course, that the most important and last basic influence to 

 be corrected is the agricultural business, and that when agriculture 

 is properly ironed out, the implement folks, who are now a pretty 

 blue lot, will again be doing nicely. Between now and then, though, 

 there is a lot of very satisfactory and very nice business to be 

 done, and it is not at all improbable that some other lines will in 

 due time have attained sufficient advancement to considerably make 

 up for the slackness in this end. 



Regarding Sales Code 



WHILE THE HARDWOOD LUMBER TRADE, and those, too, 

 who buy hardwood lumber for utilization in their own plants, 

 are in general familiar with the various steps in the effort to pro- 

 vide a sales code for hardwood lumber, it is quite likely that but a 

 small percentage of either group fully understands the true purpose 

 of such a codification of hardwood sales practice, or is familiar 

 with the various provisions which it is sought to have incorporated 

 in such code as may be submitted at the June meeting of the 

 National Hardwood Lumber Association. 



The development of hardwood merchandising covers an extensive 

 period of time, during which conditions surrounding sale and pur- 

 chase of hardwood lumber have undergone gradual, but drastic, 

 changes. Originally the system of hardwood sales was so crudely 

 organized as to bear not the remotest resemblance to current prac- 

 tices. Changing conditions, both surrounding the production and 

 shipment as well as the utilization of hardwoods, have affected 

 changing standards governing such transactions, each change being 

 brought out through gradual evolution and being fully established 

 only when its necessity became apparent both to the seller and 

 the buyer. 



Hardwood Record understands that the present sales code 

 effort is for the purpose not of inaugurating new customs, but 

 merely to codify practices accepted as fair and feasible as between 

 the seller and the buyer. However, it is patent that no sales code 



