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Copvi l^ht, 'I'lIK llAKDWOOU COMI'ANV, 1 'J 1 S 



Publl»hed in (he Inlrrcst of the American Hardwood Forests, ihe Products thereof, and Logging, Saw 

 Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the lOth and 25lh of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Edgar H. Defi-baugh, President 

 Edwin \V. Meeker, Managing Editor 

 Hu Maxwell, Technical Editor' 



S.v.nlh Floor Ellsworth Build. ng 



537 So. Dearborn Street. CHICAGO 



Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087-8088 



CHICAGO, OCTOBER 10, 191 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



THE EMBARGU li:is luTome ;i ifnllv serious matter to the luiiilier 

 trade beeauso the iiiaehiner)' for issuing permits is still poorly 

 oiled and delays iuciileut to getting through shipments are discourag- 

 ing. There is still no reason for believing that the intentions of the 

 railroad administration arc anything but as expressed in the original 

 announcements regarding the embargo, namely, that it is for the pur- 

 pose of regulating and not throttling the lumber business. At the 

 same time these serious delays are inevitable and it will undoubtedly 

 take some months before sufficient machincry'is created and in running 

 order to handle lumber shipments substantially as they would go 

 through without the embargo in effect. 



The result at the southern mills has been so discouraging that many 

 manufacturers are planning or contemplating shutting down, the con- 

 tention being that under embargo and other restrictions it is impossi- 

 ble to do business except at a loss. They are not willing to exploit their 

 timber and thus use up their resources that can be more profitably 

 worked in future years. The tendency in this direction will, however, 

 be mitigated by the growing preponderance of war work as strict essen- 

 tiality will result in returns sufficiently satisfactory and movements 

 sufficiently prompt to give encouragement for continued manufacture. 

 It is a certainty, however that southern hardwood production is going 

 to be seriously curtailed by the embargo coming on top of other diffi- 

 culties. 



Under the embargo no lumber can be shipped that is unsold. Nat- 

 urally a man is most apt to cut his price when he has lumber on the 

 way for which he has not secured a customer by the time it reaches the 

 point of destination. Thus, with no such movements en route, the 

 price will be made in the usual course of events and price cutting will 

 be substantially lessened. 



The northern manufacturers are very closely organized on war work, 

 and because of the essentiality of certain strictly northern species that 

 are now demanded in vast quantities, their freedom from care will 

 largely depend upon the extent to which they are able to so convert 

 their operations as to get out the greatest possible quantity of this 

 material. The government has pretty clearly indicated that it will stand 

 sponsor for the marketing of the large volume of by-product which 

 must result from the production of any great amount of specialized 

 war stocks. The most important development in the North is the call 

 for vast quantities of birch and basswood veneer logs for airplane 

 purposes. It is not considered that this wUl seriously interfere with 

 the supply of logs for other purposes, as it is recognized by the gov- 

 ernment as well as urged by the lumbermen, that in order to avoid im- 

 ile prices due to the exclusive production of veneer logs, they 



i.ig 



otUe 



in getting out the 



must bo perniitted to 

 plane veneer material. 



Government support will undoubtedly follow through in the manu- 

 facturing and in the shipment of these by-products and thus in the 

 common runs of the production of northern mills it is pretty sure that 

 a reasonable percentage of ^ normal output and shipment is assured 

 because of the requirements running into such vast quantities of 

 specialized materials that must be gotten out at the same time. 



Everything indicates that the more speedily lumber operators take 

 on as large a share as possible of war production, the less trouble 

 they may expect in securing labor and shipping facilities as labor, 

 transportation and fuel are now strictly on an essentiality basis and 

 subject to a careful government regulation. 



Non-essential consumers of hardwood lumber are of necessity as 

 well as choice, limiting their purchases to close needs as the securing 

 of permits is strictly up to them. The decided slackening in factory 

 demand of recent date is undoubtedly attributable as much to the dif- 

 ficulty of securing permits and the indisposition of buyers to apply 

 for permits except where lumber is absolutely needed, as to an uncer- 

 tainty among the factory men as to the probable course of events in 

 their own lines. When the factory trade has become more used to 

 getting through shipments on the permit basis, and when the govern- 

 ment has provided a more adequate means for speedily issuing per- 

 mits, undoubtedly the factory trade will take on considerably more 

 lumber. 



As the matter now stands, though, prices are still holding up well 

 and should continue to do so as the outlook indicates less plentiful 

 stocks in the future, and increasing steadiness of hardwood market as 

 the trade swings gradually to war production. 



New Period Furniture 



WE :NrAY BE ABOUT TO WITNESS the beginning of the new 

 period furniture. The government is regulating styles as a war 

 measure, and history will only be repeating itself if, in years to 

 come, furniture will be classed as "the period of 191S, " or "war 

 period," or some other name or description corresponding to this 

 time and occasion. 



Furniture stj'les in the past have taken the names of the periods 

 in history which witness their introduction, such as "Renaissance," 

 "Empire," "Queen Anne," "Louis XIV," "Jacobean," and 

 so on. A dozen or more styles of furniture have taken the names 

 of the periods which brought them into use, and the custom has 

 become so firmly established that it may be expected to continue. 

 In view of this, we are now probably witnessing the introduction 



