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Copyright, Thb Habdwood Company, iai7 



Publithed 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' 



Sevenlh Floor Ellsworth Building 



537 So. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 



Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087-80&8 



Vol. XLIII 



CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER 10, 1917 



No. 10 



General Market Conditions 



THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF MOST MOMENT in hardwood 

 circles in the past couple of weeks has been the rapid whipping 

 into shape of the government purchasing and advisory agencies. The 

 extent of hardwood needs having a direct or indirect bearing on the 

 war has been represented in varying sizes, but with continued clearing 

 up of the situation, it becomes apparent that even the most radical 

 have not exaggerated the importance which government busi- 

 ness will have. In consequence of the revelation made possible through 

 closer coordination in government work and indicated in a more 

 practical way in orders received and bids asked, an even greater 

 stiffening has been noted during this period which is accounted for 

 also by the fact that simultaneously with the knowledge of great 

 government demands comes the realization that mUls can not possibly 

 cut sufficient lumber to create a surplus. 



So far as factory needs are concerned optimism is not so current 

 as there is no doubt that the factories as a whole are showing con- 

 tinued tendency to restrict purchases. At the same time this doea 

 not limit the consumption, as that is governed by the demand for the 

 goods turned out by the factories, which demand is independent of 

 the actual quantity of lumber purchased. Necessarily though, ex- 

 tensive orders that take big lots of certain woods out of the market 

 in a lump have a more greatly stimulating effect upon the price level 

 than does the purchase of the same quantity of lumber coming in 

 piece-meal orders. 



It is doubtful if the lumber buyer is limiting his purchases with 

 any definite idea of breaking the market. In the first place, the total 

 impossibility of accomplishing this result is apparent to anyone who 

 is familiar with the situation. He is rather, so it would appear, merely 

 keeping in line with the exigencies of the occasion so far as his own 

 business is concerned as no man wishes to tie himself up on purchase 

 for too long a period ahead in view of the difficulty of accurately 

 foreseeing conditions. As a result of buying in small lots, the pur- 

 chaser frequently pays considerably more than he would were he to 

 purchase along the usual lines, but he apparently prefers to take his 

 chance rather than to load himself up too far ahead. 



Indications of building slackness are more specific now than they 

 have been. One of the leading business reviews states that the 

 decline, inclusive of New York City, ia fifty per cent from last year, 

 although exclusive of that city it comes down to one-third of that 

 percentage. Indications are that, as prophesied a couple of months 

 ago in this section, investors wiU have shortly adjusted themselves 

 to the new prices and conditions and come iito the market again. 

 The demand for dwellings of different characters has not slackened 



but rather, on the other hand, has shoijrn consistent increase. This 

 in the face of a practical cessation of the common type of residential 

 construction has made that type of investment more productive than 

 it was a year ago, when in some of the large metropolitan sections 

 investment of this kind had been rather overdone. It seems that a 

 resumption of building by investors may be anticipated in the near 

 future, although there is little likelihood that any resumption will 

 bring building business back to anywhere near what it was a year ago. 



The latest reports on crop prospects that have come in duripg the 

 past week or ten days reveal an astonishingly strong situation. All 

 crops have done mighty well, many exceeding all records. It is 

 certain that the rural communities wUl have vastly increased buying 

 power and with the closer touch that has been established between 

 them and the rest of the country, due to modern business propa- 

 ganda coupled with the influence which the war situation has had, 

 the farmer is realizing more and more the necessity for improved 

 means and methods, and he is without doubt going to put the vast 

 bulk of this money back into his equipment. This probability is 

 already indicated by extreme activity among the manufacturers of 

 farm equipment and apparatus. 



H.\RDWOOD Record reiterates its prophecy of unwavering strength 

 in the whole hardwood situation, and adds the belief that the early 

 fall months will see brisk expansion in the immediate requirements 

 for hardwood lumber, both in normal lines and directly and indirectly 

 in war needs. 



Clever But Decidedly Untrue 



MANUFACTURERS OF SUBSTITUTES for lumber have, on many 

 occasions, appeared to resent the frank statements made by the 

 lumber trade that unfair tactics were employed by the substitute 

 people to advance their own cases. It nevertheless is true that fre- 

 quent and flagrant misrepresentations have been employed, par- 

 ticularly in press matter worked into daily papers and other mediums, 

 the most frequent point used being that liunber is nearing the point 

 of exhaustion and hence exorbitant prices make substitutes necessary. 

 One of the most clever as well as the most underhand of these is shown 

 in an evidently inspired item appearing in one of the Pittsburgh dailies. 

 As the name of a particular firm in Pittsburgh is mentioned, the 

 source of the fabrication is evident. 



The item appears in part as follows : 



With the newly created demands on the lumber industry that came 

 with the entrance of this nation into the war, there has been a conse- 

 quent curtailment in the fields in which the industry had been making 

 great strides. A case in point is tlie manner in which the use of wood for 

 packing cases and boxes of all kinds has been interrupted. 



