February 2r,, 19J1 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



47 



Butfirr sreeiFuATio. 



HIGH HUMIDITY 

 DRY KILN 



Diagram showing how 

 the moist air is forced 

 around every board in — 



"The Kiln with the Circula- 

 tion You Can Understand" 



B. F. STURTEVANT CO 



HYDE PARK, BOSTON, MASS. 



BRANCHES IN 25 CITIES 



The Southern Hardwood Situation 



There is no effort on the part of southern hardwood manufac- 

 turers to deny that the market for hardwood lumber is extremely 

 (lull or that prices are on a wholly unsatisfactory basis. On the 

 contrary, they freely admit that, while there is some business pass- 

 in;; and while inquiries are becoming rather more general, dullness 

 is as pronounced as it has been at any time this season, and that 

 prices, if anything, are lower than they have been heretofore. 

 Executives of two of the larger firms in Memphis, in an exchange 

 of confidence at the Tennessee Club at the close of the preceding 

 kveek, admitted that they had shipped fewer cars of lumber than 

 they had ever shipped during the period from Jan. 1. One of them, 

 in fact, stated that he had shipped only two cars thus far in Febru- 

 ary, while his shipments during the month of January were like- 

 wise only two cars. Tlie other admitted that he liad shipped so 

 little that, although both his plants had been closed down since 

 early in December (1920), he !iad as much lumber on hand as at 

 the beginning of January, 1921. Interviews and discussions with 

 iither firms disclose that business is at a very low ebb, and that the 

 volume of lumber moving out of Memphis is extremely light even 

 for this time of year when business is usually rather quiet. 



There are notes of optimism here and tliere, but they are quite 

 "subdued." John W. McClure, secretary of the Bellgrade Lumber 

 Company and president of the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers ' 

 Association, in an address made before the Eotary Club some days 

 ago, predicted that the lumber market would return to normal 

 ' ' within six months. ' ' He said that any improvement would 

 necessarily have to be gradual, and based his optimism on the fact 

 that a visit to the East had disclosed that conditions among the 

 woodworking industries are far Vietti'r in tliat grand division of 



By Staff Correspondent 



the United States than in any other. He described markets in that 

 territory offering finished lumber products as well booked with 

 orders, and declared that conditions were showing substantial 

 improvement. 



James E. Stark of James E. Stark & Co.. Inc.. is also "slightly'' 

 optimistic regarding tlie early future of the hardwood industry, 

 and bases his optimism on the fact that there is a better demand 

 from manufacturers of interior trim and finish. He interprets this 

 to mean that they are anticipating a substantial increase in build 

 ing activity throughout the country in the near future. He says 

 inquiries are of a more substantial character than heretofore, and 

 that there are indications that some of the larger consuming inter- 

 ests regard the market as low enough to justify taking on their 

 requirements for some time. 



No Time to Speed Up 



The average hardwood lumber manufacturer here, however, 

 reports that there is very little doing, and that there is nothing to 

 suggest immediate revival of demand from consuming and dis- 

 tributing interests in this country or abroad. Considerable atten- 

 tion has been attracted by an article appearing in a furniture trade 

 paper suggesting return to normal hardwood business by April or 

 May. This article has been given extremely wide circulation among 

 manufacturers of hardwood lumber for whose special edification it 

 seems to have been prepared. They do not believe that the deduc- 

 tions made therein are based on facts, and they have not, thus far, 

 been induced to put their plants in operation in anticipation of a 

 realization of the demand forecast therein. Indeed, the tendency 

 is rather in the opposite direction. There is some resumption of 

 manufacturing operations, but it may be authoritatively stated 



