June 10, 1917 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



23 



Something About Glue 



Prices and Reasons Thereof of Both Vegetable and Animal Glue 



NCE UPON A TIME it was the custom for the 

 glue salesman to endeavor to contract for his 

 product for a certain period and at a certain 

 price. While he stipulated that the price was 

 dependent upon a minimum amount, the glue salesman 

 rejoiced when he secured a contract, even though, to 

 meet competition, he sometimes had to quote a little 

 lower than he desired. The buyer was happy during 

 the life of the contract if the bottom did not fall out of 

 the glue market, thereby making it possible for his com- 

 petitors to buy cheaper. In that case he took the human 

 prerogative of cussing the seller for trimming him. This 

 applied to animal glue. 



With the advent of reliable vegetable glue for veneer- 

 ing, conditions changed somewhat. The reputable manu- 

 facturer of this product desired a three or four years 

 contract with the user, not so much on account of the 

 glue, but because different equipment was required, 

 which was installed by the glue manufacturer at prac- 

 tically no expense to the buyer, provided the sellers* 

 glue w^as used. It w^as, of course, reasonable for the 

 vegetable glue manufacturer to desire continued use of 

 his product for a certain length of time, provided results 

 were satisfactory. Hence, the contract. 



There are some contracts in force today, but not 

 many, applying to either animal or vegetable glue, and 

 the veneer man who is in possession of one is indeed 

 fortunate, as he is saving a dollar or two in the glue room. 



While the recent history of animal glue prices is well 

 known, the future can only be guessed at by those out- 

 side the sacred circle. But it is interesting to note what 

 one distributor has to say about glue costs. For instance, 

 a house organ published by a New York concern contains 

 an article by William Stetter, w^ho says: 



Never before in the history of the glue industry has the price 

 of glue increased to the enormous proportion to which it has now 

 reached. Many consumers of glue are of the opinion that this 

 enormous increase is entirely uncalled for, and that it is merely 

 a question of the manufacturer holding out for higher prices. 

 This is an entirely w^rong view^. The increase in the price of 

 glue is in every w^ay legitimate, and has been brought about 

 through conditions which make this increase necessary. The 

 main factors controlling the price of glue are as follows: labor, 

 raw^ material, chemicals, freight rates, etc. Taking these items 

 individually at their present high cost would sum up as follows: 



LABOR: Common labor, which could ordinarily be had at 

 from $1.50 to $2.00 per day, is costing at the present time from 

 $3.00 to $4.50 per day, an increase of about 100 per cent. 



RAW MATERIAL is a very important factor. In determining 

 the price of glues before the conflict in Europe, manufacturers 

 of glue w^ere able to buy considerable quantities of raw material 

 at a very low price, duty free, but conditions have so changed 

 that very little raw^ material is being imported and w^hat quantities 

 the manufacturers have been able to obtain have been bought at 

 an increase in price of about 150 per cent. It is an actual fact 

 that there is a scarcity of raw material in this country for the 



manufacturing of glue. In the first place, it must be under- 

 stood that glues are made from bones, hides and hoofs of, princi- 

 pally, beef; together with this the skins of goats, rabbits and 

 sheep are also used. One reason for this scarcity is that beef is 

 being shipped by the packing houses to Europe on the hoof. The 

 raw material from these shipments stays in Europe, and we do 

 not get the benefit of the return. When you take into considera- 

 tion that thousands upon thousands of cattle are shipped in this 

 way you can readily undersand the loss incurred through the 

 manufacturer being unable to obtain the return of this raw ma- 

 terial. This has a tendency on the market to bring about a 

 scarcity, as well as to help increase the price of such raw ma- 

 terial which may be available. 



CHEMICALS: Very little need be said about the high cost 

 of chemicals, for the reason that everybody seems to know that 

 chemicals have increased in price from 1 00 to 1 ,200 per cent 

 within the past few years. However, the glue industry, while 

 it does not use very many different kinds of chemicals, is com- 

 pelled to buy in fairly large quantities and at a price that is far 

 in excess to what it would pay under normal conditions. 



FREIGHT RATES: The cost of shipping goods is also today 

 a great deal higher than under normal conditions; together with 

 this deliveries are delayed, and facilities for handling these ship- 

 ments even at the high rate of freight is very unsatisfactory. 



If you wfill consider for a moment the country's prosperity at 

 the present time you can also see the justice in an increase on 

 glue. Glue is used in almost every manufacturing industry. The 

 largest consumers of glue are the woodworking trades, coated 

 paper manufacturers, bookbinders, silk finishers, hardware spe- 

 cialty manufacturers, etc., etc. The consumer of course has helped 

 toward the increase of glue. For example, the coated paper in- 

 dustry, w^hich w^as using casein to a large extent, has been com- 

 pelled to come back to glue on account of the present high cost 

 of casein. This in itself means an additional demand for glue. 

 Summing up the glue situation, it is far from satisfactory to the 

 manufacturer, who would much rather be selling glue under 

 normal conditions, and thus be assured of obtaining the necessary 

 materials to enable him to manufacture glue, and sell same at a 

 fair margin of profit. You must admit that in time of crisis, glue 

 manufacturers, are almost alw^ays the last to increase their prices, 

 and you can rest assured that an increase does not occur in the 

 glue market unless conditions absolutely warrant such increase. 



To all of you consumers who feel that the glue market will show^ 

 a decline we wish to state that the writer's opinion is that this 

 decline if it does occur will not happen for some months to come. 

 In the first place the manufacturers of glue have sold their entire 

 output for some months to come, then together w^ith this most of 

 the glue factories are closed during the summer months, for the 

 reason that the manufacture of glue in w^arm weather is very 

 difficult on account of the heat and humidity in not allow^ing the 

 glue liquor to jelly. They usually close down about May and 

 resume operation about September. Now^ it is the writer's conten- 

 tion if factories whose output is sold should stop operating during 

 the summer months, it would mean that no decline is looked 

 forward to until, at the earliest, the Fall of this year. On the 

 other hand, the w^riter has information from reliable sources that 

 the possibilities are for a further increase rather than for a decline. 

 Glue at $1.00 per pound is predicted before the end of 1917. As 

 a consumer of glue you can form your ov^rn opinion as to the con- 

 dition of the market by the above remarks. It is entirely up to 

 your good judgment whether or not you shall foresee your wants 

 and purchase ahead. You no doubt have bought several lots of 

 glue within the past few months, and can realize that the price 



