HARDWOOD RECORD 



47 



is improving. Thick ash is becoming scarce. 

 The request for Cottonwood is much better than 

 it has been. Poplar is in fairly good demand, 

 especially selects, common and wide widths. 

 The cypress trade is improving constantly. The 

 i*ar shortage is preventing shipments to the city 

 and owing to the good supply of cypress on hand 

 in this market, the local dealers are being great- 

 ly beneflted. There is a fairly good volume of 

 trade being done by the sash and door people, 

 especially in mixed car lots, but carload lots of 

 stock sizes are not coming in as well as they 

 should at this time of the year. Orders for spe- 

 cial work are coming in nicely. 



NEW ORLEANS 



The hardwood business of New Orleans has 

 kept cp in volume, and the movement is increas- 



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CACHE VALLEY LUMBER CO. 

 Defiance, Ohio 



THREE STATES LUMBER CO. 



Manufacturers of 



SOUTHERN HARDWOODS 

 Cottonwood and Red Cum 



SPECIALTIES 

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MANUFACTURER S 



West Virginia Hardwoods 



SOFT WHITE PINE 

 OAK POPLAR 

 CHESTNUT HEMLOCK 



BAND SAWED STOCK 



Complete Planing Mill Facilities 



RIDGWAY, PENNSYLVANIA 



ing at a slow but sure rate. Low-grade hard- 

 woods are scarce and in good demand. JCew Or- 

 leans buyers do not soem to get enough stocks 

 from the interior to satisfy local demand, for 

 factory buying, especially in the upper grades, 

 is active and growing. 



A considerable degree of activity has been 

 maintained locally in the movement of export 

 forest products, by reason of cleaning up of de- 

 layed goods and the winding up of old contracts, 

 and the hardwood trade has come in for its 

 share of hustle. A number of contracts have re- 

 mained in force through September and ship- 

 ments are being made at the old rates, which 

 lends a considerable stimulus to the business, 

 but from now on practically all the trading will 

 be on the advanced basis, except for those ship- 

 ments which have been tendered to the vessels 

 on the old contracts and have not yet been 

 lifted. 



So far the car shortage is not much in evi- 

 dence in the export hardwood business, and the 

 ocean transportation question dominates every- 

 thing else in interest. The prospect of a gen- 

 erally diminished movement is calculated to allay 

 apprehension as to the car situation very largely, 

 but it is beginning to appear as a factor which 

 the exporters must take into consideration. 



MILWAUKEE 



Conditions in the local hardwood market are 

 decidedly satisfactory, with business unusually 

 good. AThile prices are somewhat higher in some 

 lines, the shortage in stocks is causing far more 

 concern. The consumer seems ready and willing 

 to pay the price, if jobbers and manufacturers 

 have the stock to offer. Local wholesale lum- 

 bermen say that it is next to impossible to secure 

 prompt delivery on orders. While the antici- 

 pated car shortage is not as serious as ex- 

 pected, it is reported from manufacturing cen- 

 ters that cars are not always available. Notices 

 have been posted in the principal shipping sec- 

 tions in Milwaukee asking shippers not to hold 

 cars unnecessarily and to fill them as nearly as 

 possible to the capacity mark. The rush of 

 grain from the Northwest is now under way 

 and lumbermen fear that there will be a scarcity 

 of cars later in the season. 



Stocks in northern and southern hardwoods are 

 light. Birch, maple and basswood seem to be in 

 the lead among northern woods, with demand 

 especially strong for low grades. Plain and 

 quarter-sawed white oak and quartered red oak 

 are the leaders in southern woods. White ash 

 and red gum are wanted. The fall activity in 

 the building situation and the general expansion 

 in industrial lines has resulted in a brisk call 

 from the factory trade. The sash and door fac- 

 tories, flooring plants, furniture factories and im- 

 plement manufacturing concerns are the leading 

 bu.vers just at the present time. 



GLASGOW 



The volume of business in Glasgow con- 

 tinues on very fair lines. The brisk move- 

 ment into consumption, being maintained, 

 affords a gradual lessening of stocks in all 

 lines and the quarterly stock lists which are 

 about to be published will undoubtedly show 

 the holdings on hand to be extremely light. 



Spruce coming in meets with prompt dis- 

 posal at enhanced values. Shipments in the 

 near future are not likely to be heavy, with 

 the high freights in vogue, and buyers are 

 eager to fill immediate wants since they be- 

 gin to realize that higher prices are inevit- 

 able. 



Prices for American hardwoods are fair, 

 but not sufficiently high on the basis of pres- 

 ent ocean freights. Considering further con- 

 dition of stocks of all hardwoods and the 



short supplies, prices must advance still 

 further. 



The demand for oak boards is rather off at 

 present, owing to the recent heavy arrivals 

 which the Baltimore and New Orleans steam- 

 ers have brought in. This has caused a little 

 congestion which, however, is only temporary, 

 and although quite a number of cars will 

 necessarily go into storage, it will be but a 

 short time before they are disposed of from 

 the yards. In reality there has been no fall- 

 ing off in prices of the various grades, and 

 it is only a question of holding the various 

 lots firmly for a few weeks. 



There has not been experienced for many 

 years such a boom as is now evidenced in 

 the shipping world. A little more than a 

 year ago the Clyde, the Tyne and other ports 

 had many vessels laid up for a long spell 

 for want of freight or because of the unre- 

 munerative rates offered. At this season, 

 however, it is impossible to find any idle 

 tonnage at any port in the United Kingdom, 

 and notwithstanding the recent serious labor 

 troubles, which, however, only temporarily 

 checked trade, the scope of employment of 

 British steamers has been extended to every 

 quarter of the globe. In this connection the 

 present activity is principally due to the fact 

 that orders received within the last year have 

 flooded the yards, and consequently the ma- 

 jority, of shipbuilders have found it practi- 

 cally impossible to guarantee delivery by any 

 given date. Not only have freight rates gen- 

 erally continued firm, but the extraordinary 

 demand for tank steamers for oil transpor- 

 tation has resulted in many vessels ordi- 

 narily employed as freight boats having huge 

 cylindrical tanks fitted in their holds so that 

 they have been converted into oil carriers. 



In addition to this withdrawal of cargo 

 boats from their normal service, the new con- 

 struction since the beginning of the year 

 lias been greatly delayed by frequent strikes 

 in almost every branch of the industry. At 

 the same time a lot of old tonnage has been 

 scrapped or sold ' to foreigners. 



The price of new construction during the 

 last twelve months has advanced from about 

 thirty dollars to sometimes as much as forty 

 dollars per ton and still the demand shows 

 no signs of slackening. The general pros- 

 perity, however, is by no means confined 

 to the shipbuilding and freight-carrying trade. 

 The great passenger companies, although of 

 course in a more modified degree, have en- 

 joyed a very fair share. Few boats carrying 

 cargo to any port either on the Atlantic or 

 the Pacific are now returning to this coun- 

 try in ballast. Their charters run well ahead 

 and at every port they touch there is plenty 

 of cargo awaiting them. 



The activity displayed in shipbuilding ma- 

 teria! still continues, and the call from pack- 

 ing case makers is brisk. Supplies are being 

 chiefly drawn from imports of Riga spruce. 

 Furniture woods are in moderate request, 

 but the high prices for material make busi- 

 ness difficult. 



DETROIT 



There has been little or no change in trade 

 conditions in the Detroit hardwood market dur- 

 ing the past two weeks. A fairly good volume 

 of business is reported by the wholesalers and 

 retailers, with plain oak scarce and In great de- 

 mand. Prices on this wood have advanced. 

 There has also been a good demand for maple 

 and birch with a plentiful supply on hand. Pop- 

 lar has also been in demand, while many good 

 orders for white ash and mahogany have been 

 filled. The flooring mills report increased orders 

 and inquiries, and are running overtime to keep 

 up to the demand. The box and veneer trade 

 shews a good volume of business. 



