30 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



wane. Whether this is the result of increased prices, due to the 

 war, or is a permanent condition, it is hard to say ; certainly,- how- 

 ever, few houses seemed to be featuring it as strongly as hereto- 

 fore, and in fact that Sligh Furniture Company, which for years 

 was regarded as the champion of Circassian, appears to have dis- 

 placed it in favor of enameled furniture. 



Chicago Fuknituee Exposition 



The Chicago Furniture Exposition, at 1319 South Michigan avenue, 

 has been open to buyers for some time. The manufacturers dis- 

 played full lines, and the exhibit as a whole was fully up to those of 

 former years. Old lines still hold their places, but new ones come 

 in to comply with changing tastes and fashions. Perhaps there has 

 never been a time when there was more call for reproductions of 

 early period furniture than there is at present. Fads come and go 

 in furniture as in most other things where fashions are concerned; 

 and many new things which possess no real merit come and go. and 

 after that they are seen no more; but when the designs are such as 

 appeal to educated tastes, they return to popular favor from time to 

 time. At present the displays are rich with furniture reproduced 

 from some of the highest classes of past periods. 



To some extent certain woods respond to fashions. They come in 

 and go out. There are other woods, however, which are "the same 

 yesterday, today, and forever." Oak and mahogany may be put in 

 that class. Designs may change, finishes may vary, but the woods 

 never go out of use. The furniture display shows a tendency to 

 restrict the use of highly colored and highly polished oak; but what 

 is lost there is made up in plain and unostentatious finish. 



Red gum not only holds its place in the furniture factory and in 

 popular esteem, but it gains steadUy. The furniture maker is learn- 

 ing more about gum. It can be worked without much shrinking and 

 swelling, and the public appreciates its figure and general appearance. 



The usual mahogany lines are being shown. It is known that im- 

 ports of mahogany have declined on account of the war, but no 

 scarcity has yet been felt by the furniture makers. The sawmill 

 output of mahogany lumber in the United States is about 30,000,000 

 feet, board measure, and about half of that quantity is cut into 

 veneer. 



The most noticeable change in the furniture Unes seems to be 

 taking place in the use of walnut, both American and Circassian. 

 The latter is bound to become extremely scarce and expensive, because 

 absolutely nothing is being exported from the area where it grows, 

 which is in the region of the Caspian sea. It is safe to say that 

 when present stock has been used there will be no more untU the 

 close of the war. The Chicago exhibit showed no scarcity of this 

 wood, but the manufacturers were a unit in saying that they expect 

 a decline in the amount used with a corresponding increase in price. 



In some instances Italian walnut is already being substituted for 

 Circassian. Both are cut from the same species, but the countries 

 of origin are different, and the Italian-grown wood does not rank 

 with Circassian in beauty ; besides, there is not much of it. 



Black walnut holds a much more prominent place in the present 

 furnitiire exhibit than it held last year. The wood has come back; 

 not yet in all furniture lines, but in tables, desks and certain other 

 articles. Some of the finishes given it are beautiful. The old users 

 of this walnut, forty years ago, never thought of finishing it in 

 other than in black, which is the wood's natural color when trees are 

 fuUy mature ; but some manufacturers now show articles of black wal- 

 nut furniture which suggests brown or brownish yellow more than 

 black. In fact, the wood might almost pass for Circassian. No such 

 range of finish was ever before attempted, and no one formerly sus- 

 pected that black walnut was capable of it. 



This will render easy the transition from Circassian to black wal- 

 nut in furniture making. The demand for the former may be partly 

 met by the latter; but the sentiment in favor of black walnut is 

 growing, independently of scarcity in supplies of Circassian walnut. 

 The annual use of Circassian in this country heretofore has fallen 

 somewhat under 2,000,000 feet a year, board measure, but by 

 cutting the wood in thin veneers it has made a conspicuous showing. 



Some of the furniture manufacturers now sell finely-finished pieces 

 of black walnut at the same price as Circassian, while in other 



instances the Circassian brings about ten per cent more. 



The furniture show in Chicago was fairly well attended. While the 

 number of buyers was somewhat less than formerly, they bought liber- 

 ally, and the result is considered satisfactory, considering general 

 business conditions. 



Baltimore Exports for 1914 



The figures of exports from Baltinioie for the year 1914 are avail- 

 able, and they show strikingly the effect produced by the great war 

 upon the lumber movement to foreign countries. None of the 

 latter were exempt from the contraction that has taken place, the 

 year being practically divided into two periods, during one of which 

 a fair volume of business was done, while the other includes the 

 five months of the war when the shipments slumped until they 

 amounted to only a small part of what may be called a normal 

 movement. In this connection it is to be said that the shrinkage 

 in exports began a year before the war, the second half of 1913 

 having already shown a inarked decline in the forwardings, as com- 

 ])ared with the first half. This falling off continued in 1914, being 

 doubtless attributable to a considerable congestion which had taken 

 place in the course of time. The effects of this congestion mani- 

 fested themselves in a very indifferent demand and in a narrowing 

 of prices, which touched figures that made a large part of the ex- 

 port trade unprofitable. During the war, of course, no improvement 

 was to be expected, especially since the seizures of vessels by 

 Great Britain resulted in a diversion of shipments to certain porta 

 and an accumulation of stocks there that have not yet been worked 

 off. The trend of the export business is impressively shown in the 

 following table, which gives the foreign movements in periods of 

 six months, the first line of figures standing for the shipments in 

 the first half and the second line for those of the last six months 

 of 1914 as compared with the previous year. Here are the totals: 



Quantity 

 Logs, Hickory 347.000 ft. 



Hickory 141.000 ft. 



Oali 41,000 ft. 



Oak 20,000 ft. 



WalDUt 820,000 ft. 



Walnut 21,000 ft. 



All others 258,000 ft. 



All others 



Lumber, Oak 6,90.').00n f t. 



Oak 4,02.-1,000 ft. 



Wliite pine 87.000 ft. 



While Pine 100,000 ft. 



I'iith IMnc .3G.O00 f t. 



I'itch Pine U.OOO ft. 



Sliort Lo.Tf Pine l,4,-i2,000 ft. 



ShiTt Leaf Pine 177,000 ft. 



All Other Yellow 



Pine 19,000 ft. 



All Other Yellow 



Pine '. . . . . 



Pophir 1.06:i,000ft. 



I'lijilar l.O.'iO.noo ft. 



Spruce 2,140.000 ft. 



Spruce 167,000 ft 



Cypress 



Cypress 



Oum 



Gum 



Joists and Scant- 

 lines 



Joists and Scant- 

 lines 



All others 1,837.000 ft. 



All others 927,000 ft. 



Shocks, Box 432 



Rox 448 



All others 2,311 



All others 2.fi32 



Staves 339.3.50 



Staves 260,082 



Heafiings 



Headinss 



Shingles 



Shingles 



All other kinds of 



lumher 



All other kinds of 



lumber 



Doers 



Doors 



Fiirnit'ire 



Furniture 



Trimmings 



Trimmings 



.\11 ofer manufactures 



of wood 



All other manufactures 



of wood 



-1914- 



Value 



11,763 



5,790 



l,8.'-i9 



800 



49,149 

 1,292 



11,042 



238,634 



149,011 



3,395 



3.-'68 



1,910 



376 



44,429 



5,929 



700 



Quantity 



981,000 ft. 



204,000 ft. 



177,000 ft. 



31.0(10 ft. 



1,563,000 ft. 



396.000 ft. 



356.000 ft. 



122.000 ft. 



14,813.000 ft. 



9,085,000 ft 



-1913- 



Value 



31,549 



5.995 



6,684 



883 



102,335 



29,893 



12,480 



7.613 



494,986 



318,529 



1 .000 ft 



15.000 ft. 



1 ,930,000 ft. 



1,190,000 ft 



70,000 ft. 



50.334 



53,150 



68.207 



5,907 



89.S78 



42,904 



111 



434 



2.542 



2.930 



17.184 



15.260 



1,330 



65,935 



27.041 

 13,728 

 151 

 12,789 

 22."n4 

 1,163 



134,759 

 54,511 



1,506,000 ft. 



1.235.000 ft. 



1 50,000 ft 



3,338,000 ft 



13,000 ft 

 13,214 ft 

 33,000 ft 



2.536.000 ft 

 2,217,000 ft 



52 



741 



61,734 



37,283 



2,249 



61.007 



51.103 



5.055 



94,342 



"583 



"214 



1,057 



119,496 

 109,896 



5'_'4 



19,144 



15.111 



640.437 



591,947 



33,000 



389 

 21,321 

 11.531 

 37.965 

 30,105 



250 



56,497 



50.115 

 33,627 

 1.660 

 9.457 

 12.047 

 4,537 

 3,164 



423,130 



165,120 



Total 



$1,210,826 



$2,416,599- 



