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('<.|i\ riyht. I UK IlAHPVViMHt Ci'Ml'AKV, TJIii 



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

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



Vol. XL CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER 10, 1915 No. 10 



^W. 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



IN SPITE OF a ratlicr dark outlook for the export business, the 

 lumber trade has been showing a better front the last couple 

 of weeks than it has shown for some time. The improvement seems 

 to be almost entirely in the domestic trade and does not show any 

 connection with unnatural inflation from ^ar orders. Of course 

 the war orders are indirectly and in some cases directly affecting 

 lumbermen in certain ends of the business, but the state of affairs 

 as surrounding trade in general is showing an outaud-out improve- 

 ment in business in this country and not abroad. 



Exporters are rather worried over the situation which they are 

 compelled to face because of plentiful shipments on consignment 

 to foreign ports and because of further increases in ocean trans- 

 portation charges. As far as the southern manufacturers are con- 

 cerned, the latter is possibly the greater cause for worry, although 

 the stocking up in foreign ports to the point of overcrowding is 

 causing no little anxiety. The eastern export points are mostly 

 concerned with the possibility of absorption of the markets abroad. 

 It being the popular belief that the warring countries are in position 

 to absorb stocks with the point of saturation in the unapproachable 

 distance, the consignment shipment — the old bugbear of the export 

 trade — has come into prominence. The result has been that importers 

 are showing a tendency to endeavor to obtain concessions on certain 

 lines of stock and it is jjossible that they may be able to do so in 

 England.— 



The ocean freight proposition has become an even more serious 

 menace than before. Some of the southern agencies are declining 

 to offer figures on lumber cargoes and available bottoms are to be 

 had only at exorbitant tigures. 



The improvement in the domestic situation seems to have come 

 about through the fact that the healthier state of trade as con- 

 tinuing in the last couple of months has held on so tenaciously that 

 it has become an accepted condition. The opinions expressed not only 

 by the distributors of lumber but by the consumers are that business 

 is better, and these opinions are backed up in many cases by orders 

 of more substantial size than heretofore. In fact, mapy distributors 

 of lumber, particularly of hardwoods and veneers, are insisting upon 

 the buyers considering the lumbermen 's convenience to a slight 

 degree at least, and placing orders of proportions that will not 

 necessitate the heavy selling, carrying and service charges which have 

 necessarily been incurred since trade has been in the condition that 

 has existed in the last year. Of course these appeals must go mainly 

 to Customers who are personal friends of the distributors, but they 

 have had their effect in many cases. 



There is also a noticeable continued steadying in market values. 



though anything but the most modest increases is still to be ex- 

 perienced. 



With a fair volume of orders coming in from the road men 

 working in the interest of manufacturers of various lines of hard- 

 wood products, and with their lumber stocks absolutely shot to 

 pieces, there is every prospect of consistent purchases for the re- 

 mainder of 1915. The month of August in many cases showed 

 up practically as well as, and in some cases even better than, August, 

 1914. September so far in many cases has turned out to be remark- 

 ably good. In fact, one large manufacturer of hardwoods who is 

 rather typical in his line of stocks, markets and selling methods, 

 states that so far September has been almost as good as the entire 

 month of August, and that August was very good in itself, con- 

 sidering all circumstances. 



On the whole the signs that have been taken with a grain of salt 

 for the past few months are proving themselves to be genuine as 

 presaging better conditions in the lumber business. These signs 

 continue to point to fair purchases for at least several months 

 to come. 



The Cover Picture 



SITKA SPRUCE IS NOT FAMOUS for freaks. It is one of the 

 stateliest, most symmetrical trees of the American forests, and 

 is the largest of the spruces. The cover picture represents an excep- 

 tion to the rule. It is a deformed spruce which grew among its 

 faultless fellows in Tillamonk county, Oregon, in the Coast Range 

 mountains. It is a prank of nature, and nobody knows what caused 

 the abnormal growth. 



The tree is a namesake of the town of Sitka, Alaska, where it was 

 an early source of lumber for use in the mines and camps. It is a 

 lover of the seashore and is never found far from the influence of salt 

 water. On that account it has been called tideland spruce. It 

 follows the coast southward from Alaska to northern California, 

 running inland as much as fifty miles in some places. It does not 

 prosper where it is sheltered from the influence of the wet sea winds. 

 It likes a soil deeply buried under moss, and in that respect its habit 

 is similar to the habit of other spruces; but it does not do well in 

 regions cold and dry. The range where it grows is a mere ribbon 

 extending north and south two thousand mUes, but east and west 

 it is seldom more than fifty miles wide, and usually less. 



The tree grows slowly as most spruces do, and large trees are 

 several hundred years old. Among its companions are Douglas fir, 

 the western gigantic cedar, and several other firs which attain great 

 heights. It is associated likewise with the western hemlock and 

 the spruce's southern territory overlaps on the northward extension 

 of the range of redwood. 



