52 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



CDly fairly busy. A healthy advance in trading 

 is not expected until the presidential election is 

 over. 



The hardwood marliet remains steady, and 

 prices are well maintained. Oak has been ex- 

 tremely scarce and prices firm, but No. 1 and 

 No. 2 common are not as strong as they have 

 been. Ail grades of chestnut hold a good po- 

 sition. Poplar, although a little easier than 

 other hardwoods, lieeps steady. Boxing grades 

 of poplar and basswood are well sold, but No. 2 

 common poplar is a little slow. Ash keeps a 

 good reputation and cypress is moving well. 



COLUMBUS 



MEMPHIS 



BOSTON 



A stronger feeling prevails throughout the 

 local hardwood market. Consuming manufac- 

 turers are fairly busy but business is not up to 

 the standard expected at this time of the year. 

 Retail yards are placing fair-sized orders in most 

 instances, and the demand is fair. One of the 

 strongest woods in the market at present is 

 walnut, prices being higher than they have been 

 for years. Plain oak has been marked up during 

 the past few weeks. This has tended to check 

 the demand to some extent. Quartered oak is 

 still in moderate call at unchanged prices. Bass- 

 wood is in fair request with the tendency favor- 

 ing higher prices, although there has been no 

 actual advance here as yet. Maple is firm. The 

 demand for cypress is fairly active and prices 

 are well maintained. 



BALTIMORE 



Many hardwood men have reached the con- 

 clusion that the present year, like other presi- 

 dential election years, will probably not be pro- 

 ductive of .as much activity in hardwoods as the 

 rather brisk demand noted some time ago ap- 

 peared to promise. Members of the trade arc 

 beginning to take the view that the previous 

 interest in stocks was less the result of an ex- 

 panding demand than of a scarcity of lumber 

 and the extensive reduction in supplies developed 

 by reason of the unusually long winter and the 

 interruption of work at the mills. Good dry 

 stocks are scarce. Many mills have moderately 

 large assortments, but these are not ready for 

 the market. Dry lumber can readily be disposed 

 of and usually at advanced figures, though there 

 are some divisions of the trade to which this 

 does not apply. Widi- poplar, for instance, re- 

 mains quiet, even dull, and the fine grades of 

 chestnut are not in much better shape. One 

 manufacturer recently took the clear planks out 

 of a lot of chestnut, but found he could get no 

 better offer for the clear lot than he had secured 

 for the balance. Chestnut, however, averages 

 up fairly well. The low-grades of poplar are 

 moderately active. lx)x grades bringing belter 

 prices than formerly. Tlic one unquestionably 

 strong item on the list is oak, which commands 

 attractive figures and rules so high that pros- 

 pective buyers hesitate to place orders except 

 for immediate needs because of the advanced 

 figures which they are asked to pay. It is 

 perhaps on this account that the market is re- 

 garded as uneventful and the movement rather 

 behind expectations. No real weakness has de- 

 veloped in any direction, however, and there is 

 every prospect that later on the requirements of 

 the trade will assert themselves in an unmis- 

 takable manner. 



The export trade is in an expectant mood, 

 for the present it is being hampered here by 

 a strike of stevedores, which has continued for 

 weeks, and has caused much delay in the load- 

 ing and unloading of vessels, .'ill steamers are 

 far behind their schedules, and the forwarding 

 of export lumber and logs has been greatly re- 

 tarded. The foreign situation is encouraging, 

 and there is every prospect that when the pres- 

 ent embargo has been removed, the movement to 

 European ports will be active. 



All grades of hardwood are in excellent de- 

 mand. Prices are firm and show an advancing 

 tendency, and inquiry is good all along the line. 

 Orders are now coming in better than at any 

 time since the first of the year. Furniture 

 manufacturers and vehicle and box making con- 

 cerns are in the market on a large scale, and 

 offerings are unusually light as a result of 

 the delayed shipments from the timber districts 

 because of the recent floods. There is an acute 

 shortage in dry stocks, and at times wholesale 

 dealers are unable to fill orders. The lower 

 grades lead in demand, and there is considerable 

 inquiry for the higher grades. Oak is in espe- 

 cially good demand and the movement of chest- 

 nut is satisfactory. The local hardwood situa- 

 tion, barring a scarcity of dry stocks, is very 

 satisfactory and about all that could be desired. 



CINCINNATI 



The local lumber market is apparently all that 

 could be desired. Oak that has been graded as 

 common quarter-sawed ones and twos has been 

 disposed of to the foreign trade. Plain oak that 

 is dry and ready to use is very scarce and almost 

 any reasonable price can be gotten for it. Sound 

 wormy chestnut m the heavy grades is very 

 scarce and ordinary grades are selling well. 

 There is a good demand for low-grade poplar, 

 and for manufacturers' grades, but prices are 

 held too high. The demand for wide stuEE is 

 small. Red gum is active for ones and twos, 

 while saps and common are fast disappearing 

 from the market, as good dry stock is not avail- 

 able. -4sh is in good supply and white ash in 

 five-eighth inch stock is in demand for drawer 

 sides. The demand for hickory from the manu- 

 facturers of wheel makers' stock, is active. Both 

 red and white birch is in fair request and the 

 latter is scarce. Mahogany is in demand for 

 furniture manufacturers. Buckeye and other 

 hardwoods are in active call. Foreign agents are 

 good buyers of oak boards, red gum, white ash 

 and walnut. 



TOLEDO 



Oak and ash lead in the local hardwood mar- 

 ket at present, and there is a very fair demand 

 for both these woods as well as other varieties 

 of hardwoods. Furniture factories are sending 

 in strong calls for plain oak, and automobile and 

 wagon industries furnish a splendid market for 

 white ash. Owing to bad conditions in the 

 South there Is a considerable scarcity in both 

 these materials, especially in dry stocks, and 

 this with the increasing demand has had the 

 tendency to advance prices. The building trades 

 have furnished a good market within the past 

 few days ,and prospects are good from this 

 source. Taken altogether, the local hardwood 

 situation for the coming season looks good. 



INDIANAPOLIS 



The hardwood trade in this market is probably 

 as good as it was at this time last year, with 

 better prospects than during 1911. Building 

 lines, from which the hardwood interests will 

 get a large part of their business this year, 

 show unusual activity. Industrial lines gener- 

 ally, with the exception of the automobile manu- 

 facturing trade, are a little dull at this time, 

 and there probably will be no great activity until 

 after the national political conventions. Hard- 

 woods are coming in more promptly than they 

 were, shipments into the city having been delayed 

 fur some time on account of high water and flood 

 conditions in the South. 



The local demand for hardwood lumber is 

 quite active and prices are firm, with an ad- 

 vancing tendency. The amount of lumber pro- 

 duced in Memphis and the Memphis territory 

 during the past few weeks has been small, 

 compared with normal, and while this lack of 

 production will be a more serious market fac- 

 tor later than it is at the moment, the fact 

 remains that it is already having its influ- 

 ence to some extent. There is a disposition 

 on the part of buyers to secure their needs 

 while stock is available, and in some cases 

 they are making efforts to enter into engage- 

 ments calling for later shipment. There is a 

 distinct indisposition on the part of manufac- 

 turers and wholesalers, however, to sell for 

 forward delivery, as they do not know where 

 they will be able to get stock, and are strongly 

 of the opinion that prices will be even higher 

 in the near future. 



The lower grades of cottonwood and gum 

 are firm and active, with a small amount read- 

 ily available as compared with the demand. 

 The lower grades of these items are even 

 stronger and more active than the higber. So 

 far as the remainder of this list is concerned, 

 fhere is no pressure whatever to sell and prices 

 are altogether in the seller's favor. The sit- 

 uation, from a price standpoint, is more fa- 

 vorable now than it has been for several years, 

 and there is no hesitancy on the part of owners 

 of dry stock to advance quotations where the 

 competition, at points not affected by the re- 

 cent flood conditions in the valley, are not too 

 keen. 



NASHVILLE 



There has been' no cessation of activity on the 

 Nashville hardwood market during the fortnight 

 and the demand has been good for all available 

 dry stocks, which are practically depleted. Good 

 tides continue to make logging from the upper 

 Cumberland river sections active, but rains have 

 made rural roads still too heavy and the logs 

 too wet for successful general operations by 

 country mills. Calls have been strong from 

 wood-working concerns, and railroads are in the 

 market for car building and construction mate- 

 rials. Owing to a reported overstocking of fin- 

 ished goods, the furniture, wagon and vehicle 

 manufacturers have not been as active in their 

 demands during the past week as they were for 

 some time. 



Plain oak continues to lead in demand, and 

 ash is a splendid seller. Quartered oak and 

 poplar are not as active as formerly. Cotton- 

 wood and gum stocks are low, and eastern con- 

 sumers are clamoring for these grades in order 

 to fill existing orders. There has been a steady 

 advance in oak prices, and apparently the end 

 is not yet in sight. An expansion in the ma- 

 hogany market has been noted owing to the 

 popularity of this wood for interior work and 

 furniture. Hickory, basswood, beech and elm 

 have been moving well. The demand for birch 

 and maple has decreased somewhat. 



LOUISVILLE 



The current situation is pronounced essentially 

 and fundamentally strong. With the economic 

 law of supply and demand working as inevitably 

 and inexorably as it always does, unless there 

 is some artificial suspension of its forces, the 

 liardwood interests of this section are assured 

 that one factor of strength will be supplied dur- 

 ing the remainder of the year by the shortage 

 of stocks. The question of chief interest, Is 

 whether the demand will hold up to normal pro- 

 portions. It is declared that the demand must 

 descend very low to equalize the shortage of 



