flaMwoi RecoM 



Published In the Interest of Hardwood Lumber. American Hardwood Forests, Wood Veneer Industry, Hardwood Floorinc, 

 Hardwood Interior Finish, Wood Chemicals, Saw Mill and Woodworking Machinery. 



Vol. XXIV. 



CHICAGO. SEPTEMBER 10. 1907. 



No. 10. 



.IBKA 



NEW Yi 

 JtOTAM 



PublisKed on the 10th and 25th of each month by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



HENRY H. GIBSON. Ediior. EDGAR H. DEFEBAUGH. M«D.,cr. 



7th Floor, Ellsworth BIdg., 355 Dearborn St., Chicago, III., U.S.A. 



Telephone Harrison 4960 



Eastero Office: 319 Land Title Building, Philadelphia. Jacob Hollzman, Reprfsentative. 



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

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Advertising copy mvjst be received five da^ys irv ak.dvab.r\ce of 

 publication da.te. Advertising rates on application. 



ANNUAL WISCONSIN HAKBWOOD ASSOCIATION. 



The twelfth annual meeting of the Wisconsin Hardwood 

 Lumhermen's Association will be held at Marshfield, Tues- 

 day, September 17. It will be called to order at 2 p. m. A 

 full attendance is very essential to the hardwood lumber 

 interests of the state, and it is hoped that every member will 

 be present. A. E. BEEBEE, Secy. & Treas. 



MEETING OF HANDLE MANUFACTUREES. 



Agreeable to the request of several leading handle manu- 

 facturers of the United States, and in accord with the ap- 

 proval of upward of a hundred other manufacturers, a meet- 

 ing of these interests, including all the various lines of 

 handle production, is hereby called, to convene at 10 a. m., 

 Tuesday, October 8, at the Great Northern Hotel, Chicago. 

 The purposes of this meeting are fully outlined in an edito- 

 rial on this page. _ HENRY H. GIBSON, 



Editor Hardwood Record. 



General Market Conditions. 



Say what you will the hardwood trade the eouutry over during 

 the last two months has not been entirely satisfactory. It has bofn 

 decidedly spotted. While the volume in some localities has been fair, 

 in many sections quiet has reigned. During the last two weeks thert 

 has been considerable renaissance in demand and prices have mate- 

 rially strengthened. The trade of the last two years has been com- 

 ing to manufacturers so easily that the situation of the last two 

 months, which was only natural, owing to a comparatively tight 

 money market and the prevalence of tlie summer season, has devel- 

 oped quite a stampede among some weak-kneed operators, with thi; 

 result that considerable price cutting prevailed. With a recurrence 

 of reasonable demand this feature of the trade has apparently ceased. 



The general price situation in hardwoods should be very strong 

 and is reasonably so. The chief features w'hich tend to this end are 

 the facts that stocks are very short, with no surplus in any variety, 

 and that there is every prospect of an excellent tall trade in hard- 

 wood manufactured products. 



The oncoming ear shortage is also another feature that will 

 strengthen market values. While loanable funds at banks are not in 

 surplus, there is sufficient money to be had at reasonable interest rates 



for all legitimate business enterprises. Again the excellent crop situa- 

 tion will tend to increased demand in all lines of trade and hardwoods 

 will enjoy their full share of this increase. 



Injury to American Trade. 



The United States consul at Birmingham, England, makes some 

 pertinent comments on the handling of foreign trade by American 

 manufacturers that are well worth heeding. The criticism is on the 

 disposition of many manufacturers in this country to accept foreign 

 orders for lumber, machinery and other commodities when they know 

 that the excess of domestic business will make it impossible to fill the 

 foreign orders within the agreed time. Not only is the disappointed 

 foreign customer so inconvenienced and angered by such treatment 

 that he denounces everything American and determines to buy noth- 

 ing from the United States that he can possibly avoid, but he relates 

 his experience to business friends and thus American commercial 

 reputation is seriously injured. The books of one large importer of 

 machinery recently showed orders sent in by cable for immediate 

 delivery which were still outstanding at the end of from four to 

 eighteen months. It would be far better if American business men 

 would decline foreign orders than to accept them unless they can 

 deliver the goods promptly. 



In commenting along these same lines the consul at Antwerp, 

 Belgium, writes that although our representatives do all they can 

 to further the interests of American trade, many complaints come 

 in to them regarding the methods adopted by our merchants while 

 seeking to popularize their line of merchandise. Many houses, for 

 instance, demand either a deposit with order or cash against docu- 

 ments, even when their goods are unknown and untried. Of eour.se 

 it stands to reason that no careful buyer is willing to purchase goods 

 under such conditions, nor should manufacturers expect a favorable 

 market when they make unreasonable demands. The buyer naturally 

 reasons that an American manufacturer who is desirous of reaching 

 an entirely new class of trade should be willing to risk something 

 in the venture and let results take care of themselves, assuming that 

 if he does not he displays lack of good will and little confidence in 

 his own goods, and that they may therefore be regarded with well- 

 grounded suspicion. 



While this may not necessarily be so, nevertheless it prejudices 

 buyers from the start, so that what might otherwise be a pleasant 

 and mutually jjrofitable arrangement becomes a source of contention 

 and is often entirely called oS. 



Timber Lands as Investments. 



An enthusiastic but ill-informed editorial writer in the Chicago 

 Journal advises all young men to invest their savings in timberlands. 

 Ho avers that money can be used in no other way with greater and 

 surer hope of rich reward. He says that the time will come when 

 the tariflf on lumber will be lifted and the man who then owns a 

 lot of American timber land will be rich and that nothing is ad- 

 vancing so fast in price, and the forests will not have time to pro- 

 duce a new growth before the present available timber supply is gone. 

 He states that it does not matter what kind of timber one buys, as 

 he is sure to make money out of the investment! In ten years it 



