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Published in the Interest of the American Hardwood Forests, (he Products thereof, and Logging, Saw 

 Mill and Wood-working Machinery, on the 10th and 25lh 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 



LIBRA 



NEW Y« 



OOTANl 



7 QARDk 



Vol. XXXIV 



CHICAGO, AUGUST 10, 1912 



No. 8 



's i<?maMMTOTOW!roKirotiaw4roat^^ 



General Market Conditions 



Tliis is a season that is iisuallj' afflicted with " inid suiniiior ilull- 

 ness" in lumber sales, but this year is an exception, from the fact 

 that the hardwood business the country over is in from fair to 

 excellent volume. 



Owing to the jiaucity of stock on hand, very unfavorable weather 

 conditions- and a general hesitancy in business, the first three months 

 of the year showed a decided falling off in hardwood demand over 

 a corresponding period of 1911, but this decadence in trade has 

 been more than regained during the succeeding months, as the volume 

 of business for the first six months of the year is in excess of 

 that of 1911. 



Building operations in the chief commercial centers are growing 

 apace with the advancing year. Notably in Chicago building opera- 

 tions are stupendous in quantity and high-class in character. Local 

 houses distributing building woods report that their capacity for 

 receipts and delivery is taxed to the utmost, and that the year's 

 business promises to be one of the greatest in the history of this 

 great city. Railroad and other corporation lumber buying is on au 

 increasing scale. 



There is still a marked complaint concerning the shortage of dry 

 stock of several varieties, and also of deliveries of shipments, inci- 

 dent to failure to secure cars promptly. From the fact that during 

 the past few months weather conditions have been very favorable 

 for loggir.g and lumber manufacture, and the large operators in 

 many sections have materially increased the quantity of their 

 output, the shortage in the general run of hardwoods very likely 

 will diminish as the season advances. At milling points the piles 

 of both plain and quartered oak are increasing in number, and by 

 fall there will probably be enough stock to take care of all 

 requirements. 



The interior finish trade is consuming a large quantity of hard- 

 woods, and the same can be said of the hardwood flooring industry. 

 Furniture people are having a much better trade .than a year ago, 

 and are now making insistent calls for lines of wood that enter 

 into this line of production. The trade in furniture woods is there- 

 fore excellent, with the strongest call for oak, gum and mahoganv. 



The export trade would be in a inoie vr.ti ;t'actory condition were 

 it not for what is practically a shipping tiust that is demanding 

 extraordinarily high rates of freight. In some instances the rates are 

 double those of a year ago, and it is necessary for shippers to 

 exercise a great deal of care in making sales c. i. f. to foreign ports, 

 for the reason that immediate future rates are an indeterminable 

 quantity, varying from week to week on the shij) schedules in an 

 extraordinary and unaccountable manner. Old shipping contracts 

 made last year and early this year have largely expired and what 

 future ocean going rates will be is yet to be determineu. 



There is an increasing call for higli grades of northern woods. 

 Stocks in these sections are undeniably low, and will remain so 

 during the year, but in such southern woods as oak, gum, cotton- 

 wood, chestnut and ash, there promises to be sufficient stock to t.ike 

 care of all reasonable demands. 



There seems to be an increasing call for mahogany both in the 

 form of solid wood and in veneers; a fair and increasing demand 

 for sawed oak veneers, and a fair call for Circassian veneers. The 

 other foreign woods are featureless. 



The hardwood flooring people are having a fair trade, and the 

 liig stocks in warehouses a few months ago are gradually being 

 reduced. Prices are reaching a more satisfactory stage. 



The broom and agricultural handle business is in fair shape, 

 and there are no complaints on the hickory handle situation. 



On the whole it looks like a steady, healthy demand for the 

 remainder of the year at reasonably satisfactory values. 



Annual Crop and Business Report 



It is the custom of George M. Eeynolds, president of the Con- 

 tinental and Commercial Kational Bank of Chicago, the largest 

 strictly commercial bank in the world, and the second largest bank 

 nf any sort, to collect, collate and distribute an annual crop and 

 business report about August 15 of each year. 



H.^KD-WOOD Record has been favored with an advance proof of 

 (his report, and is privileged to publish the following digest of this 

 monumental work, which has consumed more than a month's time 

 of scores of clerks and has cost no inconsiderable sum to the great 

 banking institution named. It ii a wonderful story of prospective 



SUBSCRIPTION TERMS: In the United States and its possessions, 

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In conformity with the rules of tlie postoftice department, subscrip- 

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 contrary, are continued at our option. 



Instructions for renewal, discontinuance, or change of address. 

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 Both old and new addresses must be given. 



Both display and classified advertising rates furnished upon 

 application. 



Advertising copy must be received five days in advanc3 of publica* 

 tion dates. 



Telephones :— Harrison 8086-8087-8088. 



Advertising Representatives: Jacob Holtzman. 5254 Larchwood Ave- 

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

 cago, 111. 



Entered as second-class matter Mav 26, 1902, at the postoCjce at Vbi- 

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



