HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



One of the strongest features of the market 

 is whitewood, which is very scarce. Mills in 

 the mountains have been unable to ship their 

 product out owing to bad roads, and this, coupled 

 with the fact that it is difficult to get cars. 

 has resulted in firmer prices. Buyers are now 

 beginning to show more anxiety to cover their 

 wants. Low grades of plain oak are easier. 

 The demand for quartered oak is not as good 

 as it was the first of the season. Thick stock 

 is strongly held, but one inch is in plentiful 

 supply, and buyers are not free operators at 

 full prices. Brown ash is in fair demand, with 

 offerings limited. Maple continues fairly steadj 

 In price, with offerings of fair size. 



New York. 

 The local hardwood situation continues in 

 good shape, the great difficulty being the se- 

 curing of sufficient supplies in the better grades 

 of pretty much all woods. There seems to be 

 the usual amount of lower grade hardwood 

 available, but the better grades in poplar, oak, 

 ash, birch and chestnut are scarce and fancy- 

 prices are being paid for the right kind of 

 stock where it is offered. The volume of trade 

 enjoyed by the local yards and wholesalers 

 during the past fortnight has shown some fall- 

 ing off, due to the approach of the holiday sea- 

 son, the retailers reporting trade to be of the 

 hand to mouth order on account of consumers 

 not desiring to have very much stock on hand 

 at the close of the year. Optimism prevails, 

 however, as regards the outlook for trade dur- 

 ing the balance of the winter and everyone 

 looks with much promise to the spring, when 

 it is believed there will be a very fair volume 

 ■ o£ trade, with good, firm prices, due to the 

 shortage in supplies. A number of leading rep- 

 resentatives have just returned from mill points 

 in the interest of next spring's supplies and all 

 bring the same story of a shortage in good 

 lumber, with very stiff prices, among the manu- 

 facturers. The stability which such a condi- 

 tion gives to prices seems to be viewed with 

 satisfaction by the trade, who naturally under 

 these conditions feel sure In the fact that what 

 stock they have on hand, or bought, Is a val- 

 uable asset and one which will be readily and 

 profitably realized upon in due course. 



The leaders in present trading still continue 

 to be ash, plain and No. 1 common oak, all 

 grades of birch and chestnut, and pretty much 

 everything in poplar. The general trend of 

 prices is upward and there are no weak items 

 in the better grades, although there are some 

 concessions noted on some of the lower grades 

 on certain stock which is overpientiful. 



The mahogany and cedar situation still con- 

 tinues exceedingly bullish, both as to price and 

 demand. Total arrivals from foreign ports of 

 both commodities were again inadequate to meet 

 the demand of the market as compared to a 

 number of grades of mahogany in first hands, 

 and shipments are being urged. Prices are ex- 

 tremely stiff, mahogany running from 6% to 

 12 cents, the latter being the selling price for 

 Laguna and Santiago stock, which is the most 

 desirable. Indeed, the general market is said 

 to be practically on a 12-cent basis. Cedar is 

 ruling firm from 9 to 15 cents, but 13 or 14 

 cents is an average price governing sales. The 

 price situation in both mahogany and cedar is 

 stronger than it has been for a number of 

 years and there does not seem to be any let up 

 in sight as to the demand. 



turers are noplussed as to where to look for a 

 further supply of cedar logs, and though their 

 mills are rushed to the limit, they fail to keep 

 up with constantly increasing demands. Build- 

 ing operations are being hurriedly completed, in 

 anticipation of bad weather, and the sash and 

 door mills in consequence are pushed to ex- 

 tremes. Though there is a notable dropping off 

 in I he volume of business in the building line 

 just now, it is nothing unusual at this time of 

 the year, and as large orders are already being 

 booked for the spring, both for mill work and 

 building lumber, authorities in this line predict 

 a continuance of the recent prosperity In 1907. 

 Ash and chestnut are still high and scarce, 

 oak and poplar, though not plentiful, are re- 

 ceiving more calls of late. Bed cherry has not 

 advanced any during the fortnight, but quar- 

 tered oak still shows improvement. No com- 

 plaints are coming in from the Pennsylvania dis- 

 tricts regarding the railroad service there, but 

 there is still the old complaint of delinquency 

 in this direction in the southern mill terri- 

 tories. Stocks pile up at the mill, orders are 

 plentiful, and still no hope of an early relief. 

 The transportation of the cotton crop is now 

 believed to be of special interest to the rail- 

 road companies, to the detriment of the lum- 

 bermen. A suggestion has already been made 

 that the Lumbermen's Exchange combine in an 

 effort to get at the actual cause of the per- 

 sistently unsatisfactory railroad service and 

 start some sort of proposition in the way of 

 relief for the long suffering shipper. 



Baltimore. 



The year is drawing to a close with the lum- 

 ber trade in excellent shape. Every grade of 

 oak is in good request, with culls exceptionally 

 strong, and the belief now prevails throughout 

 the trade that a decline in the quotations is 

 not to be expected for the present. The move- 

 ment is still greatly hampered by the scarcity 

 of railroad cars, which serves in not a few 

 instances as a complete embargo upon hard- 

 wood activities. The pressure is not quite as 

 great now as it has been, but this may be 

 attributable to the fact that the inquiry has 

 slackened and will not resume its normal sway 

 until after January 1, 1907. Owing to the dif- 

 ficulties of getting lumber to market the calls 

 for delivery have been more urgent than usual 

 at this season, and this has given an appear- 

 ance of briskness to the situation which would 

 not ordinarily be in evidence. As a matter of 

 fact, the distribution does not now exceed mod- 

 erate proportions, while stocks at the mills are 

 adequate enough. All the indications, however, 

 point to a prosperous new year, with every 

 hardwood selling freely and stocks in great de- 

 mand. During the last year prices have been 

 as a rule well sustained, and all other condi- 

 tions have been satisfactory. Poplar in par- 

 ticular, .among the woods other than oak, has 

 been actively sought, and the consumption has 

 attained exceptionally liberal proportions. Much 

 lumber has gone into the manufacture of box 

 shooks, in which department of the lumber 

 trade Baltimore lias enjoyed a veritable boom, 

 and the whole range of values has been strength- 

 ened thereby. The domestic revival with re- 

 spect to walnut also continues, and this wood 

 is bringing values sufficiently high to draw 

 out logs in surprisingly large quantities. 



extensively are closing up the best year's busi- 

 ness they ever had. 



Demand now Is well distributed, although 

 there are certain features of the market that 

 stand out prominently. The call for mine sup- 

 plies is by far the largest that Pittsburg whole- 

 salers have had for ten years, and along with 

 this the coke companies are ordering immense 

 supplies of hardwood. Among manufacturers 

 the furniture men are taking fully one-third 

 more hardwood than one year ago. So also are 

 the box makers, for every factory In this dis- 

 trict is driven hard to keep up with its orders. 

 Low grade hardwoods are going to these fac- 

 tories and to the glass works in big quantities 

 and at very good prices. The demand from 

 railroads has fallen off this month, as was 

 expected, when outdoor operations were cur- 

 tailed by the weather. Because it is the time 

 for stock taking and yearly settlements, the 

 local yards are buying less freely and will prob- 

 ably not be in the market much till January 

 15. Local firms, however, are glad of even this 

 little respite to enable them to catch up a 

 little at the mills. 



Philadelphia. 

 There is very little variation in the history 

 of the hardwood market at the present time. 

 Lumber is scarce, prices high, and still climb- 

 ing. The furniture factories in eastern Penn- 

 sylvania still continue busy. Unfortunately 

 hardwoods, especially in dry stocks, are not to 

 be had at any price, owing to adverse weather 

 and the deplorable railroad conditions at the 

 mill districts. Cigar box and veneer manufac- 



Pittsburg. 

 A car shortage such as has seldom been ex- 

 need by Pittsburg wholesalers is playing 

 havoc with lumber shipments at present. 



Hardwoods -till occupy the center of the 

 ,i .. No one disputed the fact that they are 

 in much better demand today than any other 

 line of lumber, and it is equally certain that 

 prices are firmer and prospective business bet- 

 ter than in other lines of the lumber business. 

 The past year has outstripped all previous 

 records in the sales of hardwood, and firms 

 which have been in the hardwood market at all 



Toledo. 



In reviewing the trade conditions for the 

 year, it might be stated that the local dealers 

 in hardwood lumber have had the most prof- 

 itable year in the history of the business. 

 As approximately estimated by the local con- 

 cerns that deal exclusively in hardwoods, the 

 business for 1906 will be fully twenty-five 

 per cent ahead of 1905. While this Is true, 

 the local fraternity experienced considerable 

 difficulty in getting certain kinds of hard- 

 woods, especially dimension stuff. Red a"nd 

 white oak, poplar and cottonwood lumber and 

 timber have been especially hard to get. True 

 it is that stocks can be picked up, . but it is 

 asserted that the stumpage is in the hands 

 of a few big concerns, who report that they 

 have sold the output ahead. And the car sit- 

 uation has been a bugaboo throughout the en- 

 tire year, while higher prices in almost every 

 line of hardwoods have not been a welcome 

 feature. As to next year, It is generally be- 

 lieved that the same conditions will prevail. 



While building operations have let up to a 

 considerable extent, the demand for hardwoods 

 has been good for this time of the year. Lo- 

 cal yards are undergoing invoice, and after 

 the first dealers are expected to anticipate 

 their wants and buy quite freely. The total 

 permits issued for the year will reach a total 

 valuation of approximately four and a half 

 million dollars. This means that Toledo has 

 gone ahead of the total valuation of building 

 improvements for 1905 about sixty-five per 

 cent. The hardwood people have not experi- 

 enced as hard a battle against concrete and 

 cement building materials as dealers of soft 

 lumber, since hardwoods are extensively used 

 for inside finish against soft woods for out- 

 side work. 



Several years ago about as much lumber was 

 brought to Toledo by water as by rail. This 

 year the custom house report shows a little 

 less than 46,000,000 feet landed here by lake, 

 while fully 200,000,000 feet were brought here 

 by rail. This is explained by the fact that 

 the shores of the lakes have been pretty well 

 cleared of timber, and the stumpage is now 

 found farther inland. 



Railroad ties and poles are in strong de- 

 mand and have been so throughout the year. 

 While both have advanced considerably dur- 

 ing the season, higher prices are inevitable. 



Sajinaw Valley. 

 Hardwood is looking up. Basswood is being 

 contracted for at about $2 higher than the prices 

 during i in- summer. There will be use for all the 

 basswood manufactured at an advance. Beech 

 will be $1 higher and possibly more. Some 

 beech has already been contracted for delivery 

 next season, at an advanced price. Nearly all 



