^wj^^mmmmmmmm^j^^m^m^ms^jmsmjmmim^jmm^jmmm^^mmmmm^ 



Copyright, The Habdwood Companv, 1'J15 



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



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



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Edgar H. Defebaugh, President 

 Edwin W. Meeker, Managing Editor 

 Hu Maxwell, Technical Editor 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 337 So. Dearborn Street. CHICAGO 

 Telephones : Harrison 8086-8087-8088 



Vol. XLI 



CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 10, 1915 



No. 3- 



J TOiiViliTOtaTOOTIiOTimMKTOM:)^^ 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



AfeU IBERMAN OF CONSKRVATIVE TENDENCIES and 

 judgment which is usuiilly considered as worth sometliing, 

 predicted a few days ago that witliin ninety days the level of general 

 prices in lumber will have reached as high a point as has ever been 

 touched. This statement was made without any evidence of excite- 

 ment and seemingly without any consideration of a possibility of 

 this condition not developing. 



In looking over the situation in the hardwood field about the only 

 item that appears to be in a condition that is not really good is 

 a line of low-grade northern hardwoods, which piled up considerably 

 on account of the inactivity of the railroads. It is confidently ex- 

 pected that the almost normal return to the purchasing field by the 

 transportation lines will take care of all of the surplus of northern 

 hardwood stock that would ordinarily go into ties and probably cut 

 down the available amount even beyond the present over-production. 



In practically all other standard items the expansion of trade has 

 more than balanced supply and demand, and at the rate the con- 

 suming factories are disposing of their goods and using up what 

 stocks they have accumulated, an incline in price will make itself 

 • known inside of a few weeks. 



It is generally reported from Grand Rapids that the furniture 

 people in that high-priced town are working about twenty-two hours 

 a day. In Sheboygan, with its high state of efficiency in manufac- 

 ture, they are working practically to the limit of production on 

 moderate priced lines. All of the sections turning out furniture, 

 pianos and in fact every line of woodwork in hardwoods is going on 

 a normal basis as far as production is concerned. 



The active situation has resulted in a good many millions of feet 

 of hardwood lumber going into consumption, but there is still room 

 for improvement in the actual call as there has been more lumber 

 purchased and delivered in the last few months than is realized. The 

 wise buyers have bought in here and there in small lots as they 

 have gotten the right price, and as a consequence have piled up a 

 good deal of lumber on their yards. However, there is no doubt in 

 the world but that the present state of activity is going to clean up 

 this in a short time. 



All reports from the southern pine section are increasingly cheer- 

 ful. Pine has been influenced by unusual conditions more than most 

 of the other woods as it has gone into a good many big orders for 

 domestic consumption, and has also bfeen exported to a very large 

 degree. As a result there has been a material cutting down of mill 

 stocks in yellow pine. Other competitive woods, such as hemlock, 

 have not enjoyed this out-of-the-ordinary assistance, but even though 



the call has not come direct to hemlock, that wood will indirectly 

 profit from any improvement in the yellow pine situation. In fact, 

 it has been reported that some of the good effect of the great activity 

 in southern pine is already showing. The biggest buyers of pine 

 have been the railroads and car companies who are planning big 

 things in the way of car construction, making over roadbeds, requir- 

 ing a good deal of timber for ties and bridge work, and in short, 

 a general program of improvement and addition to stocks and 

 equipment. 



The yard trade as a general thing is buying in fair quantities, 

 but has not opened up its demand to the extent that it might in 

 the next month or so. 



There is absolutely nothing perceptible in the lumber situation at 

 this date to indicate anything but a rapid return, both in demand 

 and price, to a level bordering normal. This movement has already 

 set in and seems to continue practically without interruption. It is 

 a cheering fact that without a doubt improvement in business is due 

 more to a general improvement in the domestic situation than it is 

 to the effect of the abnormal export trade. In other words, with 

 but a normal trade with various foreign countries and the domestic 

 situation in the shape that it now appears to be in, it can confi- 

 dently be expected that good times wOl continue. 



The Cover Picture 



No ONE NEEDS TO BE TOLD that the twin trees constituting 

 the leading feature of the cover picture illustrating this issue 

 of Hakdwood Record are of second growth; that is, they came on 

 after the older trees had been removed. They stand about six miles 

 from Alpena, Mich., on a tract of land formerly occupied by white 

 pine but which is now first class pasture. The photograph was furn- 

 ished by the Derry Lumber Company, Detroit, Mich. 



The twins trees are paper birch. That is the tree which formerly 

 furnished the bark of which Indians and white traders made the 

 canoes that played so important a part in the pioneer history of this 

 region. Trunks larger and smoother than those in the picture were 

 selected by the canoe maker; and the bark was peeled in sections five 

 or six feet long, and these were sewed together with bark or roots 

 to make the skin of the canoe. That was stretched over a light frame 

 of proper size and shape, and the holes and seams were made water 

 tight by means of pitch from pines and wax from balm of Gilead 

 buds. Thus the canoe was made. 



It has passed out of use as a business proposition, but summer re- 

 sorts still have a few birch bark canoes to rent to tourists, and 

 occasionally an Indian is at hand to demonstrate the mystery of that 

 kind of navigation, for a consideration. 



