:;i;^^^J^\i^;^Um^>l^yi^M'^)A>iVlAlV^ ^)\iViMV]MV]Aiv i M viAtv i ^vvwiMviAlvjAiviMVi^^ IAIVim ^ ' 



Publithed in the Interest of the American Hardwood Forests, the Products thereof, and Logging, Saw 

 Mill and Wood-working Machinery, on the 10th and 25th of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry H. Gibson, President 

 Burdis Anderson, Sec'y and Treas. 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 



• '■■i.V. 



NEW V 



eOTAM 



QAftOi 



Vol. XXXIV 



CHICAGO, JULY 10, 1912 



No. 6 



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Editorial Comment 



General Market Conditions 



A comparative level of demand and prices with slightly improved 

 condition in shipping has marked the last fortnight in hardwood 

 circles. The period has been too short to register any pronounced 

 change in the trade in general, except to further reduce stocks in 

 certain items, with the addition of a few figures in their values. 

 The whole condition of the trade hinges on the question of demand, 

 apparently, and as to whether the demand will be of sufficient 

 urgency to effect a iiermanent advance level of prices remains to 

 be seen. The alternative condition would be that sufficient 

 quantities of lumber would come in to fill up the present shortage, 

 which is the real motive for present price advances. 



It is reported from the rainy section in the far South that with 

 continued wet weather the farmers are turning their attention more 

 to the possibilities of getting their money from the trees rather 

 than from the crops, having given up the latter as hopeless. They 

 will go to work in the woods and have their teams haul logs for 

 small mills, as a result of which it will not be long before those 

 mills will have quite a little lumber on hand. It takes much less 

 time to start up a small plant than the big band mills of permanent 

 character, and already a number of them are actively at work. 



The building trade promises to carry the hardwood business 

 through the summer in pretty fair shape. The interior finish, sash, 

 door and blind houses in the large cities are well supplied with all 

 kinds of orders. This is more notably true in the Middle West 

 and the East. 



Active demand from the furniture factories has not been felt, 

 but it is anticipated that at the close of the exhibition there will 

 be quite an increased movement in this direction. 



On the whole, an even tenor will undoubtedly prevail throughout 

 the summer without any radical change for the better or for the 

 worse. Those having hardwood stocks at present are carrying a 

 pretty fair property. 



First Half of 1912 Good 



The records at the close of the first half of the year 1912 show 

 that the country has already awakened to a marked extent 



industrially and in a general business way, and there is every 

 reason to believe that these conditions will take on a decided 

 revival in activity after the political campaign. Business has 

 dragged for two years, and the minimum of activity has been 

 experienced in different lines of trade as shown by the banks, but 

 with the beginning of 1912, considerable improvement has been 

 felt. In the city of Chicago, clearing house figures indicate strong 

 business confidence. There is an increase of nearly ten per cent 

 in the report of exchanges in Chicago over the first six months 

 of 1911. At the same time a remarkable record has been set in the 

 foreign commerce of the United States in which the total commerce 

 aggregated four billion dollars in exports and imports of dutiable 

 and non-dutiable merchandise. At the same time the aggregate 

 exports of American manufactures reach the one billion dollar 

 mark, a record heretofore unequalled. This indicates that the 

 United States threatens the prestige of Great Britain in the matter 

 of foreign commerce. 



A noticeable feature of the last few months has been the steady 

 improvement of the steel and iron market. The principal moving 

 force has been the return of the railroads to the market, although 

 this return has not been entirely voluntary. Since it became evident 

 to the roads that there would be a let-up in gross business, they 

 have been following the policy of retrenchment. Of course, it was 

 recognized that this policy would be only temporary at the most, 

 and the railroad managements have decided that this summer is the 

 limit of the retrenchment period, and in consequence they have 

 re-entered the market for rails, bridges, cars, locomotives, which 

 immediately started the equipment companies, steel mills and steel 

 plate mills. The consequent return to working to the limit of 

 capacity has been noted in all the larger mills. 



It is true that iron and steel products have been selling at less 

 than actual value, and a raise in prices will tend to decrease the 

 volume of business, but at the same time increase profits. The 

 steel corporation is operating now at the highest tonnage rate in 

 its history. 



This movement in industrial enterprises is not limited to the 

 steel corporations, but is felt in numerous other large industries, all 



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