58 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



January 10, 1921 



Hunt, Washington & Smith 



MANUFACTURERS 



SOUTHERN HARDWOODS 



TENNESSEE RED CEDAR— RED CYPRESS 



EXECUTIVE OFFICES 



SOUTH FIFTH STREET & NASHVTI^LE TENN. 





Dry enormous amount of veneer perfectly flat and 



pliable at minimum cost, without checks or splits 



PROCTOR AND SCHWARTZ, inc. Philadelphia, Pa. 



COMMODITY PRICES 

 UP or DOWN? 



Are you protected whatever their course? 



Our COMMERCIAL BULLETINS cover spe- 

 cifically all basic commodities and outline a 

 definite policy regarding their accumulation or 

 liquidation. 



Send for FREE SET immediately — no obliga- 

 tion incurred. 



TheBrookmireEconomic Service 



INCORPORATED 

 The original system of forecasting from Economic Cycles 



CONSULTING OFFICES, 56 Pine Street, NEW YORK 



STRABLE 

 Lumber & Salt Company 



SAGINAW, MICHIGAN 



Manufacturers of the Time Tested 



Wolverine Maple Flooring 



Want to move quick quantity of 13/16 



and 1 1/16" factory grade. Can also 



make prompt shipments of other 



grades. 



WRITE FOR PRICES 



LET US QUOTE YOU ON YOUR HARD- 

 WOOD LUMBER REQUIREMENTS 



Ash — Hickory — Beech — Poplar 

 Oak — Cypress — Gum —Tupelo 



Straight cars, all grades and thickness 

 N. H. L. Association rulea of inspection 



We specialize in Poplar S/8" to 5" in thickness.. We have 



POPLAR 



4/4" Log Run 125.000" 



5/4" Log Run 75.000' 



6/4" Log Run 100.000' 



8/4" Log Run 100.000' 



OAK 



4/4- No. 3 & Btr 100.000' 



5/4" No. 3 & Btr 150.000' 



e/*" No. 3 & Btr 50.000' 



.100.000' 



TUPELO 



5/4", 6/4" 



SAP GUM 



4/4". 5/4", 6/4" 75,000' 



CYPRESS 

 6/4", 8/4" No. I Shoo &. Btr. 30,000' 



BEECH 

 8/4" No. 2 & Btr 15,000' 



4/4", 



LET tIS QUOTE VOTJ ON ANT OP 

 THE ABOVE STOCK, ANT GSADB 



HOYT PARKER LUMBER CO. 



p. O. BOX 614. Office, 311 City Bank, MOBILE, ALABAMA 



not get well under way for several months and for the additional reason 

 that furniture manufacturers will probably not find a large demand tor 

 their output until the construction of homes in a large way creates larger 

 buying. Nor is there very great hope of large foreign business. There 

 are more inquiries from overseas and there is some busine-ss actually 

 under way. But the position of foreign exchange is so unsatisfactory that 

 those who are most familiar with conditions in Europe do not hold out 

 much encouragement for the next few months from that source. It is 

 believed by the majority of the trade, however, that there will be steady 

 improvement during the first half of the year and that good business will 

 develop during the latter half of 1921. "If a bad beginning is any sign 

 of a good ending, the latter half of 1921 ought to be one of the best 

 periods in the history of the industry." This is the language used by 

 S. M. Nickey, president of the Green River Lumber Company, and by other 

 prominent lumbermen here. 



One of the principal reasons for the greater optimism lies in the fact 

 that manufacturing and consuming individuals, firms and corporations in 

 the hardwood lumber industry and allied industries have weathered the 

 recent period of deflation in far better shape, financially, than many feared 

 would be the ca.se. Very few failures have been reported in any direction 

 and, with the worst believed to be over in shrinkage of values and in con- 

 traction of business, it is felt that cosiderably better times are ahead. It 

 is also regarded as highly probable that credit will be far less restricted 

 during 1921 than has been the ca.se during the past few months and that 

 removal of the credit scarcity which has been at the bottom of delation 

 and contraction will bring return to more normal and more healthy 

 business. 



l^ome recovery in hardwood values is expected during the year although 

 there appears to be no general desire for return of the "wild" values which 

 have been, in a measure, responsible for the present upset condition of the 

 industry. James E. Stark of James E. Stark & Company, says he hopes 

 that values will be on a stable level and that, when business does become 

 normal again, it will remain so for an indefinite period, thus making con- 

 tinued operations on a profitable basis possible, and he expresses the 

 f^entiment of many members of the trade on this point. Undue expansion 

 of values has brought about abnormal contraction of both prices and 

 business and lumber interests do not want a repetition thereof if ex- 

 pressed views of members of the trade here may be taken as a criterion. 

 However, there is more or less dissatisfaction with current values of 

 hardwood lumber for the reason that they are not anything like enough 

 to cover manufacturing costs. 



One of the developments of 1921, however, will be substantial reduc- 

 tion in manufacturing costs, principally in the direction of m.aterially 

 lower prices for labor employed in the woods and at hardwood plants and 

 in the cost of food and feedstuffs. Machinery and other equipment are 

 offering at pretty high relative prices even yet but members of the trade 

 anticipate that there will be some decline in these as the year advances, 

 particularly as steel and iron and lumber, the principal materials enter- 

 ing into their manufacture, are selling at substantial discounts from re- 

 cently quoted values. 



It is quite clear that production of hardwood lumber during the first 

 few months of 1921 will be extremely light. This view is based on the 

 fact that only 12 to 13 per cent of southern hardwood manufacturers and 

 almost an equally small percentage of northern producers are operating 

 their plants at this time. The percentage of southern hardwood manu- 

 facturers who are now running will probably show a further decrease this 

 month as other plants are going out of commis.sion before Feb. 1. The 

 l)ig point, in this connection, however, is the fact that all of the 87 to 

 .S8 per cent of manufacturers who have closed down their plants in the 

 last few months are wholhj without reserve supplies of logs. They made 

 it a point to cut up their logs in practically every case before they closed 

 down their plants and they cea.sed work in the woods before they stopped 

 converting logs into lumber. Little logging is possible, except at prac- 

 tically prohibitive cost, during the winter and early spring months and 

 there will be little lumber produced, relatively, in the South during the 

 next few months for the reason that the logs are not available out of 

 which to make it. But, over and beyond this fact, there is practically 

 no desire on the part of manufacturers of southern hardwoods to operate 

 their plants under present conditions. They are carrying pretty large 

 stocks and they do not care to add to the quantity they are having to 

 carry in the absence of more th.an a modest demand therefor. When 

 manufacturing costs are lower, when logging operation may be conducted 

 without undue expense and when there is an appreciable demand for 

 hardwoods, manufacturing will be resumed, according to Memphis lum- 

 bermen, but very little will be done until these conditions come about. 



As to stocks at the beginning of the year : It is conceded that these are 

 below rather than above normal. In the case of certain items, there Is a 

 scarcity of the higher grades. This is true in connection with plain red 

 and white oak and plain sap gum in firsts and seconds. The greatest ac- 

 cumulation of southern hardwoods is admittedly in the case of No. 1 

 common and lower grades and it is expected that this condition will con- 

 tinue for some time for the reason that present high freight rates are 

 restricting outlets for material of this character. Southern hardwood 

 lumber interests are painfully aware of this condition and they are plan- 

 ning to take vigorous action in the direction of lower freight rates on all 

 lumber, with particular reference to the lower grades. This will be done 

 through the Southern Hardwood Traffic A.ssociation and not much time 



