Copyright, Thb Habdwood Company, 1915 



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



Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the 10th and 23th 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 



LIBR 



NEW 

 «OTA^ 



Vol. XL ' CHICAGO, JULY 25, 1915 



No. 7 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



THE HARDWOOD SITUATION is still slack but steady with 

 uoticeably less fluctuation in prices and a iiroportionate equaliz- 

 ing of sales. Buyers are purchasing more regularly though still not 

 inclined to make a general practice of ordering aheail, although there 

 is a continually increasing belief that in so doing the best interests 

 of the respective companies will be protected. Each month shows 

 an augmented number of purchases of large proportions from the 

 factory trade, while the city yard is brisking up in fair shape. 



There is undoubtedly a greater tendency to invest capital in real 

 estate and dwelling structures, either houses or flat buildings. While 

 the building situation in the rural districts is not good, the urban 

 situation is a promising feature as affecting the demand for lumber. 

 Inasmuch as the average city house or fiat building is necessarily 

 finished in hardwoods, both for interior finish and floors, this peculiar- 

 ity of the situation is of direct benefit to operators in this class of 

 lumber. 



Now that the ordinarily dull summer season is half over, predic- 

 tions that there will be no slackening in what demand has existed are 

 seemingly borne out by facts, as there has undoubtedly been a slight 

 acceleration not only in the general business situation but in business 

 as it affects lumbering specifically. 



For a period immediately following the opening of the July furni- 

 ture sales, manufacturers showing their lines were non-committal as 

 to the trend of sales, inasmuch as the first week or ten days is 

 devoted by the buyers to inspecting all of the offerings before making 

 purchases. However, with the beginning of the second week there 

 were indications of more active buying and as it now stands the 

 shows have developed in a reasonably satisfactory manner. This is 

 borne out by a noticeable improvement in the demand from the factory 

 trade, and by the records of a number of orders from this class of 

 consumers for stocks running into millions of feet. It is easily 

 understood that where the furniture manufacturers are not fairly well 

 satisfied with the progress of the shows there would be no possibility 

 of such orders for lumber. They have been so long making the mill 

 man hold the stock that they would naturally continue in this policy 

 did they not feel that they could protect themselves best for the 

 future by taking on larger quantities of stock at present prices. 



Chicago 's return to the harness has been of benefit to a great 

 number of outside interests as well as to the local lumbermen. It is 

 estimated that seventy-five per cent of the lumber coming into Chi- 

 cago comes from four southern states, and it seems apparent from 

 this, bearing in mind the immense amount of lumber that comes into 

 this city each month, that with the strike over and builders making 

 strenuous efforts to catch up on lost time, the outside shippers have 

 been benefited materiallv. 



The export trade has devolved almost into the question of getting 

 shipping facilities, which consideration is still seriously in the minds 

 of lumber exporters. There continues to be a strong call from abroad, 

 particularly from England, and there is also a nuirked interest in 

 stock to be used at the conclusion of the war as the English trade 

 ordinarily seems to feel that it will be in a position to make immense 

 purchases just as soon as the country has begun to settle after the 

 conflagration is extinguished. The gratifying feature of the export 

 demand has been the presence of a diversified line of lumber in ship- 

 ments going to foreign countries, lumber seemingly not having been 

 confined to stocks used purely for purposes occasioned by war. This 

 circumstance would indicate a fairly healthy condition of the trade 

 in general. 



The commonly accepted version of the hardwood trade is that the 

 downward impetus has been checked both as to demand and prices, 

 and that there is ample justification for believing that the closing 

 months of 1915 will see a noticeable cleaning up in mill stocks, a 

 tendency to replenish consumers' and yard stocks with orders of 

 larger proportions than have prevailed, and the consequently greater 

 firmness in prices with gradual incline upwards. 



The Cover Picture 



T-'HE SUMMER TIME SUGGESTS mill dams and tumbUng waters 

 •1 with an old mill at the side, and the cover picture which illus- 

 trates this issue of Hardwood Record exactly fulfills that condition. 

 It is unnecessary to be precise in the location, because almost every 

 neighborhood in the mountainous hardwood region has something very 

 similar. It may be a sawmill or it may be a mill for grinding grain, 

 but at any rate, it is a water mill, and that is the chief item of 

 interest. 



The type shown in the picture is, of course, much out of date at 

 present. Old and middle aged people can remember when such were 

 more in evidence than at present, but some mills that are active still 

 remain, and many more are in partial or entire ruin. 



The builder of the old fashioned water mill knew little about 

 utilizing resources which lay within his reach. He seldom built his 

 dam high enough to give sufficient waterhead. He did not know that 

 by adding a few feet to the height of the dam he could enormously 

 increase the amount of work which a given quantity of water would 

 perform. A notion prevailed that power depended upon the quantity 

 of water passing through the headgate, and the millwright, who 

 worked by the rule of thumb increased the size of the headgate if he 

 wanted more power. It never occurred to him that it was the water's 

 velocity at the moment of striking the wheel that developed the 

 power, and not its volume. Velocity could have been secured by in- 

 creasing the height of the dam. Many an old-time millwright used 



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