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Copyright, The Habdwood Company, 1917 



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

 Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the 10th and 25lh 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 



Vol. XLIII 



CHICAGO, MAY 25, 1917 



S ™a^irai>staivix-;Mim'JiWit^i'^*^^?-^^^ 



No. 3 



Review and Outlook 



•AH 



General Market Conditions 



NOT FOR YEABS has the lumber business attained such a posi- 

 tion of strength as it occupies today ; strength, not the reflection 

 of temporarily good buying in any one direction, but made up of a 

 predominance of fundamental ingredients which raise it ever higher 

 and make an ever firmer foundation for present conditions. Natural 

 cautiousness and the tendency to iigure ahead resulted a short time 

 ago in a measure of conservatism in certain directions, but those who 

 are inclined to view the future with doubt or skepticism, who dis- 

 counted the present momentum in business, have been literally picked 

 up out of their ways and carried along with the tide of growing sales 

 and growing values. 



In no business has concerted action in the matter of price been more 

 impossible than in the lumber business, and at no time in the history 

 of the industry has it been more difficult for any combination to regu- 

 late values. Yet, in spite of this some of the jumps of hardwood prices 

 have been nothing short of sensational, and in tliis very condition lie 

 causes for two warnings, one to the consumer that his stocks will be 

 even more difficult to supply than they are now and that his prices will 

 be higher. One to the distributor that he does not lose his head and 

 kill the goose of the proverbial golden egg. 



The position of hardwood lumber today seems to have truly reached 

 such a situation that the competition rather than being among the 

 sellers is among the buyers — about the only place where the sellers 

 compete with one another is in the securing of shipping facilities where- 

 with to keep their mills running and their lumber moving to the 

 markets. 



The peculiar part of the situation is that some industries which nor- 

 mally account for a very large percentage of the output of the hard- 

 wood nulls are definitely slackening up; interior finish, for instance, 

 which has been referred to before in these comments. As one ener- 

 getic, though "hefty" lumberman, remarked a short time ago, a man 

 who had laid aside .$5,000 with which to put up a nice, little home 

 could hardly get up the first story for that amount of money now, 

 and if that man 's surplus does not increase in proportion to the mount- 

 ing cost of building he simply doesu 't build. The same thing is becom- 

 ing more evident in the buying of accessories to the home, such, for in- 

 stance, as furniture. And yet on top of reports of this character come 

 the most optimistic comments at the recent meeting of Federation of 

 Furniture -Manufacturers, at which sessions the almost unanimous 

 statement was that operators are going along as actively as they can 

 with the available labor. Still the under-current of less formal com- 

 ment showed an increasing spottiness revealing the possibility of trade 

 not being so brisk as it was. 



It is argued that the state of war cannot have a permanently deter- 



ring influence because all the money taken out of usual channels will 

 be reinvested in this country and disbursed broadcast. That is literally 

 true. However, it is practically certain that two classes will benefit 

 primarily, namely, the owners of companies directly or indirectly in- 

 volved in the war business and the wage earners who seem to be strong 

 enough to force wage readjustments keeping pace with and sometimes 

 being ahead of rising prices. The probability of this money getting 

 into the ' ' middle class ' ' currents is another question. In the face of 

 mounting costs the salaried man is expected to maintain himself on 

 about the same salary basis as heretofore, and as he makes up the 

 class which takes the medium priced product, it is probable that the 

 greatest strength during the present period of transition will be in 

 the sale of articles normally desired by the laboring element, and on 

 the other extreme the high priced articles going to the families de- 

 pendent rather upon profits than upon salaries — to the capitalists and 

 the manufacturers. The salaried man must conserve his surplus to 

 meet mounting expenses. 



Unquestionably the lumber business is in a period of transition 

 which wiU see big changes in channels of consumption, but the future 

 will show no marking of time in either values or cousumption. All 

 industries seem to be rallying to the support of the government in 

 supplying raw material and commodities at a reasonable profit, but as 

 the climb in lumber values has in most cases just barely kept pace 

 with increasing costs, and as selling prices today will certainly not 

 average much more than a fair profit beyond cost of production, lum- 

 bermen furnishing the government could not be expected to quote 

 prices which would adversely influence going markets. Hence there 

 wiU be little tendency of war orders to interfere with normal quota- 

 tions. 



The Cover Picture 



THE OPEN SEASON OF THE COUNTRY CLUB is at hand, and 

 the cover picture illustrating this issue of Hardwood Record wiU 

 serve to remind the business man of that fact. The original from 

 which the photograph was made is the Country Club's colonial house 

 at Memphis, Tenn. 



The finish is red gum. Memphis is a leading market for this wood 

 and some of the finest products of the St. Francis basin, and other 

 famous gum districts, are handled by. Memphis dealers. The purpose 

 in usino- gum in finishing this handsome building was not to advertise 

 gum, but there is no question that it wiU have that effect. Visitors 

 will carry away with them a favorable impression of this wood's 

 beauty and utility. It shows to excellent advantage in buildings of 

 ample size and of fine architecture. Since the seasoning of gum has 

 been mastered, it fills many a place where formerly it was practically 

 unknown. The beauty of its grain and figure were known long ago. 



