C opyriglit. The Hardwood Company, 19^1 

 Published in the Interest of the American Hardwood Forests, the Products thereof, and Logging, Saw 

 Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the 10th and 25th of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Edwin W. Meeker, Vice Pres. and Editor 

 H, F. Ake, Secretary-Treasurer 



Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 53 7 So. Dearborn St.. CHICAGO 

 Telephone ; Harrison -8087 



h lll U lll l l l lli n i ll ll l lli n i lin i l l MII I II | i | n i n i l ll ll ll ll l l l l l ll lll l ll Mlll l l l l ll l l ll ll llllll lll liiiiiiiiiiiniiiiMii ii iii i ii mii iiii i iiii i i mii i im iii i i m i i iiiiiiii h ii i nuiiM irTTTTTm 



MIIIIIIIMII 



Vol. L 



CHICAGO, JANUARY 25, 1921 



No. 7 



B,.m»A^_Y 



Review and Outlook *f-^At 



General Market Conditions 



THE ONE BEACON OF DIEECT REFLECTION upon the fui- 

 iiiture and hardwood lumber businesses, the January furniture 

 market, has been naturally watched with close interest. Appar- 

 ently disappointment has been the prevailing emotion, though tem- 

 pered by the wise absence of undue expectations. The market this 

 year held a potent relation to the furniture business in that it really 

 marks the turning point from war-time conditions back to pre-war 

 status. This transition obviously requires abrupt read.iustment of 

 many factors. 



Disregarding the actual sales records of the National retailers, 

 the significant aspect of this year 's market could quite reasonabl.y 

 have been sufficient to rigidly cheek undue activity. It has been 

 two years and more since any real new lines have been shown, and 

 with the general announcement of fresh exhibits this January, 

 retailei-s were naturally non-committal in their opinions as to orders 

 contemplated, pending careful examination of the new lines offered 

 and prices put on them. 



However, this was not the only retardant to active trading which 

 accompanied retailers to the market. They have generally - re- 

 frained from decided price reductions on the goods now on their 

 floors until recent date, the degree of liquidation of last year 's 

 stocks in retailers' hands not being excessive. Therefore they 

 approached the current market as much to gain information serv- 

 ing to guide their future actions, as to make outright purchases — 

 probably more. 



Here and there are high lights of extreme buying, and it is 

 notable that the largest sales were of cheap goods showing marked 

 cuts in prices. The average exhibitor, though, fared poorly. As 

 expressing the state of mind of retailers as a whole, it can prob 

 ably be said that they came to the markets for the principal pur- 

 pose of informing themselves for the future, and also to note the 

 prices. This knowledge will enable them to perform two functions: 

 Firskt, to more accurately gauge the immediate future of retail 

 sales, and secondly, to enable them to mark their unsold stocks in 

 accordance with figures at the expositions. As bearing out the 

 theory that retailers' interest in current holdings was acute and 



^ genuine, it is a fact that the attendance this year set a new record, 



SS passing all other years except one. 



It may be fairly anticipated that when the retailer on returning 

 home has fully worked out his plan of action for the coming year, 

 he will concentrate on liquidating present stocks, withholding his 



— buying to fill in only on necessary items, and that during the com- 



ing montlis the manufacturers' salesmen will meet with a growing 

 assortment of small orders. It seems clear, though, that to defi- 

 nitely stimulate this buying the manufacturers must make further 

 recessions in their sales prices. 



This matter of reduced price is one with apparently two very 

 definite sides — the retailer severely criticised the manufacturers 

 for showing an average cut of only fifteen per cent, stating that 

 it will be difficult to interest the buying public with announcements 

 of a fifteen per cent reduction when the clearance sales that have 

 prevailed in retail circles have shown up to thirty and forty per 

 cent reduction. 



The manufacturer argues that his costs do not permit him to 

 reduce further, and that the retailer has been getting a sufficiently 

 high percentage of profits to enable him also to add to that reduc- 

 tion. In other words, to take a definite percentage less for his 

 turnover of goods, thus enabling him to offer the same stock to the 

 consumer with twenty to thirty per cent aggregate cut. 



Without specific information on costs it would seem that most 

 furniture lines had realized reduction in their costs sufficient to go 

 beyond the fifteen per cent figure. The cost of lumber certainly 

 has gone off infinitely more than that; from forty to fifty per cent 

 would not be an excessive estimate. While labor costs per hour 

 have probably not receded to any great extent, the furniture fac- 

 tory must have felt a reflection of the same increasing efficiency 

 which has been so notable in other lines. In many cases today one 

 man is easily doing the work that three performed when labor was 

 in the saddle. Hence a reasonable reduction in labor charge, due 

 to increased efficiency, certainly has occurred. 



The big outstanding factor in adjusting business conditions is 

 that every business house which has something to sell must make 

 a sincere effort to go the limit in price reduction. The public vnll 

 not be satisfied with sops, but must be convinced that with due 

 regard for the higher standard of living resulting from the war, 

 and with proper consideration of the underlying influences coming 

 out of the war, which will not wear off for a long time, prices in 

 general must show a return to a more normal and stable basis. The 

 immense increase in freight and passenger rates; the excessive tax 

 burden under which the country is laboring; the high cost of 

 money, and the excessive cost incident to the disturbed conditions 

 of the time, all add their measure of permanent increase to pre- 

 war costs. 



The immediate future of furniture movement is of prime con- 

 sideration, and closely linked with it is the building outlook. There 

 is a tremendous amount of money ready to be invested in building, 



