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

 Mill and Wood-working Machinery, on the 10th 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 



Vol. XXXIV CHICAGO, OCTOBER 10, 1912 No. 12 



Editorial Comment 



General Market Conditions 



Strength in buying marks the entire hardwood situation the country 

 over at the present time, and applies almost universally to every vari- 

 ety of hardwoods. The scarcest and consequently the strongest item 

 in the market is plain white oak in all grades; No. 2 is apparently 

 just as scarce and relatively as high as No. 1 common and firsts and 

 seconds. Following this, plain red oak is nearly as scarce, but is more 

 plentiful than white. 



Within the last few months white ash has had a phenomenal rise in 

 demand and consequent value, and the black ash of the North is fol- 

 lowing a good second. But few manufacturers have well-balanced 

 stocks at the present time, the majority of them having only badly 

 broken stocks, which in many instances are down to very recent sawing. 



The absolute paucity of stock in the hands of northern manufac- 

 turers, as well as in the South, is reflected by the comparatively few 

 salesmen on the road engaged in marketing lumber. The majority 

 are employed in visiting sawmill districts in an attempt to make pur- 

 chases to take care of exigent orders. 



While comparatively scarce, and in no surplus, perhaps the easiest 

 items of lumber to acquire at the present time are poplar, basswood 

 and buckeye. 



There seems to be a little dimunition in the strength of red and sap 

 gum, but still there is very little dry and desirable stock that can be 

 had right now. 



Perhaps the longest item in the woods that are handled by the hard- 

 wood trade is cypress, which seems to be in ample supply at all manu- 

 facturing centers. 



Quartered white oak has again come into its own, and there is an 

 excellent trade for it the country over, at prices that are showing a 

 fair margin of profit to the producers. 



There are some remarkable features pertaining to the present rather 

 extraordinary demand for hardwoods, one being the spread of values 

 shown in quotations by various manufacturing and jobbing houses. 

 During the last fortnight Hardwood Record has seen quotations on 

 firsts and seconds quarter-sawed white oak showing a variation of 

 trwelve dollars a thousand, and in plain sawed firsts and seconds oak a 

 variation of six dollars a thousand. To be sure some of this variation 

 may be accounted for by a difference in quality, but it would seem 



unquestionable that some houses are either asking too much for their ''■■'^'^ ■ 

 product, or others are giving away a handsome margin of profit. In 

 this connection it may be noted that a good many office jobbers who 

 make sales and depend upon supplying lumber with subsequent pur- 

 chases in the open market, are having a good deal of difficulty in fill- 

 ing their orders. On the contrary, hardwood merchants in various 

 trade centers, who carry an ample stock of lumber and have made ad- 

 vance contracts for future supplies, are in common with manufacturers 

 securing the large bulk of going business. 



These are strenuous times for the scalping element, because it is 

 with the utmost difficulty that they are able to practice old-time 

 methods of first selling lumber and then buying stock to fit the price. 

 Latterly this element is exercising more caution in its sales, and is not 

 the menace to price conditions that it formerly was. 



There never was a time in the history of the trade when a thorough 

 knowledge of sources of supply was so valuable an asset to the job- 

 bing trade as it is at the present moment. The "wise" jobber is 

 still able to make purchases of a satisfactory character, on which he 

 can make a good profit turn. On the whole, it is pretty tough sliding 

 for the element of the trade that depends on the open market for a 

 source of supply to take care of current orders. 



While a good many manufacturers are making an attempt to cut 

 out the intermediary and sell their stock direct to the wholesale con 

 suming element, another and important faction in the trade deems it 

 economy to market its holdings through competent jobbing houses. 

 This is especially so in the East, where very few jobbers complain of 

 inability to secure stock from manufacturers to take care of current 

 needs. Generally speaking, the eastern jobber is so much more famil- 

 iar with the specific requirements of his customers than the remote 

 manufacturer as to make it difficult for even the most competent 

 southern and western sawmill man to break into the consuming trade 

 of the East with very much suocess. Hence it is that a large portion 

 of the lumber marketed in this part of the countiy is handled through 

 the medium of the competent jobbing element. 



Wiseacres in the trade predict that the supply of lumber will within 

 a short time more than counterbalance the demand, and that there will 

 be a marked decline in some of the rather high values placed on some 

 items at present. Undeniably there is an extraordinary attempt being 



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Telephones:— Harrison S086-S0S7-S0S8. _ 



Henry H. Gibson, Editor; Hu Maxwell and Edwin W. Meeker, Asso- 

 ciate Editors. „ ,,. , 



Entered as second-cla.ss matter May 2(j, 1902, at the postofnce at f hi- 

 cago. 111., under act of M.irch 3, 1S7!l. 



