56 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



November 



1920 



The CHICAGO 



APPROVED PORTABLE 



Watchman's 

 Clock 



with its fpecial Waltham moTement, its lock 

 stations aod its superior quality throughoutt is 

 especially desirable for mills and factories and 

 for either in-door or out-door patrol. 



Write for booklet 



CHICAGO WATCHMAN'S CLOCK WORKS 



No. 9 Church Street, NEW YORK 

 1S26 So. Wahash Ave., CHICAGO 



FOR SALE 



Southern Hardwoods 



OAK, GUM, ASH, ELM, 

 MAPLE, CYPRESS, 

 HICKORY, POPLAR 



WRITE OR WIRE 



Jerome Hardwood Lumber Co. 



JEROME, ARKANSAS 



WE SHIP STRAIGHT OR MIXED CARS OF FLOOR- 

 ING, OAK, ASH, CYPRESS AND GUM LUMBER 



VESTAL LUMBER 

 & MFG. COMPANY 



INCORPORATED 



Soft Textured Oak 



Poplar 



Black Walnut 



Tenn. Red Cedar 



KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE 



BAND MILLS AT VESTAL 



A SUBURB OF KNOXVILLE 



FONDE, KY. 



aud quite a few concerns are runuing on short time, because of a falling 

 off iu their orders. It is noticed by wholesalers that quite a perceptible 

 I'Mlliug off In the number of hardwood lists offering low-priced stock has 

 occurred in the past month, and this is regarded as a very favorable sign. 

 It would not take much buying to give a good impetus to prices. These 

 si'em to have about reached the bottom. 



Lumbermen have been reducing their prices to as great an extent as 

 possible during the pa.st few months, and it is felt that if other lines 

 interested iu buiUling would take a similar position the business would 

 be much improved. The feeling of local lumbermen is thus expressed by 

 Harrington Flier, president of the Buffalo Lumber Dealers' Association : 



"The lumber dealers of Buffalo have promptly and continuously 

 ilecreased the price of lumber to the public as fa.st as the manufacturers 

 have made decreases to them, and in fully as great proportion, and intend 

 to give to the public the benefit of any further changes there may be in 

 the market, if for no other reason than a selfish one in desiring to do 

 tlieir full share to stimulate building, in order to keep the volume up to 

 normal, or as near it as possible. The volume of lumber sales in Buffalo 

 has decreased about DO per cent since last March. This adds greatly to 

 the cost of overhead, and in order to realize the same profit per thousand 

 feet, there will have to be an increase in the selling price, unless the 

 volume of business soon increases to make up for the decline in volume and 

 to carry the extra overhead." 



PITTSBURGH 



Hardwood business has been very badly cut into the past few weeks by 

 the lack of demand from the automobile companies. The big slump in the 

 autoiuobile business has practically stopped all buying in that direction. 

 I'urchases by the implement and vehicle manufacturers have also been 

 very disappointing of late. Those wholesale concerns which depenil 

 largely upon these two lines of business and which had a comparatively 

 few customers lor their stocks have been seeing very dull times since 

 Oct. 1. Also, the hardwood trade with the yards has been next to noth- 

 ing. It was only for filling in orders that any business has been done 

 lately with the retailers, who are evidently waiting until inventory sea- 

 son or until after Jan. 1 before they will invest any more money in hard- 

 woods. Railroad buying has been scattering and in smaller lots and 

 confined mostly to bridge timbers. The mining trade in medium and low- 

 grade hardwoods has been very good until recently, when the slump in the 

 coal mining situation has produced a lull in this business also. Alto- 

 gether, with hardwood prices fairly soft the market has been anything 

 but prosperous the past six weeks. 



The prices of railroad ties have got up to such a point in tri-state ter- 

 ritory that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which uses 5,000,000 

 crossties a year, is now getting figures from Central and South America 

 on the cost of ties in these countries. 



BALTIMORE 



(Conditions iu the hardwood trade in Baltimore are not improved, though 

 the demand shows some indications of becoming more active, the inquiries 

 being more numerous than they have been. Here and there further reces- 

 sions in prices, however, are to be noted in the last two weeks. Some 

 members of the trade feel that the bottom has been reached, but this 

 belief is not shared by others, who profess to see a continuance of the 

 liquidation. This latter view is probably a mistaken one. Indications do 

 not encourage expectations of a decided recovery for the present to be 

 sure, and matters are likely to drag along until after the first of the 

 year and perhaps until spring. But the demand can not be permanently 

 held up and is bound sooner or later to reassert itself. Whenever it does 

 there is likely to be disclosed a great shortage of lumber, iw many of the 

 mills have closed down altogether, while all of them are on reduced time, 

 their output being more or less curtailed. The production is probably much 

 under the normal requirements of the country, the pressure now being 

 due not to the heaviness of the offerings, but to the circumstance that 

 the buying has been largely suspended. It apparently does no good for the 

 hardwood men to mark down their figures, because the buyers who have 

 no need of lumber will not take up stocks at any price, preferring to run 

 their chances on the future. It is probably true that considerable losses 

 are to be recorded on much of the high-priced lumber acquired during the 

 summer and early fall. But there is at least a prospect that values will 

 get down to a basis where stability can be counted upon. Meanwhile 

 various sellers are calling on dealers and commission men to sound out 

 markets and see what can be obtained for some particular lot of lumber, 

 the intimation being that the lumber is to be disposed of at whatever it 

 will bring. Some members of the trade see opportunities of getting bar- 

 gains, and before long this feeling may be taken advantage of to take 

 up stocks against the time when there will be a market for them. This, 

 of course, calls for foresight and ample means to tide over the period of 

 inactivity. The best opinion, however, is that confidence in the future 

 of the country will be amply justified. Exports are in much the same condi- 

 tion as the domestic business, with buyers generally holding back and with 

 pronounced quiet. The dealers and brokers abroad take the view that 



