December 10, 1920 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



53 



from the railroads. We have recently sold 30 cars of gum to Havre, 

 France, and there are undoubtedly more orders being received from Europe 

 than at any time for the past six months." 



"Our iucjuiries are of a distinctly better character," said James E. 

 Stark, head of James E. Stark & Company. "We had inquiries this morn- 

 ing from both furniture manufacturers and automobile makers. We have 

 been somewhat disappointed over the failure of the railroads to buy more 

 freely. Indeed, as a matter of fact, one of the larger railroad companies 

 which recently placed orders for oak and other materials with ourselves 

 and other firms here have cancelled the entire unfilled portions of these 

 orders without giving any reason therefor. At the same time, I am in- 

 clined to believe that the situation is better and that the outlook is more 

 encouraging." 



There has been some scattering export business in southern hardwoods 

 during the past fortnight but the orders are mostly for small quantities, 

 one to five cars. Russe & Burgess, Inc.. report the sale of five cars during 

 the past few days and other firms are booking modest orders from overseas. 

 These, however, are principally for immediate requirements. There is 

 apparently no disposition on the part of Europe to buy against later 

 nee<ls, largely because of the low rate of foreign exchange as compared 

 with the American dollar. Still, the American Overseas Forwarding Com- 

 pany, with headquarters in Memphis, reports that it Is receiving more i-e- 

 quests for freight rates and ocean shipping room than at any previous 

 time this year. So far as can be learned, there have been no further 

 tangible developments in connection with the reported order for 50,000,000 

 feet of southern hardwoods on the part of a syndicate representing Ger- 

 man buyers. None of the lumlier involved in this huge "order" has yet 

 been shipped and it is not at all certain that it will ever materialize al- 

 though the firms conducting the negotiations in,sist that it is a "three to 

 one bet" that the entire quantity of lumber will go out in due course. 



Fred D'Yonge, of DTonge and D'Bukelaer, of Antwerp, Belgium, who 

 is now at Batesville, Miss., where he is studying methods of manufacturing, 

 kiln-drying and handling of southern hardwoods, Is authority for the 

 statement that there is need for much hardwood lumber in Belgium, that 

 prices in America are low enough and that there is no complaint on the 

 score of ocean freight rates. lie declares, however, that very little lumber 

 can be imported into Belgium on the pre.sent adverse rate of exchange. 



Attention is called to the interview, published elsewhere in this issue of 

 Hardwood Record, with G. A. Farber, vice president of Russe & Burgess, 

 Inc., and European representative of that firm, with headquarters at Lon- 

 don, in which he asserts that the business outlook Ls not good for the 

 reason that the depreciated currencies of the various European nations 

 are severely restricting the purchase of imports of raw material from 

 America. He does not anticipate an early revival of business nor does he 

 look for permanent improvement until exchange i.s stabilized on the basis 

 of $4 to the pound sterling or somewhat higher. He takes no stock in the 

 theory that credits will help the present situation but leans strongly to 

 the view that increase in the purchasing power of European currency will 

 go a long way toward reviving business by helping to remove the tre- 

 mendous trade balance against England and other European countries. 



But, even though it is conceded by members of the trade here that 

 the hardwod lumber industry is tending toward better conditions, there is 

 not the slightest deviation from the curtailment plans launched some time 

 ago. More mills are going out of commission every few days and it is 

 conservatively estimated that as those suspend operations which are 

 scheduled to take this course a.s soon as logs on band have been con- 

 verted into lumber, production by the end of the present calendar year 

 will not bo much, if any, in excess of 10 per cent of normal. The big mill 

 of the Lamb-Fish Lumber Company, Charleston, Miss., which is well sup- 

 plied with logs, closed down several days ago. The band mill of the 

 Chicago Mill & Lumber Company, Blytheville, Ark., suspended operations 

 the last week in November, thus following the box plant of that firm into 

 idleness. The Grismore-Hyman Company and the Northern Ohio Cooper- 

 age & Lumber Company, both of Parkin, Ark., closed down the first week 

 in November. Here is a partial list of those scheduled to close down this 

 month : Jerome Hardwood Lumber Company, Jerome. Ark. ; Jefferson 

 Lumber Company. Pine Bluff, Ark. ; Kraetzer-Cured Lumber Company. 

 Greenwood, Miss. ; Carrier Lumber & Manufacturing Company, Sardis. 

 Miss. ; Bayou Land & Lumber Company, Yazoo City. Miss. ; R. F. Learned 

 & Son, Natchez, MLss., and latt Lumber Company, Colfax, La. 



It is interesting to note in thi.s connection, as showing the attitude of 

 the majority of hardwood lumber manufacturers in the southern field, that 

 not a single firm which decided upon a policy of curtailment when the 

 market began reacting so sharply in the early fall has deviated from that 

 course, while quite a number of manufacturers who declared their intention 

 of keeping their mills going at capacity, have changed their minds and 

 shut down their plants either in whole or in part. 



It is developing that there is quite a shortage of some of the higher 

 grades. This is notably true of plain oak in firsts and seconds and in 

 plain sap gums in the same grades. It also transpires that the output of 

 higher grades during the past few months has been much smaller, in rela- 

 tion to the total, than is usually the case. This means that, while stocks 

 as a whole are not very far short of normal, there is a relative scarcity 

 of the better grades and a corresponding relative Increase in the lower 

 grades. This condition is ascribed primarily to the damage done to logs 

 between the time they were cut in the woods and the time they were avail- 

 able at the mills for conversion Into lumber. Insect damage was perhaps 



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BAND MILLS 

 Owensboro, Ky. Gampbellsville, Ky. 



