January 10, 1921 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



57 



Uetail stocks are low in every section, ami this is taken as an indica- 

 tion that buying will be more pronounced. The dealers are selling some 

 stocks right along and since their stocks are broken it will be necessary 

 for them to come into the market soon. Some are holding off for lower 

 quotations and until after inventories are completed. Retailers are ex- 

 pected to buy in limited amounts during the early months. 



Manufacturers are also holding off largely. Furniture and piano manu- 

 factories are buying only slightly as they are waiting until after the 

 January shows. Implement factories show a better disposition to enter 

 the market. Automobile concerns are going slow. Box factories are the 

 best customei-s among factories and are buying low grade poplar, bass- 

 wood and oak. 



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[ Plain & Qtd. Red & White i 



OAK 



CINCINNATI 



A quiet, tht* like of which has not l)ci'ii known in years, continues to 

 pervade the Cincinnati hardwood market. Hopes that the first of the 

 year would bring a favorable upturn have been blasted, although as yet 

 it is too early to judge what the current month may bring. The optimism, 

 which until of late has been* pronounced in the Cincinnati market, is 

 slowly fading and giving place to pessimistic views, which, if they are to 

 be taken as criterion^ of good judgment, speak badly for the future of 

 the market. Those who have maintained that the opening mo^nth of 1921 

 will bring good business are not so sure now, but steadfastly maintain that 

 the worst is over and the best is yet to come. Some dealers are of the 

 opinion that the dullness will prevail until late in the summer, but the 

 consensus of opinion that April will be the month when the big drive will 

 open. Building plans are at present being deferred. This, however, will 

 not continue long, and already builders are getting ready for the Spring 

 campaign. Furniture manufacturers and vehicle makers are cautious 

 buyers, as are the railroads. 



INDIANAPOLIS 



No change is to be noted in prices, but there appears to be a slight 

 increase in demand. Most of this increase is coming from the woodwork- 

 ing industries, which gradually are beginning to increase production. 

 Officials of these plants admit that little demand is being noticed for the 

 finished product, but they say in order to keep their organization together 

 they intend proceeding in a small way with production on the chance of 

 demand later on. The hardest hit of all the woodworking industries ap- 

 pear to be the automobile body plants here and the plants making cab- 

 inets for talking machines. Other plants never have curtailed their pro- 

 duction to the same extent, though there was a general curtailment. 

 Furniture factories in Noblesville, Ind.. and Shelbyville, two cities near 

 Indianapolis have been handicapped, the Shelbyville plants because of 

 labor trouble.s and the Noblesville plants because of lack of orders. These 

 factories are reducing prices right along and eventually they hope to strike 

 a price which will move their stocks. The furniture plants, generally, ' 

 have considerable stored stocks of finished products awaiting a demand. 

 Retail yards report little demand, hut they say because of a slight increase 

 in demand from the industries, the market has been somewhat strength- 

 ened. 



EVANSVILLE 



Dull and sluggish are the words that express the situation as far as the 

 hardwood lumber manufacturers of southern Indiana, southern Illinois 

 and western and northern Kentucky are concerned. This has been the 

 case for the past several weeks. In fact the volume of business that has 

 been and is being done by the manufacturers of this section is about 20 

 per cent of normal. While January is expected to bring in some busi- 

 ness, in the opinion of the manufacturers trade is not going to show any 

 nmrkf-d improvement during this month. Some of the manufacturers say 

 they believe that January will be a better month than December and that 

 trade will gradually get better between now and the first of March. Lum- 

 ber prices have not changeil materially during the past months. Some 

 of the mills are being operated and the owners have said they were going 

 to keep their plants in operation as long as their supply of logs holds out. 

 Logs are coming in slowly, in fact few if any logs are coming In from 

 the logging districts of the south, and it is not expected that many logs 

 will come from that section uutil the rainy season has been past for some 

 time. One of the best known luml>er manufacturers of this city said the 

 other day that in bis opinion the lumber manufacturer who for the next 

 six months can "break even" is to be considered lurky. With the resump- 

 tion of the furniture factories and other wood working plants of Evans- 

 ville, it is believed that the demand for lumber in Evansville will show a 

 gradual picking up during the next few months. 



MEMPHIS 



Although the new year has brought "no material change iu the hard- 

 wood lumber situation at Jlemphis. so far as prices and volume of busi- 

 ness are concerned, there is admittedly a more optimistic feeling among 

 members of the trade here regarding the outlook for 1921. 



It is generally conceded that there will be little activity before Jan. 15, 

 the date on which inventorying is completed, and some hold that there 

 may not be much doing before March 1. Still others insist that the first 

 half of 1921 will be quiet for the reason that the building programme can- 



Even 



Soft 



Color AND OTHER Texture I 

 HARDWOODS I 



Soft: Yellow Poplar I 



MADE (MR) RIGHT 



I OAK FLOORING | 



I PROMPT SHIPMENTS | 



I The MOWBRAY [ 



I & ROBINSON CO. i 



= (INCORPORATED) — 



I CINCINNATI, OHIO | 



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J. V. Stimson & Co. 



OWENSBORO 



KENTUCKY 



Finely Figured Quartered Oak 

 Soft Textured Plain Oak 



also 



Poplar 



Hickory 



Elm 



Chestnut 



Walnut 



Gum 



Maple 



Beech 



Sycamore 



Cherry 



Cottonwood 

 Firm Textured White Ash 



You will like our careful method of handling 

 orders, either domestic or export for mixed 

 or straight car load shipments. 



BAND MILLS 

 Owensboro, Ky. Gampbellsville, Ky. 



