flflMifoMRocoM 



Published in the Interest of the American Hardwood Forests, the Products thereof, and Logging, Sa 

 Mill and Wood-working Machinery, on the lOlh and 25lh of each Monih, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry H. Gibson, President 

 Burdis Anderson, Sec'y and Treas. 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 



Ll8R>i 



NEW Y 



BOTAN! 



OAROI 



Vol. XXXIV 



CHICAGO, MAY 10, 1912 



No. 2 



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General Market Conditions 



Although wholesale hardwood jobbers and consumers have- been 

 warned for months of the impending shortage in nearly every 

 variety of hardwood lumber, a good many seem to have believed 

 that stock would come into being as required from some unknown 

 and remote source. Of course in this particular they have been 

 disappointed, and with the serious flood conditions affecting not 

 only the operations in the mountain country, but over a large range 

 of territory supplying hardwoods throughout the Mississippi valley, 

 which has suspended all shipping, buyers are up against the most 

 serious situation they have encountered in the history of hardwood 

 production. Today there is a scramble from every source to secure 

 sufficient lumber to carry on manufacturing and building oper- 

 ations, with the result that prices on many items have sharply 

 advanced, and in spite of the willingness of buyers to pay the 

 advance, it has been almost impossible to secure supplies. 



From the buyer's viewpoint the only consolation is that there 

 is not a remarkably strenuous demand on the part of a great many 

 factory consumers. The furniture trade is notoriously slow and in 

 the dumps. The stock of hardwood flooring in first hands in both 

 oak and maple is still sufficient to take care of building wants for 

 some months to come, although there has been a decrease in oak 

 and maple flooring of perhaps fifty per cent from high tide of 

 accumulation of this material. 



Plain oak is one item of which there seems to be an absolute 

 paucity in the market, and what little there is in first hands is 

 meeting a ready sale at from two to even as high as five dollars, 

 above the prices that obtained thirty days ago, which value is 

 being reflected to a material extent in quarter-sawed oak, and in 

 some instances manufacturers are receiving a five-dollar advance 

 on quotations made earlier in the year. 



Poplar manufacturers report they are feeling an impulse in sales 

 incident to the shortage of stocks in other woods, and that good 

 grades of poplar, which have been dragging considerably for a long 

 time, are now in reasonably active demand. 



The ash market has shown an improvement of from three to five 

 dollars a thousand within the last sixty days. However, it must 



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SUBSCRIPTION TERMS: In the TTnited States and its possessions, 

 and Canada. $2.00 the vear: in foreign countries. $1.00 extra postage. 



In conformity with the rules of the postoffice department, subscrip- 

 tions are payable in advance, and in default of written orders to the 

 contrary, are continued at our option. 



Instructions for renewal, discontinuance, or change of address, 

 should be sent one week before the date they are to go into effect. 

 Both old and new addresses must be given. 



Both display and classified advertising rates furnished upon 

 application. 



be recalled that ash struck a very low range of values during the 

 last year, and its renaissance to an approximation of relative values 

 as compared with other woods, is not at all remarkable. 



The mahogany market is remarkably strong, and sellers are getting 

 a good ten dollars a thousand over prices that obtained a few months 

 ago, with every prospect that they will secure a considerable added 

 price very shortly. 



In nearly all northern woods there is a severe shortage. Only one 

 item appears to be in fairly good supply, and that is the grade put 

 up especially for the flooring trade, and this is by no means au 

 unusually large stock and can certainly be absorbed very soon. 



The only serious danger in the present situation is that many items 

 of hardwood may advance to a price that will induce increased wood 

 substitution, but it is believed that sellers generally recognize the 

 danger of this situation, and will be satisfied with a reasonable 

 advance, and not attempt to secure prices that will be prohibitory. 



It goes without saying that it is believed that the demand will 

 materially increase with the advancing season, and there is such 

 a small quantity of hardwood that will be ready for use for months 

 to come as to insure a strong demand at good values for the entire 

 remainder of the year. 



A Commendable Legislation 



The marked agitation in the last few years, looking toward the 

 establishment of workmen 's compensation laws, has made apparent 

 the fact that it is extremely difficult to enact legislation which will 

 provide uniform laws to cover conditions in various parts of the 

 country. In fact, it has been practically impossible to meet the 

 diverse conditions existing in the various states by any general act, 

 and as a consequence the states themselves have been actively at 

 work outlining and putting into effect workmen's compensation 

 laws to govern the needs of industrial workers in their various 

 industries. 



Probably one of the most successful and complete of these acts 

 went into eft'ect in the state of Washington on October 1, 1911. This 

 law was drafted, after considerable agitation on the part of the 

 lumber interests of that state, by a committee composed of a repre- 



Advertising copy must be received five days in advance of publlca* 

 tion dates. 



Telephones:— Harrison 8086-8087-8088. 



Advertising Representatives: Jacob Holtzman, 5254 Larchwood Ave- 

 nue, Philadelphia, Pa. ; E. \V. Meeker, 537 South Dearborn Street, Chi- 

 cago, 111. 



Entered as second-class matter May 26, 1902, at the postofBce at 'Chi- 

 cago, 111., under act of March 3, 1879. 



