58 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



head, Kj'., which was forced into banlvi-uptcy 

 several months ago. The Cranor-Smith Company 

 holds the largest claim. J22.000. and will prob- 

 ably gain possession of all of the Winton Com- 

 pany's holdings. 



Minneapolis. 



F. M. Bartelme. who for some years has rep- 

 resented Tpham & .\gler of Chicago, has located 

 in Minneapolis and opened an office on his own 

 account. He will do a wholesale business in 

 hardwood lumber, with headquarters at 430 An- 

 drus building. Mr. Bartelme has made frequent 

 visits to Minneapolis and is well known to the 

 trade in the Northwest. 



O. O. Agler of Upham & Agler was up from 

 Chicago a few days ago, getting a line on 

 conditions in the Northwest. 



E. Payson Smith of the Payson Smith Lumber 

 Company is out on a short trip to Mississippi 

 river towns. A. S. Bliss of the same company 

 reports an e.fcellent demand for hardwoods. 

 Birch uppers are being sold for finish in remote 

 sections, paying as high as a forty cent rate 

 from Wisconsin, and cull birch is meeting 

 with an active demand. Oak is scarce and the 

 southern mills are so flooded that it is hard to 

 get any shipments through. From all accounts 

 the stocks of dry oak in the south are light, as 

 the winter has been unfavorable for logging. 



C. F. Osborne of Osborne & Clark says the 

 trade with retail yards is beginning to drop off 

 seasonably, but as dry stocks are very light it 

 is a good thing. There is no sixteen-foot oak 

 left. The factory trade seems fairly well 

 stocked and is only taking hardwood in small 

 quantities to tide over till the new cut is dry. 

 Mill cull birch seems to be out of the market, 

 a test having failed to locate any. There is 

 still some shipping cull stock, but it is being 

 taken for flooring. Basswood culls are being 

 sold ahead to box manufacturers at advanced 

 prices. 



J. T. Wyman of Smith & Wyman. the local 

 sash and door manufacturers, is back from an 

 extended pleasure trip, extending over part of 

 the south and as far west as Denver. 



The record of building permits shows a fall- 

 ing off in activity in this city. In April there 

 were 644 permits issued with an estimated total 

 cost of $893,090. The same month last year 

 there were 670 permits, with a total cost of 

 .$1,. "■72. 625. The total value of permits issued 

 in four months this year is $2,629,27.5. The 

 total for the same months last year was 

 .f3,07.5,260. 



The John C. Hill Lumber Company of St. 

 Paul has been made northwestern agent for the 

 I'ullerton-Powell Hardwood Lumber Company of 

 South Bend, Ind. 



Hardwood Market. 



(By HABDWOOD BECOBD 



Chicago. 

 There are no startling features to report in 

 market conditions during the last two weeks. 

 While new sales are not crowding dealers there 

 is an insistent demand from buyers to have old 

 orders filled. Oak and poplar are the strongest 

 items in southern woods and there seems to be 

 an increased call for birch, maple and bass- 

 wood. The local situation is entirely healthy 

 and a good season's business may be safely pre- 

 dicted. 



Boston. 



Hardwoods have continued to show strength 

 during the past two weeks. Furniture manufac- 

 turers are busy. A representative of one of the 

 leading eastern desk concerns stated recently 

 that his company had orders enough on hand to 

 keep its plant busy well into the fall. Manu- 

 facturers of interior finish are all busy, and new 

 business is coming in freely. Fair stocks of 

 hardwoods are found in the local yards in most 

 instances. Dealers state that advices from mill 

 centers show that dry lumber of almost every 

 kind is in small offering. 



Plain oak is very firmly held and offerings are 

 not large. Quartered oak is moving much better 

 than it did, and higher prices are being paid. 

 Brown ash moves in a fair way and prices are 

 strongly maintained. White ash is also very 

 Arm. Maple flooring is in good demand, many 

 buyers have fair stocks now and prices tend up- 

 wards. Native chestnut is in small offering. 



The high prices demanded for cypress have 

 checked the demand to a large extent. White- 

 wood sells fairly well. Many are buying this to 

 be used as a substitute for cypress. 



The export demand has ruled rather quiet of 

 late. Exporters do not look for a material in- 

 crease, as foreign buyers consider prices here 

 too high. 



Exclusive Market Beporters.) 



held strongly on a high price level. One large 

 buyer who recently returned from Memphis and 

 the Southwest reviews the manufacturing end as 

 very independent with manufacturers getting 

 prices f. o. b. mill points for plain oak and 

 other desirable stock for shipment to Mexico, 

 the Pacilic Coast and Middle West, at such a 

 high level as to make it impossible for eastern 

 buyers to purchase stock and pay freight east 

 and be able to realize an adequate profit. Under 

 these condition it is hard picking for east- 

 ern buyers at mill points and they are 

 realizing that it is necessary to not only buy at 

 Ihe market, but pay what is asked, if they are 

 going to have their usual qui.ta of stock for the 

 summer trade. 



Stocks in the local market in the hands of 

 both buyers and manufacturers are only nomi- 

 nal. The high grades of poplar are scarce in 

 the face of a good call ; birch is also very active 

 and all offerings of dry stock are quickly ab- 

 sorbed. There is practically no birch veneer to 

 be bad in the district. Ash is also in big de- 

 mand, with all offerings of stock quickly ab- 

 sorbed. In chestnut it is very hard to get any- 

 thing in the betler grades, although there is 

 plenty of sound wormy and the lower grades. 

 Maple is only fair and there seems to be ample 

 stock for current wants. Quartered oak has 

 improved considerably of late, but there is no 

 scarcity of available stocks. Dimension oak and 

 particularly car and ship stock, is exceedingly 

 active in demand and orders hard to All. Beech 

 and red gum are being utilized more and more 

 and beech flooring seems to be taking on a 

 newness of life and to be entering increasingly 

 into factory work. Basswood is holding its own 

 and prices are on a level today which should 

 attract buyers. 



Ne'w York. 



Conditions in the local hardwood market are 

 very satisfactory. The demand is brisk for a 

 majority of the list, the only weak items being 

 lew-grade poplar and maple. The prospects for 

 a very satisfactory trade throughout the year, 

 with good prices, are generally bright. Reports 

 from producing points indicate that the better 

 grades in all the principal hardwoods are going 

 to be limited this year and will consequently be 



Philadelphia. 



The local market is e.xcellent and all woods 

 are holding up well, although there has been 

 no decided advance in price. The trade is a 

 unit in declaring that there is no weakness man- 

 ifest in any direction, and that it is much 

 easier to sell than to get lumber. The mills 

 are demanding higher prices for their stocks, 

 and this, together with the shortage in local 

 yards, and the demands of the retailers, has 

 succeeded in keeping the market up to the high 

 level of recent weeks. Manufacturers of furni- 



ture still continue to send in large orders, and 

 some wholesalers are inclined to believe that 

 there will be a further advance in the price of 

 the popular woods. 



Considerable quantities of maple were handled 

 during the last fortnight and quite a number of 

 cars of basswood sold, the sales in this latter 

 wood aggregating a higher average than for 

 some weeks past. Red and white oak is also 

 in good condition and there has been, as usual, 

 a big demand for sound wormy chestnut, but 

 no advance in price. The demand for oak gen- 

 erally has been greater than for some time, and 

 there has been a slight advance in the price of 

 this wood. Some dealers report that they are 

 handling more ash than ever before, there hav- 

 ing been an especially good demand for this 

 lumber in high grades, common or better, and 

 especially thick ash. The active trading has 

 slightly increased its price. Poplar is holding 

 well in high grades, the scarcity of stock being 

 still felt. The demand for oak and maple floor- 

 ing is good, the dealers being able to get the 

 full list price without difficulty. 



Baltimore. 



All the hardwoods continue to be in excellent 

 shape, with consumers eager after stocks and 

 dealers competing actively at the mills for sup- 

 plies. Quotations rule higli for all the hard- 

 woods in general use. Good dry oak is. of 

 course, in the lead. The demand from car build- 

 ers is most urgent, and as the.y pay high prices 

 and are liberal in their requirements, their busi- 

 ness is eagerly sought. Ash is also moving 

 freely, with walnut, chestnut and other woods 

 in excellent request. 



The poplar situation has lost none of its 

 strength, stocks being in brisk demand and 

 manufacturers having plenty of orders on hand. 

 Values continue to be remunerative, though they 

 do not reach the high figures at first decreed by 

 manufacturers. 



Tlie export business is hardly less active than 

 the domestic trade, large quantities of lumber 

 being shipped abroad. Persistent reports are in 

 circulation, however, that lumbermen are emu- 

 lating the example of other manufacturers and 

 sending their surplus out of the country to keep 

 up high prices here. It can be said, however, 

 that foreign consumers are becoming persuaded 

 by degrees that the prices here are not arbitrary, 

 and they are beginning to meet the terms of 

 shippers. There is some hesitancy, as is always 

 the case on a rising market, about placing con- 

 tracts for future delivery, but the business shows 

 marked improvement. 



Detroit. 



Market conditions show- no great change dur- 

 ing the fortnight, except that crating lumber of 

 all kinds is in very strong demand and at con- 

 siderably better prices than formerly. No. 3 

 common basswood is an especially good seller, 

 and the price runs as high as $18, in some cases. 



Most of the mills tributary to Detroit have 

 stopped cutting tiiick maple. They claim that 

 the depreciation in this material, because of 

 season checks, much more than offsets the extra 

 price received on account of the thickness. Prac- 

 tically all the mills on the Mackinac Division 

 of the Michigan Central are sawing 1-inch and 

 lii-inch exclusively. The product goes to the 

 maple flooring factories. It certainly looks as 

 if thick maple would be scarce and higher in 

 the near future. 



Local factories claim that southern shippers 

 are crowding the grade of their oak very hard, 

 and complaints on shipments are keeping asso- 

 ciation insi)ectors busy. 



Pittsburg. 



The demand for hardwoods in all grades and 

 of all kinds is extremely active. The only difB- 

 culty is to get stock to fill orders. Prospects 

 for a continuance of this activity are bright and 

 1006 bids fair to be a banner year for Pitts- 

 burg lumbermen. 



