40 



HARDWOOD PECORD 



January 10. 1918 



There Is no complaint whatever on the score of demand for hardwood 

 lumber In Memphis. All Interests admit that there are more orders than 

 can be filled under present conditions and they emphasize, in the same 

 connection, that transportation conditions must necessarily determine the 

 amount of lumber sold. Private Industry is taking Its full share of the 

 Uiniher sold here but government orders are steadily incrcasluK. Little 

 Information, however, for obvious reasons, Is given out In regard to these 

 contracts. Prices are Arm ail along the line, with every Indication of 

 remaining so. There is no excess of southern hardwoods. In fact stocks 

 are generally below normal. Meantime hardwood production is being 

 considerably restricted and the outlook for a substantial Increase In out- 

 put Is regarded as anything but encouraging. Hardwood lumber Inter- 

 ests generally are in strung position and are able to finance their hold- 

 ings without dlQlculty, with the result that there Is no pressure to sell 

 and no disposition whatever to make concessions eicept in behalf of the 

 government. 



There is an excellent demand for ash and hickory in dimension stock. 

 All grades and thicknesses are wanted in these two Items and many firms 

 are taking this lumber green from the saw. Walnut is oomlng Into in- 

 creased prominence in this section. One of the big firms here is bidding 

 for whatever is offered and Is taking everything It can get. The lower 

 grades of cottonwood and gum continue to be unusually strong because 

 of the unparalleled consumption of these materials In box manufacturing 

 plants. High-grade cottonwood Is likewise in good call while the higher 

 grades of gum are moving only fairly well. High-grade sap gum ap- 

 pears to be moving better than high-grade red. Cypress is a ready seller 

 while there Is a strong call for thick stock In plain oak. There Is a fairly 

 active demand for high-grade quartered white oak. Comparatively little 

 quartered red oak Is being offered. High-grade oak veneers are moving In 

 very satisfactory manner and at good prices. Elm appears to be the 

 slowest Item on the entire hardwood list. 



=-< BUFFALO > 



The liuilding situation Is nnsatisfactory and the weather has been 

 responsible for this to a large extent, the zero temperatures being more 

 In evidence than in years. In December the total cost of permits in 

 Buffalo was only .$684,000, as compared with $1,207,000 In December, 

 1916, a decline of 43 per cent. The year 1917 showed total building costs 

 of $10,501,000 for Buffalo, as compared with $13,137,000 in 1916, a decline 

 of 20 per cent. 



The lack of house building In recent months has not been due to any 

 lack of demand, for the city has few vacant houses or apartments, and 

 rents have gone up to an unusually high figure. A large number of new 

 houses could be sold or rented easily if new buildings were to be erected. 

 Real estate men are predicting that a good deal of work will be carried 

 out just as soon as spring starts. 



In his annual message to the Legislature Governor Whitman calls atten- 

 tion to the fact that the enlarged Erie Canal, which has lately cost the 

 state $l."iO, 000,000, will be ready for barge navigation and adds that the 

 need of It Is much increased by the failure of the railroads to come up 

 to the traffic requirements of the country. He suggests that steps be taken 

 at once to place an adequate fleet on the canal, both tor war and com- 

 mercial purposes. The lumbermen of the state are in more need of trans- 

 portation facilities than almost any other branch of business, and will not 

 forget that the canal was a great carrier formerly of forest products, and 

 will be again as soon as it is properly equipped. 



The plan of the new canal barge has not been worked out yet. It is 

 likely that both wood and steel will be tried, and wood construction will 

 certainly lead If proper timber can be obtained. A movement in favor 

 of the building of vessels has been started, and it has the support of lead- 

 ing commercial bodies, including the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce. 



Edwin W. Gerlitz, who has been with T. Sullivan & Co. for the past 

 eight years, severed his connection with that concern on January 1 in 

 order to become associated with the Queen City Engineering Company 

 and the Phoenix Hardware Manufacturing Company. He will be vice- 

 president and sales manager of both concerns, which are located at 49-55 

 Illinois street. 



Herbert Hill, city salesman for the Hugh McLean Lumber Company, 

 and son of Dr. Hill, the city chemist, has joined the Twentieth Engineers' 

 Forestry Regiment for service abroad. The regular sales force of the 

 company is making its annual Inspection of the southern mills this month. 



M. M. Wall has returned from a several weeks' business and pleasure 

 trip to the South, during which he visited a number of hardwood mills. 



The Curtis Machine Company's plant at Jamestown, N. T., was burned 

 on January 2, with loss of $40,000, covered by insurance. The company 

 manufactured machinery for furniture factories and had lately been mak- 

 ing aeroplane propellers. 



:< PITTSBURGH >.. 



The Bradley Lumber Company has lately put in a fine hardwood opera- 

 tion on the Western Maryland railroad in Fulton county, Maryland and 

 another one on the C. & O. railroad at Scarhoro, W. Va. 



W. A. Wilson & Sons, Wheeling, W. Va., with offices in the Fulton build- 

 ing, this city, are starting to develop a tract of 12,000 acres of hardwood 

 and pine in Wythe and Smyth counties, Virginia, on the N. & W. R. R. 

 They already have two mills In operation on the tract. 



The I'ramplon-l'oster Lumbir Company has lately established branch 

 offices In Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and KnoxvUle. 



11. J. Oearhart, aged forty-eight, purchasing agent for the Pressed 

 Steel Car Company of this city, and who had bought probably as much 

 hardwood from Pittsburgh wholesalers during thi> past few years as any 

 other man In this territory, died at his home, December 29. 



The Aberdeen Lumber Company announces that business just now Is 

 badly in the dumps, not so much on account of lack of trade as because 

 of no cars for shipment. President Woollett has great faith in the gov- 

 ernment and its ability to fix up the shipping situation soon. 



E. V. Babcock, of the Babcock Lumber Company, Is now mayor of 

 Pittsburgh. He has already chosen his cabinet, and for the next few 

 years will "saw wood" instead of sell wood. 



-•< BALTIMORE >■ 



The new year has started with apparently no changes in the make-up 

 of the hardwood firms doing business here. No new bidders for business 

 have entered the ranks, and none of the old members of the trade have 

 iiropped out. As far as can be learned, there Is a complete absence of 

 shiftlngs in the trade, matters proceeding much as they did in 1917. At 

 least one new project involving a hardwood development with Baltl- 

 moreans interested is under consideration, but has not yet progressed to 

 a point where details are available or where the transaction may be 

 regarded as complete, unforeseen impediments having arisen and deterred 

 a decision. Most members of the trade continue to do a fair amount of 

 business, although this is of tiic more immediate sort, no one, apparently, 

 having much ahead. 



The machine shop of the American Propeller Manufacturing Company, 

 on East Hamburg street, was partly destroyed by fire on January 1, tbe 

 damage being estimated at $50,000. The blaze is thought to have been of 

 incendiary origin, because the company is working on a large order tor 

 aeroplane propellers for the United States Government and has also turned 

 out many of these propellers for the allies. The product of the company 

 is in heavy demand at this time, and the fire Is therefore especially 

 embarrassing. 



Damage estimated at $70,000 was caused by fire to the planing mill of 

 Otto Duker & Co., President, Fleet and Albemarle streets, on December 27. 

 There were two fires, the first breaking out about 3 :40 o'clock and appar- 

 ently extinguished in a short time. At 5 :30 a second blaze was dis- 

 covered and this gained considerable headway, doing most of the damage. 

 Because of the fact that the firm has been engaged of late in turning out 

 large quantities of tent pegs and other material for the government, it Is 

 suspected that incendiarism may be responsible for the first fire, the sup- 

 position being that the second was due to a spark or smoldering ember 

 overlooked after the first blaze. As the factory was equipped with auto- 

 matic sprinklers, no watchman was employed, the sprinklers being regarded 

 as adequate protection. The adjacent sawmill and other departments of 

 the firm, including extensive lumber stocks, were in great danger, but fire- 

 men saved the property. The firm occupies about half a city block and does 

 a big business. 



There is every prospect that the government will come to the aid of the 

 Bethlehem Steel Company at Sparrows Point, near Baltimore, in the matter 

 of housing facilities to accommodate the great increase in the number of 

 workers at the ship yard that must be provided if the vessel construction 

 program is to go forward on the advanced scale planned. Admiral Bowles, 

 head of the construction department of the Emergency Fleet- Corporation, 

 speaking before the Senate committee on commerce December 28, detailed 

 the negotiations between the corporation and the steel company, and stated 

 that the intention was to erect some 1,500 dwellings In the Sparrows Point 

 section for the expected increase in the number of workers, the govern- 

 ment to advance the money for this construction, the amount being esti- 

 mated at $5,000,000. The Bethlehem Steel Company is to make repay- 

 ment of three-fourths of the sum in ten years, the corporation taking 

 chances on the rest. The Bethlehem company Is to give a first mortgage 

 on the houses and the land to the government,* and the latter will fix the 

 rentals, the idea being to make them moderate, so that every inducement 

 will be presented for workers to come here. Large quantities of lumber 

 will be needed for the construction of the houses, and the augmented pro- 

 gram of shipbuilding will require much more, even though the vessels built 

 will be of steel. They are to be part of the great merchant fieet planned. 



Horatio H. Webster, for years head of the furniture firm of Klipper, 

 Webster & Co., Baltimore, one of the most prominent in its line at the 

 time of its existence, died of pneumonia December 26 at his home here 

 after an illness of only ten days. Mr. Webster was seventy-sis years old 

 and came from New Hampshire fifty years ago. 



The sale of the East Lake Lumber Company and the Dare Lumber Com- 

 pany, both New York corporations operating in North Carolina, has been 

 followed by a suit, instituted in the court of common pleas of Baltimore 

 December 20 by Theodore F. von Dorn, a New York attorney, and Col. 

 Frank Weeks, a Philadelphia lumberman, against Julian E. Gittings of 

 Baltimore, for $100,000 damages for alleged breach of contract. It Is 

 declared in the bill of complaint that on February 5, 1915, Mr. Gittings 

 contracted with Mr. von Dorn for the sale of the properties, promising 

 him a commission of $50,000 If he made the sale. Mr. von Dorn associated 

 with himself Colonel Weeks, and It is averred that through their efforts 



