HARDWOOD RECORD 



fans must be taken into eonsitleration. In 

 fact they are cut and sawed into at various 

 ilepths and angles and chopped and skelped 

 by the adz and broad ax until they have no 

 resemblance whatever to logs, and but little 

 to hewn timbers. Some of these logs looked 

 as though they had beeu hewn recently, and 

 it seems strange that this ancient way of cut- 

 ting mahogany should bo persisted in to this 

 late day. It must have originated at a time 

 when ships were smaller and their storage 

 capacity much more limited than now, and 

 freight rates correspondingly higher. On tlie 

 other hand mahogany was then less in demand 

 and more plentiful than now. 



For these rea-sous it became customary to 

 cut away every pouiul of surplus wood and 

 square up the logs so as to more completely 

 fill the space in a vessel. Such a policy may 

 have been a practical one then, but is a 



dift'erent proposition now. What was economy 

 then is wilful waste today and has been con- 

 tinued much too long. Old conditions are out- 

 grown and new and more economical methods 

 should be adopted in cutting mahogany, such 

 as are being followed in the cutting of other 

 precious woods. The mahogany and cedar 

 of the south countries will soon become as 

 scarce as the oak and walnut of the North. 

 Lumbermen should favor rigid economy in 

 cutting, as a means of prolonging the needed 

 supply of mahogany, which is already scarce, 

 save in remote and almost inaccessible regions 

 from which it is expensive to bring it out to 

 the markets of the world. The American plan 

 of handling the logs in the round is a good 

 one, and the bark is worth its transportation 

 as a protei-tion to the log. 



J. V. Hamilton. 



Conditions in the Veneer Trade. 



lu response to inquiries concerning the 

 condition of the veneer trade addressed to 

 manufacturers in all parts of the United 

 States, the Hardwood Record has received 

 numerous responses. Excerpts from these 

 letters are printed below. A very good idea 

 of the conditions prevailing in the industry 

 may be gained from a perusal of them. On 

 the whole the outlook is much brighter than 

 it ever has been in this line of production. 



From Michigan Manufacturers. 

 While .]iily anil Ausiisl \\t'v<- -.i little quiet, 

 they were about the same as last year, and we 

 heli'eve the entire year will balance up consid- 

 erably better than "lOUCi. The cost of material, 

 logs, "labor, etc., is constantly increasing. 



We have heard quite a little complaint rela- 

 tive to a let-up of business, but have not noticed 

 it ourselves. We are very busy and. orders seem 

 to be coming along quite freely. Our trade for 

 .(uly and August was ranch better than the 

 sauie months fast year. Our trade has been bet- 

 ter this year than last, and more satisfactory in 

 I'very way. We have no reason to think the 

 outlook for fall business is anything but good. 

 Our logs are costing us considerably more com- 

 pared with former years, and our manufactured 

 product is bringing us a little bit more, but not 

 enough to offset tbe difference in the price of 

 logs. 



Eeports from North Carolina. 



We And the market duller than last year, 

 l-'iirniture men are not buying as much as they 

 did last year and are disposed to figure closer, 

 ll.iwever.'we bave plenty of orders and are run- 

 ning full time but selling our stock at a closer 

 nuuKiu than last year. The trade in .Tuly and 

 .Vugiist tills .year was not nearly so good as last. 

 The outlook tor fall business is very good in- 

 deed, but we find collections very slow and are 

 forced to sell on long time. We are not paying 

 quite as much for logs as last year. There is an 

 abundance on the market at present, but the 

 .(iiality is getting poorer all the time. 



We will sav that our trade for July and Au- 

 gust was better by twenty per cent than the 

 same months of last year, and we had more 

 , orders booked for September than for last Sep- 

 tember, and anticipate more business this fall 

 than we have ever had. Our only trouble is that 

 money matters seem to be a little tight ; our 

 people are not meeting their bills as promptly 

 as in the past and we are asked to take more 

 notes at thirty, sixty and ninety days than be- 

 fore. However, we believe this will pass and 

 money get easy after a bit. As to cost of ma- 

 terial, all we can sav is that it has advanced 

 steadily with us, but not rapidly, and so far we 

 have been able to advance our manufactured 

 stuff fully as much a.s tbe advance on logs. 

 We are making a better profit on what we sell 

 tban %ve did three or four years ago. when we 

 got logs very cheap and sold our stock the same 

 way. Summing up the whole matter, will say 

 we' are doing well and have no complaint to 

 offer or suggestions, except that manufacturers 

 should stand together and not allow a little lull 

 in business cause us to cut prices. 



There has been some falling olf in the quan- 

 tity of veneers used by the furniture factories 

 in this state, especiall.v in some parts, for the 

 past three months. Oiu' shipments tor .July and 

 August are at least twenty per cent ahead of 

 last year for the same time. We do not consider 

 the cnitlook for fall business as good as last 

 year, but believe it will be fair, healthy busi- 

 ness. We think it will be ditticult to advance 

 or even maintain prices, on account of some 

 little dulness and overproduction of some classes 

 of stock. Logs and labor are both higher, but 

 the furniture people seem to think that because 

 lumber has been off a little, veneers should be 

 likewise, wliile everything is tending the other 

 way. We would rather store part of our. output 

 than ti> accept lower prices. 



From Kentucky. 



Our business dropped off very materially in 

 .July and .\ugust. but general indications point 

 to a good fall business, so would not be sur- 

 lu'ised to sec veneers pick up also. The cost of 

 logs is fully as high as ever, timber is harder 

 to secure, being located in very undesirahle 

 places to log. so handling expenses are greater. 

 Labor does not seem to be any cheaper, although 

 a little easier to secure. 



There has been little or no falling off in our 

 business. There was a perceptible decrease in 

 orders commencing in June, but having on file 

 a considerable number which have kept us bus.v. 

 we have not felt any loss in volume. Our busi- 

 ness for July and August exceeded that of 1906, 

 aiul unless "there should be a sudden slump we 

 anticipate that the fall business will exceed that 

 of last .year. The cost ot logs and manufactured 

 material is very considerably increased over 

 190B. Logs have advanced rapidly. We are 

 paying from twenty to thirty-three per cent 

 more for any sort of domestic timber this year 

 than we did last. The absolute necessity of 

 advance in finished product is therefore appar- 

 ent, and we doubt that hut for association work 

 this advance could have beeu obtained. 



The Status In Indiana. 



Trade during the months of July and August 

 was the dullest we have experienced in our more 

 than seven years of veneer business. The out- 

 look for fall business is reasonably good, more 

 inquiries coming in the early part ot September 

 than for the two preceding months. We are not 

 paving as much for logs by ten per cent as we 

 did four months ago, and there are more being 

 offered than at any time in three years. We 

 think personally that there is an overproduction 

 of veneers and if we maintain prices there should 

 be united effort to curtail production. To the 

 writer's knowledge there are several veneer 

 manufacturers' warerooms that are practically 

 filled with veneers, and it will not be long until 

 some ot them get "cold feet" and put it on the 

 market, regardless of price. 



Some branches of the furniture trade are 

 slower than usual, but July and August gener- 

 ally were fairly good and the outlook satisfac- 

 tory, although prices are higher. 



Our experience with the furniture trade is 

 that there is a general easing up of business ; 

 this is not a panicky feeling : simply a con- 

 servative move on the part of a few of the 

 manufacturers. We think that with good crops 

 this will not last long. Tbe outlook for fall 



business is very good. We have orders booked 

 for seven cars and this will carry us well iuto 

 the tall. Kegarding cost ot logs, will say It 

 has increased ciuisiderably. We are now paying 

 from .fo to Iflu mure for logs than at any time 

 previous. Not only are we paying more money 

 for logs, liut their grade is deteriorating. With 

 us it is not a iiuestion of finding a market for 

 our goods, but it is the more serious question 

 of paving the price we are compelled to tor an 

 inferior grade of stock. The outcome ot receiv- 

 ing this kind of logs is that we are manufactur- 

 ing a lower grade of veneers. In other words, 

 both our raw materials and our finished product 

 have deteriorated to such an extent that it is 

 almost impossible to cut a high grade of stock. 

 Still. Willi Ibis serious condition confronting us, 

 the manufacturers over the country are cutting 

 prices wherever thi'y have accumulated a little 

 .surplus stock. I'ripbably in years to come, when 

 it is too late, they will see the folly of their 

 ways and try to nieud them. Too many veneer 

 manutacturei's seem to be afraid of neighbors 

 and have no faith in mankind. 



There was some falling off of business, though 

 not any more than we would expect, during July 

 and -August. We see nothing to interfere with 

 its being good all through the fall. We are 

 having considerable imjuiries for stctck and mak- 

 ing some sales at Advanced prices. Logs are 

 fully ten per cent higher than at this time last 

 year. There are very few good logs offered and 

 'what few there are arc bought at high prices. 



In quartered oak veneer there seems to have 

 been some falling off in business. Our custom- 

 ers are still loyal to us, but they are buying in 

 smaller quantities than at this time last year. 

 The outlook for fall business is fairly good and 

 orders are coming in, indicating that we will 

 have a pretty good season. The cost of both 

 logs and mamifacturers' material is considerably 

 higher than it has ever been. 



July and August compared favorably with 

 last year's business, although we are inclined to 

 note a slight difference. There are not quite the 

 active demands for veneer and lumber that there 

 were a year ago. although our sales are prac- 

 tically the same. We anticipate a good. fair. 

 sfead"y fall business. There is a shrinkage in 

 the valuations of a few of the staple articles, 

 but not enough to aft'ect the general results very 

 much. The logs have cost entirely too much 

 the last six months. W'e are inclined to be- 

 lieve thev will not be of a greater value this 

 coming fall and winter, as we are offered logs 

 and timber quite freely. We are also inclined 

 to think that labor has reached the highest 

 point for the next year or two. 



Ne'w York's Attitude. 



While there has been a falling off in the trade 

 for the last two or three months, it is nothmg 

 to cause agitation or worry. It probably ap- 

 pears to be a heavier falling off than usually 

 takes place in summer, by reason of the fact 

 that so much business was done last winter that 

 in comparison the summer months suffer, but 

 by comparison ^Yitb last year we find we are still 

 ahead of July and .\ugust of 1000. We have 

 had considerable conversation with the trade in 

 oeneral during the last two or three weeks, and 

 the lull in business has been accepted more as 

 a ,1oke and an opportunity for a vacation, as 

 everyone feels there will be ample business this 

 fall "and winter to satisfy everyone : while the 

 volume may be a little reduced under last year, 

 vet the amount of business accomplished will 

 lie very interesting. In the mahogany line, 

 from present indications, trade will be active, 

 with a scarcity of logs. 



There is a falling off in business over last 

 season to a certain extent, but our sales for the 

 months of July and .\ugust are about the same 

 as last year. At the present time we have 

 orders on our books for all we can possibly turn 

 out during the coming fall. Our logs m raw 

 material are costing considerably more than 

 thev ever did before, but with very few excep- 

 tions we are getting a considerably higher price 

 for our stock than wc were even three months 

 a"o It seems to us that, all things considered, 

 this fall's business should be as good as any 

 we ever had. 



We have had a very good season, have no 

 complaint to make, and believe that instead of 

 trade diminishing it will increase from this 

 time on. 



There is a noticeable falling off in the amount 

 of orders we are getting over any other two 

 months since we can remember, ^e think this 

 is on account of the dull trade in the furniture 

 line We did not get nearly as many orders as 

 during the months of July and August, 190P, 

 We think the outlook for fall business is not 

 what it should be. As to prices of logs, glue, 

 etc. they are higher than ever before. 



We found it rather dull through the latter 

 part of July and up to about the 25th of August, 

 but it has begun to mend and trade is good at 

 the present time. We have made great prepara- 

 tions and are looking for a large amount of fall 

 husiness. We find that the cost of logs has ma- 



