14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



also to the jobber who buys stocks outright and ships to his cus- 

 tomers direct from points of manufacture. 



While there has been a tendency on the part of large hardwood 

 producers during the last few years to assort and distribute their 

 lumber by cars to the wholesale consuming trade through an organ- 

 ized sales department, it is the belief of the Hardwood Record 

 that there is nothing permanent in conditions that should warrant the 

 opinion that the wholesale hardwood merchant is going to be driven 

 out of business. During the last eighteen months there has been a 

 marked shortage of most varieties of hardwoods. Many manufac- 

 turers have supplemented their stocks by outside purchases from 

 minor manufacturers and have practically entered into competition 

 with the old-time merchants in the producing sections of the coun- 

 try. This is the feature that has caused jobbers to think they were 

 being driven out of business. They have been up against an in- 

 creased expense in securing stocks as well as in selling lumber. One 

 of the largest jobbers in the country reports that his cost account 

 during 1906 was $2.65 a thousand. This sum is probably very much 

 below the average and an analysis of the books of many jobbers will 

 show that their cost has run $3, $4 and even up to $5 a thousand. 

 Thus it happens that high lumber values have not meant large 

 profits for the majority of lumber jobbers during the year 1906. 



With the renaissance of a normal supply, which will obtain only 

 with a diminishing demand, the hardwood lumber jobber will un- 

 doubtedly find that his business will be just as profitable as it has 

 ever been. The jobbing of lumber is a peculiar business from the 

 fact that it does not show steady profits year by year, but about 

 every third year shows extraordinary profits. The following year it 

 may show fair gaius and perhaps the next a loss. On the whole, 

 last year was not a very advantageous one for the majority of 

 wholesale merchants in hardwoods. Furthermore, when people talk 

 about the elimination of the wholesale merchant from the hardwood 

 business, they are talking ," through their hats." He will be an 

 important factor of the trade as long as hardwood is manufactured. 

 As a matter of fact, he constitutes not only the safety valve but the 

 governor of the business. To be sure, he buys lumber at the lowest 

 possible price and must secure on sales this cost price, a consider- 

 able expense account and a reasonable profit. The hardwood jobber 

 doing business on legitimate lines tends to foster good and increas- 

 ing -values for the product rather than diminishing ones. Through 

 hardwood jobbers many small manufacturers are enabled to carry 

 on their business because of the advances made to them and by 

 securing a fair price for their output which otherwise they might 

 sacrifice to buyers less scrupulous than wholesale merchants. 



The Small Millman and the Prices He Gets. 



The average small millman who produces one, two, three or even 

 five million feet of hardwood per year professes to fail to under- 

 stand why he cannot get as much money per thousand for his output 

 as does the man who produces ten, fifteen 'or thirty million feet a 

 year. 



There are two distinct departments in a lumber manufacturing 

 enterprise. One consists in manufacturing lumber and the other 

 in marketing it. The average large producer latterly has, in addi- 

 tion to conducting his manufacturing enterprise, also introduced 

 into his business an organized sales department, and disposes of his 

 lumber through one general organization in varying quantities to 

 various classes of trade, which may include jobbers, retailers and 

 wholesale manufacturing consumers. He enters this division of the 

 business because he thinks that he can assort and sell his lumber 

 at a lower cost per thousand feet than he can through the jobber, and 

 thus secure a maximum price with a minimum cost. 



A sales equipment for a lumber manufacturer is an expensive 

 proposition, but the cost per thousand feet is decreased as the output 

 is increased. While a man manufacturing 25,000,000 feet of lumber 

 a year may be able to market his output at from fifty to sixty 

 cents a thousand, the same expense being entailed in a sales or- 

 ganization for the marketing of 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 feet might 

 cost $2 a thousand. Therefore, many small manufacturers contend 

 that they can sell their output through the medium of the lumber 

 merchant in bulk and secure a net revenue from their stock in excess 



of what they would secure if they peddled it out to the wholesale 

 consuming trade in car lots. This is patent from the fact that the 

 jobber who buys 3,000,000 feet from one small millman may buy a' 

 like quantity from a dozen others, and thus secure a quantity of 

 stock of sufficient size to enable him to develop a sales organization, 

 and thus he is able to reduce his cost to a comparatively small 

 amount per thousand feet. 



Undeniably the small manufacturer of hardwoods is at a dis- 

 advantage as compared with the large operator in this particular. 

 He may manufacture his lumber just as cheaply as the big man, 

 but owing to his small output he cannot market it as cheaply. Again 

 the small manufacturer cannot take advantage of large and desirable 

 orders. He must sell his product mill run or in mixed orders in 

 order to keep his stock cleaned up. Often he does not make as- 

 good lumber on his small ground mill as is manufactured by the 

 large and up-to-date band equipment. Again, perhaps he does not 

 handle his product as well. All these reasons make up the sum 

 total of why the small operator cannot secure for his product the 

 same average per thousand feet as does the large operator. 



Cottonwood. 



Cottonwood lumber is coming into appreciation. For many years 

 this wood has been made into lumber, but only in limited quantities 

 and in sections where it constituted a very scattering growth. Lat- 

 terly, since operations on a considerable scale have been undertaken 

 in the lower Mississippi valley, which contains a large aggregate 

 stand of the wood, it is fast assuming the position of a standard 

 lumber material of the country. 



The wood shows a high percentage of good grades, is soft in 

 texture, and, weight considered, is perhaps the strongest known wood. 

 The growth is of such size that it produces a good percentage of 

 white stock suitable for high-class box boards, panels, etc. For 

 many purposes it is scarcely inferior to poplar, and it is assuming a 

 range of values almost equal to poplar prices. Cottonwood holds 

 paint remarkably well, and it has been demonstrated that it makes 

 a very good material for bevel and patent siding; in fact, for years 

 it was manufactured and sold as poplar sap siding. The merits of 

 the wood have now become recognized, and it is possible to market 

 it on its own qualities. 



Eecent tests on box material made by the government have demon- 

 strated that Cottonwood and gum in breaking strength are superior 

 to any of the yellow pines, to white pine or to western spruce. 



Waste of Lumber in Cigar Boxes. 



A secular contemporary says that there is a continual hue and 

 cry being raised by the forestry division of the Department of 

 Agriculture over the remarkable waste in forest products. This paper 

 notes that one of the regulations of the government forbids the use 

 of cigar boxes the second time and demands that they be destroyed. 

 Spanish cedar is one of the most valuable woods that is imported to- 

 this country, and it seems as if the government should be able to- 

 protect itself in some way if cigar boxes were repacked many times. 

 There should certainly be some way of cancelling the stamp on a 

 cigar box without destroying the box itself. This willful waste of 

 valuable box material entails an expenditure of many thousands of 

 dollars annually which might be saved. 



The World's Timber Supply. 



People have come to look upon the United States as the only country 

 on this continent, other than Canada, able to supply large quanti- 

 ties of timber, as, save for fancy cabinet woods, it is doubtful if 

 Mexico will ever furnish any great supply of woods to the world at 

 large, but will need and retain its lumber output for domestic uses. 

 In Europe there are five countries that are capable of supplying a 

 good deal of timber to the world at large for years to come — Austria- 

 Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Eussia. Outside of Russia's 

 timber holdings there is no considerable stand that is not already 

 seriously threatened by increase of population and industrial develop- 

 ment. Say what you will, the same conditions will soon prevail irn 

 the United States, and the warnings of forestry experts that this 

 country is approaching the beginning of the end of its vast wealth 

 in timber resources is far from idle talk. It would not be surprising 

 if fifty years hence the central and northern portion of South America 

 became the center of lumber industry and development. 



