November 25, 1920 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



Manufacturers 



SOUTHERN HARDWOODS 



Ash 



Poplar 



Red Gum 



Mixed Oak 

 Elm 



Sap Gum 



Soft Maple 



Tupelo 



CUMMER LUMBER COMPANY 



SALES OFFICE: 



280 MADISON AVENUE 



NEW YORK, N. Y. 



MAIN OFFICE 



JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 



Little Buying Done at Eastern Furniture Market 



Important meetings of members of the National Association of 

 Chair Manufacturers of the Ohio Valley Zone at Cincinnati, Nov. 

 15, at New York city, Nov. 17, and the Jamestown furniture market, 

 confirm the evidence deduced at the meeting of chair manufac- 

 turers of the Western Zone in Chicago, Nov. 12, that th« market 

 for chairs and furniture will be exceedingly indifferent until after 

 Jan. 1. This means, according to a statement issued by Wm. B. 

 Baker of Chicago, secretary of the National Association of Chair 

 Manufacturers, that there will be further curtailment of the manu- 

 facture of furniture. 



"I was in Jamestown the eighth day of the exposition," said 

 Mr. Baker on his return to Chicago, "the total attendance up to 

 that day being 328, whereas on the opening day of the Jamestovim 

 market a year ago the attendance equaled the amount stated for 

 the eighth day this year. There was no buying, and the fact is 

 patent that there will be no buying for the balance of this year." 



Proof of this lies in the fact, Mr. Baker said, "that one or two 

 lines of chairs at the Jamestown market which were priced con- 

 siderably below the average values did not receive a satisfactory 

 volume of business. In viewing certain lines I was impressed 

 with the fact that manufacturers in their zeal to attract buyers 

 were pricing their chairs regardless of values and were not collect- 

 ing for well designed chairs a proper advance over the staple pat- 

 terns. 



It is understood that at the meeting of fancy chair manufac- 

 turers in New York it was decided to recommend to furniture manu- 

 facturers that they analyze their lines and, having established 

 prices which will represent costs and a fair profit, shall issue to the 

 trade on, or about Dee. 10 to 20, new price lists, with the state- 

 ment that the prices in that list are guaranteed to remain unchanged 

 until April 1, 1921. The purpose of such a policy is to impress the 

 retailer by his receiving at about the same time, prices which are 



guaranteed for ninety days from Jan. 1, that the manufacturer has 

 priced his product on a basis which he can maintain until April 1, 

 and that the buyer in attending the January markets will find 

 values established which he can confidently expect to be his guide 

 for a ninety-day period at least. 



Mr. Baker gleaned from this meeting that "what the buyers 

 want now is a knowledge of what can be considered stable values. 

 Given that information, the buyer will place in January orders for 

 such goods as are actually needed. Thus it is evident that the 

 furniture manufacturers of the country expect no revival of buy-' 

 ing until their new price lists are presented to the retail trade and 

 that this buying will only be to cover immediate needs. 



(Continued from page 22) 

 Men have been laid off in the woods and at the mills until there 

 are more mill hands and timber crews idle than was ever known at 

 this time of the year. J. H. Bonner & Sons, with ofiices in Memphis 

 and mill at Jonquil, Ark., have closed down their plant for an 

 indefinite period. James E. Stark & Company, Inc., with 4,000,000 

 feet of logs in process of delivery to their mills at Memphis and 

 Dyersburg, Tenn., announce that they vidll close down both of these 

 in the immediate future. It is understood that the mill of the 

 Kelsey Wheel Company, which has been operating during the 

 period since the wheel plant closed down a short time ago, will 

 go out of commission in the next few days. It is also announced 

 by F. K. Conn of the Bayou Land & Lumber Company that he will 

 close down his mUl at Yazoo City, Miss., not later than December 

 1. And so it goes. All of the smaller mills closed down a long 

 time ago because of inability to finance their operations, and, while 

 they cut a small quantity of lumber individually, they cut a tre- 

 mendous percentage of the total collectively. There may be a 

 change of policy toward production, but so far it has failed to 

 manifest itself. And, with winter at hand, with its rainy season, 

 it is questionable if much headway could be made. 



