38b 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



February 10. 1918 



In every jxill that lias liccn iiuulc the last year, after the secretary seems 

 to have exhausted his resourees lu this respect, 1 have written two iiud 

 three personal letters anil In several eases I have been politely informed 

 that the delln(|Uent had something else to do besides tilling out the blanks 

 in (inestlon. Now, fortunately, these members are In the minority, prob- 

 alily possessed with the Idea that because they are paying tbelr little old 

 thirty cents annually In dues that it Is up to the association to suarautce 

 them a prolitable business, tientlemcn. any lirni that lannot sit down, 

 and In less than one hour's time give a conservative report of his stock 

 on band, sold and unsold, had better call In an etliciency export or a 

 receiver. How can you conduct successfully the selling end of your busi- 

 ness if you do nol know the status of your stock on hand'; 



The speaker disciisscil the market as he sees it at tliis tinu', c|Uiit- 

 ing values at wbicli various members arc now reporting sales and 

 pointing out in jiarticular that in view of tlie iiicreasiug produc- 

 tion costs it vifill doubtless be necessary for tlie manufacturers to 

 make increasingly better sales if they continue to meet these costs. 

 At the close of his report Mr, Butts acted as chairman of the meet- 

 ing and called upon a number of the members to discuss market con- 

 ditions as they see them and to report on the sales which they were 



Mr. Goodman emphasized though that in this wood the spread of 

 liftecu dollars between 8/4 and ()/4 is not representative of the 

 niaiket. He said that there is no ]iossiliility of a break in the 

 market. 



Mr. Butts said that the nicnihers should kcf[) the committee 

 informed of cases whei-e the list does not reflect the true market. 



A. L. Osborn expressed the absolute conviction thjit with increas- 

 ing costs, prices will further tend u|iw.nds. 



Edward Hines then gave one of the most interesting and meaty 

 talks of the meeting, lie said he has observecl during forty years 

 of lumbering, that the past proves the future; that the trade has 

 never realized the real worth of lumber. The gist of his talk was 

 that in spite of present high prices, the lumber trade is really not 

 making any money because of excessive cost of stumpage and 

 nianufaetuic: tliat with costs figured properly, that is, figuring the 

 replacement value of stumpage as piesent worth of stumpage and 

 re])lacenient value of lumber based on present worth of stumpage. 



M. .7. QUI.\L.\N. SOPERTOX. WIS.. 

 DIRECTOR 



M. J. FOX. IRON MOUNTAIN". MICH.. CU.\IR- 

 M.VN GR.XDES COMMITTEE 



E. A. IIAMAR. CHASSELI.. MICH.. IHRKCTOR 



making. The discussion, which was very actively participated in 

 for nearly two hours, brought out the fact that many sales are 

 being made at much better prices than many of the members present 

 had believed possible, showing clearly that the market at the 

 present time is very strong, both actually and from a statistical 

 and argumentative standpoint. 



George H. Chapman urged that members prepare themselves to 

 benefit from the reports of the committee, which is distinctly 

 authoritative and can be made even more so by increasing the 

 number of reports of sales they contain. 



He said he personally has an index of every sale reported since 

 the reports started. Mr. Chapman said that in his twenty-nine years 

 of selling he had never before felt so sure of the lumber market 

 and that he now looks for strong market in all things. He expresses 

 the belief that commodity prices will never return to the former 

 level. He anticipates a large trade in retail centers as soon as the 

 farmers can get dug out of the snow and start their spring work, 

 and he said that there will be need of every foot of lumber that can 

 be manufactured. He said that stocks are rather short; that the 

 box factories are really up against it for material. 



C. A. Goodman expressed himself as surprised at the lack of con- 

 fidence in thick hardwoods. He said that the outlook is distinctly 

 strong and that actual sales showed this to be true. Reporting from 

 actual sale records he said that on basswood all items are selling on 

 list or better; the same is true of ash and beech, the latter being 

 especially strong in 6/4. Rock elm is selling above list. 



plus present cost of manufacture, there would not be any profit 

 on the books at all. He instanced an interesting case illustrating 

 the fact that present methods of figuring prices on lumber are 

 wrong. Advances, according to Mr. Hines, should be made on a 

 percentage of former prices rather than at so much per thousand 

 or so much per ear. He told of one case where in approaching a 

 large manufacturer who buys almost a million feet of lumber a 

 year, but much more in other commodities, he was faced with the 

 necessity for getting a price commensurate with the increase in 

 cost of other items, which had run from fifty to loO per cent above 

 last year. Therefore, in place of figuring an increase in dollars 

 and cents per thousand or per car he merely named an advance of 

 a certain per cent, which struck the buyer as reasonable in com- 

 parison with other items. Thereby he brought his price to a point 

 where it pretty nearly represented the increased cost of manu- 

 facture. 



Mr. Hines prophesied that birch will soon be bringing $7.5 per 

 thousand, and made the interesting statement that in his opinion, 

 if right charges are made for replacement no Wisconsin mill is now 

 showing a profit. He emphasized and urged that even with high 

 prices prevailing now, manufacturers should not be satisfied, as 

 costs have increased even more rapidly. 



Mr. Hines was distinctly optimistic as to the future. He ex- 

 pressed himself as believing that immediately after the war all the 

 lumber will be needed for which shipping room can be found. He 

 said that even now there is a decided tendency to increase building 



