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Published in tlic Intcrril of the American Hardwood ForesU, the Prociucls thereof, and Logging. Saw 

 Mill and NX'oodworking Macliincry. on the lOlh and 23lh of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Edgar H. Dcfcbaugh. Pretident 

 Edwin W. Meeker. Managing Editor 

 Hu Maxwell, Technical Editor' 



Seventh Floor Ir.lUworlh Building 



537 So. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 



Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087-8089 



Vol. XLV CHICAGO. JULY 25, 1918 No. 7 



^^ 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



Till-: BKST I'DSSIBLE WAY to mt a linj on llio lianlwooa 

 stock situation is to visit rei'ii'scntativo mill sections through 

 the regions of principal hardwood production. In almost any 

 representative mill yard one will find foundation after foundation 

 with nothing on if, and pile after pile but partially filled. One 

 will find depleted woods crews with e<piipmeut lying idle in many 

 cases because there are not enough men to operate it; operating 

 mills very much slowed up because there are not enough men 

 available to take care of the lumber that could be turned out from 

 the handsaws and resaws; yards which ordinarily are spick and 

 span as a billiard table, littered up with accumulations of lumber 

 which it is impossible to get properly piled. High salaried in- 

 spectors are shoving lumber shoulder to slioulder with remnants 

 of the usual yard gang. In short, the mills offer a convincing and 

 undeniable proof that lumber production is less than it normally 

 would be, and an inspection of yard records shows sales way in 

 excess of new lumber being put onto foundations. This is a true 

 situation which can easily be verified by anyone really interested 

 in determining what are the actual facts. 



Possibly though the best weather vane of the shippers' condi- 

 tion is the attitude of the mill trade as a whole toward present 

 laxness in new orders. The past two or three weeks have shown an 

 easing off in the placing of new business, and tho sawmill trade 

 indicates a decided feeling of relief rather than apprehension on 

 account of this situation. The comnum attitude is that with most 

 lumber on sticks sold on orders, and with it increasingly hard to 

 get men enough to take care of shipments, to say nothing of manu- 

 facture, it would be a decided help if the millmen were given a 

 slight rest as in many cases they are compelled to turn down new 

 business anyway, and welcome the opportunity of making at least 

 a partial house-cleaning. 



For some time the jobber has been 

 as he has not been able to purchase all 

 find a market for. The jobber's versi 

 is that a slackening in consumers' ii 

 greater ease in making purchases from the mill elemeut. This 

 development comes through with absolutely no suggestion of a 

 corresponding break in prices and with no possibility that any 

 softening in the markets will result. 



Present high prices, which at last nrc beginning to reach a 

 point of advance commensurate with in leasing production cost, 

 are a decided influence toward conscrv.ition. Much material is 

 being manufactured, which in former v.ais would have been left 

 to rot iu the woods or would have been reduced to fuel in the log. 



operating under difficulties 

 of the stocks that he could 

 111 of the present situation 

 nuiries is reflected in the 



have more lumber on hand than they would have purchased had 

 the administration not raised freight rates; most mills are hope- 

 lessly behind in output w'ith no chance of catching up until labor 

 is released from war work; very few mills with an adequate supply 

 and those who have reached that condition did so only by a de- 

 cision to hold onto their materials for further advances rather 

 than let it go out now on sales at present figures. Some of the 

 best informed lumbermen of the country are refusing to sell be- 

 yond a certain liinitoil percentage of their stocks and are gradually 

 accumulating liinilKr which is enhancing in value every week. 



Government Houses for Workmen 



IF THE MOVE.MKXT INDKK \V.\Y AT CLEVELAND, O., works 

 out as the chamlicr of commerce of that city has planned, it will 

 mark a departure from past methods. The chamber intends to 

 ask the government to give two million dollars to be expended in 

 building houses for workmen employed in government undertak- 

 ings. The money will not be asked as a loan but as a gift. 



The housing problem is acute in Cleveland. Large numbers of 

 workmen spend two hours or more every day on street cars, travel- 

 ing to and from their places of employment; and even when they 

 have found houses miles away, conditions are often unsatisfactorj' 

 and rents are very high. The charge is made that landlords are 

 profiteering in Cleveland to a greater e.\t?ut than in most cities. 



The disadvantages under which workmen live are said to be 

 seriously interfering with the productions of munitions iu Cleve- 

 land, and it will be on that ground that the government will be 

 asked to furnish money to build workmen's houses. 



The banks of Cleveland are reported to be unwilling to lend 

 money for house building at this time; not because money is scarce 

 or the security doubtful, but as a matter of precaution. The banks 

 explain their unwillingness to lend now by the fact that another 

 liberty loan is coming, and if the people of Cleveland do not 

 subscribe the district's quota, the banks ma^' be called upon to 

 do so. Therefore, thoy must keep money on hand for that purpose. 



The situation is interesting and in some respects is novel. If the 

 government builds houses for workmen in Cleveland, why should 

 it not do the same in other cities where conditions are similar? If 

 it builds houses in that way, will it buy the ground on which to 

 build them? What would become of the houses after the war? If 

 the government should continue to own and rent the houses, the 

 policy would be changed from what it was before the war. But, 

 as yet, the money has not been appropriated to build the houses, 

 and it is not necessary to grow excited before anything happens. 



