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Copyright, Thb Hardwood Compant, 1917 



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

 Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the lOlh and 25th of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Edgar H. Defebaugh, President 

 Edwin W. Meeker. Managing Editor 

 Hu Maxwell, Technical Editor' 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 

 Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087-8088 



C 



Vol. XLIII 



CHICAGO, MAY 10, 1917 



No. 2 



^ i ro>st!^aw»j^M:>^ ?t'tt^)iW'-^ 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



IN THE FACE of tremendous events iu which we are now fully 

 involved, in view of the increasing popular realization that we 

 are actually at war, it is impossible to conceive that there could be no 

 change whatever in the trend of our domestic affairs. Events are 

 bound to move and to take their courses in new channels — the ques- 

 tion is what will be the direction of these new forces? The plain facts 

 of the case are that whether we went to war or not the conditions that 

 have been mainly responsible for increasing building cost would have 

 been manifest ; the call on our raw materials, our manufacturing facil- 

 ities, our labor would have continued regardless of action on the part 

 of this government. That exigency has already been foreseen and 

 met as far as it was possible to meet it. We are speaking now of 

 developments that might affect the lumber business. In that partic- 

 ular then this situation has resulted in diverting so much raw mate- 

 rial, so much manufacturing equipment and space, and so much labor 

 to war purposes as to constantly accelerate the ultimate cost going 

 into l)uilding construction and to gradually clamp the lid a little 

 tighter on building operations. 



The inevitable final outcome was that the slackness in building 

 would become perceptible and it has now reached a point where it 

 really is having some influence on the use of lumber. This is a condi- 

 tion though that applies only to certain types of buildings which are 

 not intended to be productive. 



Eegardless of the degree of our active participation in the war 

 and of our remoteness from the probability of having the destructive 

 forces of the war brought home to us, it is impossible for a nation to 

 enter such a conflict as this without there being at least a measure of 

 psychological reaction. Wise men are counseling against' the hyster- 

 ical advocating of ultra-economy, but it is hardly likely that the 

 momentum which our prosperity has given the domestic trade could 

 be seriously or generally affected by the mental effect of our entering 

 into the war. On the other hand, sensational increases in the cost 

 of the necessities to life bring home to the average householder the 

 fact that if he is to maintain his ratio of savings and at the same 

 time his standard of living, he must cut off investments that are not 

 strictly essential. So here the psychological effect has its play — many 

 homes will not be built which would otherwise have now been in the 

 process of construction. Many pieces of furniture will stay unmade 

 or remain in warehouses or retailers' stores because the man of 

 average means realizes the necessity of safeguarding the future of 

 his family. 



The hardwood trade is unfortunate in that it handles a raw material 

 which goes to some extent into what in fact are luxuries. So while 

 there is not the slightest likelihood of panicky conditions; while 



just as much money will be spent as before; while financially the 

 country is getting stronger every day, the peculiarities of the hard- 

 wood lumberman's position are such that as usual he probably would 

 feel .any pinch sooner than the man in almost any other line. 



Looking in the other direction, there comes before the immediate 

 perception the fact that hardwood values are climbing daily and that 

 many mills are sold up as many as six to nine months ahead; that 

 there has been no possibility of catching up in supplies with the 

 demand that continues; and that there are promising, new fields 

 which will without question Mivert so much lumber from the usual 

 channels as to more than make up for the decreased use in the 

 ordinary fields of consumption. In spite of all unfavorable prog- 

 nostications, that old, reliable barometer of authentic comparison of 

 statistics on supplies and statistics on consumption, points to no 

 possibility of serious interruption in the movement of hardwood lum- 

 ber. At the same time the forces working towards that end are 

 economically logical and are already apparent. It doesn 't seem now 

 that they can become powerful enough to affect the issue, but good 

 business and common prudence point to the desirability of fully real- 

 izing their significance and extent and of not discoimting their impor- 

 tance to plans for the future. 



The Cover Picture 



IN THESE PATRIOTIC TIMES when the Star Spangled Banner is 

 read and sung on numerous occasions, it is appropriate that some- 

 thing relating to the writer of that song should occasionally be brought 

 before the public. This the Hardtvood Eecokd is able to do as a cover 

 picture for this issue. It is the tomb and monument of Francis Scott 

 Key. The photograph was taken last fall in the cemetery at Frederick, 

 Md., by a representative of this paper. It may be noted that no flag 

 floats over or near the monument, though a flag is represented iu the 

 bronze casting on the front of the granite. 



At the time the photograph was made the trees in the background 

 were dressed in their autumn colored leaves, arid the red of the foliage 

 was little less conspicuous than the red on the national flag; and on 

 that account, the flag was not particularly missed at that time. 



The town of Frederick is very proud of its cemetery, which is an old 

 one and remarkably rich in historical associations. The surrounding 

 <joimtry is reputed to be the wealthiest farming district in the United 

 States, and persons who have seen southern France say that the country 

 around Frederick does not suffer in the least in comparison with the 

 finest vineyards of that country. From the summit of the ridge where 

 the cemetery is located, and looking down into the valley, 

 The towers of Frederick stand 

 Green-walled by the hills of Maryland. 



