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Copyright, The Hardwood Company, 1920 



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

 Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the 10th and 25th of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Tr^.^ln w; M^.l \/- D J cj- Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 



tdwin W. Meeker, Vice Fres. and Editor . „ . „„ 



537 So. Dearborn St., CHICAGO 



H. F. Ake, Secretary-Treasurer 



Telephone : Harrison -8087 



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Vol. L 



CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 25, 1920 



No. 3 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



THE OUTSTANDING FEATUEE of the hardwood market of 

 _ _, the last fifteen days is the substantial evidence of a quicken- 

 ing of export buying, in the fact of the booking by Memphis 

 manufacturers of a tentative order from a German syndicate for 

 50,000,000 feet of oak and red gum. One hundred ear loads of this 

 order are already in process of loading for export, and whenever 

 sufficient financial guarantees are placed to cover the remainder, 

 this will move forward. It is said that the order was booked at 

 prices substantially above domestic quotations. 



Other substantial export orders are reported from the South and 

 are having a stimulating effect on the market, not only because of 

 the quantities of stock that are immediately to be taken ofE the 

 "auction block," but because of the promise they bear of further ' 

 export business. The development of lively export buying at this 

 time would prove to be a substantial factor in sustaining the hard- 

 wood lumber producers and distributers until such time as do- 

 mestic demand revives. Certainly there is already widespread 

 evidence of a more cheerful feeling on the part of hardwood 

 lumber men, because of the big German order. 



In the meantime domestic buying continues extremely slothful, 

 which state of affairs agrees with the expectations of everyone. 

 No worthwhile increase in orders is expected until after the first 

 of the year when retailers have begun to make purchases to cover 

 their needs for the first quarter of the new year, and the manufac- 

 turers are able to foresee what the demand upon them is going 

 to be. By the first of the year the liquidation of stocks, which has 

 been feverishly under way for the past two months and a half, 

 should be so far advanced that wholesalers and retailers are ready 

 to make new purchases. These, of course, will not be large, as 

 compared to the bookings during the period of our historic orgy 

 of buying, but they should be of sufficient volume to considerably 

 quicken manufacturing operations. 



As an instance, the furniture retailers should resume buying at 

 the January markets, for they have been holding cut-rate sales 

 throughout the country and these certainly should have heavily 

 depleted their stocks. It is understood that the majority of the 

 furniture manufacturers plan to pat out new price lists between 

 the dates of December 10 and 15, which they calculate will encour- 

 age retailers to get into the market in January to cover their 

 needs. 



There is certainly a limit to the length of time the wood using 

 industries can stay out of the market, for the buying "strike" 



can not continue indefinitely; and when the people find it neces- 

 sary to buy, these purchases will be immediately felt. There is 

 every reason to expect that the ultimate consumers will begin to 

 find it necessary to return to their shopping some time soon after 

 the first of the year. 



While the hardwood sellers await the pleasure of buyers, stocks 

 are being depleted both North and South by the slow attrition 

 of the occasional carload order. The roster of mills that have 

 closed down is being swelled every day by others that have cut 

 up their surplus log stocks and are ready to quit until they re- 

 ceive more encouragement to go on. This means that should a 

 heavy demand develop the stocks on hand would soon be gobbled 

 up and there would be something of a scarcity until mills could 

 resume' operations. In so far as the southern operating territory 

 is concerned this would be some time, as very little logging can 

 be done between this time and the latter half of spring. 



It is most encouraging to read at this time statements from the 

 leading financiers of the country as to the basic strength of our 

 economic structure and the early prospect of a return to healthful 

 conditions. James B. Forgan, chairman of the Board of the great 

 First National Bank of Chicago and the Chicago Clearing House 

 Association, returned just this week from a conference with 

 banking interests in the East and gave out an interview in which 

 he said that "in a few months readjustment will be complete and 

 business activity will be on the upward trend again." 



Such a statement from a man of Mr. Forgan 's financial promi- 

 nence is almost a promise. 



Painful losses are being sustained, of course, and the process 

 of readjustment pinches like a misfit shoe, but it is speeding along 

 and in good time will have finished. There is little reason for 

 despair on the part of the producers of hardwood lumber and 

 veneers, because most of the commodities they produce go into 

 the manufacture of necessities, and there will never be a greatly 

 prolonged slump in the demand for the necessities of life in 

 America until tlie bolshevists take the country. 



Harding's Challenge to American Courage 



TN TIMES OF STRESS LIKE THESE, that try the courage of 

 1 business men to the utmost, such utterances as that made in 

 New Orleans on Nov. 18 by President-elect Harding are calculated 

 to strengthen the will and vitalize the determination to maintain 

 a cheerful and brave demeanor until conditions improve, which they 

 never fail to do. Hardwood Eecoed recommends the following 



