28 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



by the sash and door trade on the upper Mis- 

 sissippi. He also finds good sale for it as 

 yard stock, in mixed cars with poplar, to the 

 retailers of the Northwest. 



Bert Trump, representing Thomas & Proetz 

 of St. Louis, was also here this week calling 

 on the trade, and at the same time came Ted 

 Jones of the G. W. Jones Lumber Company, 

 Appleton. Wis. L. K. Miller of Chicago and 

 Otto Meyer of the Bonsack Lumber Company. 

 St. Louis, have also been here recently. 



The building movement is lighter at most 

 northwestern points, including Minneapolis, 

 than it was last year. 



E. Payson Smith, Jr.. has returned from a 

 trip to down river points. George S. Agnew, 

 associated in the Payson Smith Lumber Com- 

 pany, is back from an extended stay in Mis- 

 sissippi, where he was looking after shipments 

 of stock contracted by the company. A. S. 

 Bliss says the company has been enjoying a 

 good business: sales for the five months of 

 1906 are equal to the entire year's business in 

 1905. 



F, M. Bartelme, formerly with tipham & 

 Agler, but who since March 1 has been in 

 the wholesale hardwood business here on his 

 own account, returned this week from an ex- 

 tended business trip among the Wisconsin 

 mills. He is handling a good line of northern 

 hardwood, and expects to take on some south- 

 ern stock a little later. 



W. H. Sill of the Minneapolis Lumber Com- 

 pany says his company is about cleaned out 

 of dry northern stock in oak and elm, except 

 a small stock left at the Ruby Lumber Com- 

 pany's mill at Ruby, but it is shipping new 

 basswood at good prices, and soon will have 

 some new birch on the market. The com- 

 pany has already contracted for the sale of 

 about two-thirds of its new stock. 



D. F. Clark of Osborne & Clark is back 

 from a business trip to Chicago and Mil- 

 waukee. This firm reports a rather light 

 demand for yard stock, but general conditions 

 in the trade satisfactory. 



White birch blocks for paving will be given 

 a test in Minneapolis, with the various soft 

 woods. The Forest .Service is conducting the 

 test on a Minneapolis city block, with the 

 aid of the city engineer. The other woods 

 being tested here are fir, larch and spruce 

 from the west coast, Norway pine, jack pine, 

 tamarack and hemlock. Southern woods are 

 to be given a similar test at Washington. 



Louisville. 



A new company has been organized in Louis- 

 ville for the purpose of manufacturing hard- 

 wood flooring — the Louisville Hardwood noor- 

 Ing Company. The company is capitalized at 

 $100,000, and the officers are: Chas. H. Stotz 

 of the Stotz Lumber Company, president; W. 

 R, Willett, vice president, and T. E. Blood, 

 secretary. Both Mr, Willett and Mr. Blood 

 are already associated with Mr. Stotz in the 

 lumber business. A tract of ground in south 

 Louisville, two or three blocks from the Stotz 

 Lumber Company's present yard, has been 

 purchased on which the new flooring plant 

 will be established, and to which the Louisville 

 lumber yards of the Stotz Lumber Company 

 will be moved. The Stotz Lumber Company, 

 in addition to its heavy volume of business in 

 hardwood lumber in the North and East, has 

 an excellent local trade in hardwood flooring, 

 which it thinks will probably take care of 60 

 per cent of the product of the new flooring 

 plant. The Louisville Hardwood Flooring 

 Company will make a specialty of oak and 

 beech flooring. The machinerj' equipment has 

 not yet been purchased, but it is to be the best 

 and most up-to-date from dry kiln to piling 

 shed. 



The Platter-Powell Company, which is a 

 branch of the North Vernon Pump & Lumber 

 Company. North Vernon, Ind,, operating a mill 

 in southwest Louisville, will add a hardwood 



flooring factory and planing mill to its plant 

 in the near future. The company is holding 

 back now until the city puts through a street 

 bordering the plot of seven acres of ground, 

 on which the factory will be located. 



The mills on the Point are running steadily, 

 the only complaint being that labor is scarce 

 and they can't get enough hands to keep 

 things moving as they would like. 



Mr. Overstreet of the Southern Lumber Com- 

 pany says what has worried him most this 

 year has been the inability to get lumber 

 hauled to the railroads from country mills. 

 He says he has grown tired of making excuses 



to customers for delayed shipments when he 

 has had the stock at the mills ready to ship, 

 but has been handicapped by lack of teams to 

 move it. Conditions are improving, however, 

 and from this time on there will not be much 

 trouble in getting teams enough to do all the 

 hauling wanted. Mr. Overstreet says this ex- 

 perience is enough, however, to cure him of 

 selling stock and promising shipment at a 

 specified time without first getting the stock 

 piled on the railroad. He says the demand 

 is good for both poplar and oak, and he finds 

 no trouble at all in disposing of all he can 

 get to market. 



Hardwood Market. 



(By HABCWOOD BECOBD Exclusive Market Beporters.) 



Chicago. 



Inquiries among the local jobbing trade re- 

 veal some peculiar features. Holders of dry 

 stocks of oak, gum, poplar and other southern 

 woods are having an excellent trade. In fact, 

 some dealers report having made the best 

 business record of their history during the 

 last month. Other dealers who have not been 

 thus fortunate in owning good stocks of the 

 classes of woods named complain that trade 

 is dull with them. 



Inquiry among the furniture, house finish, 

 flooring and other manufacturers consuming 

 a large quantity of hardwoods demonstrates 

 that generally they have taken pretty good 

 care of themselves and are in possession of 

 fair stocks. There has been a little spurt in 

 the demand for basswood during the past fort- 

 night, but generally speaking the trade in 

 other northern woods, such as maple, birch 

 and gray elm, has been only moderate. Black 

 ash and rock elm are in extraordinary request 

 and approximate in demand even the best of 

 the southern woods. The trade feels opti- 

 mistic over the sitilation, and thinks there is 

 prospect of an excellent business all through 

 the season. 



Boston. 



strength prevails in the demand for hard- 

 woods, but taking the market as a whole it is 

 not active. In some branches, however, there 

 is a fair demand. Furniture manufacturers 

 have a fair amount of orders ahead and are 

 nearly all in the market for small lots. Some 

 of the local manufacturers are having labor 

 troubles, but it does not keep them from plac- 

 ing orders for lumber. Desk manufacturers 

 continue busy. Nearly all have a fair stock of 

 lumber on hand and bought to arrive, but 

 wholesalers report new orders. The export 

 demand has not ruled active of late, although 

 there is a little more inquiry than there was. 

 Exporters state that If prices were lower 

 a much larger business could be done. 



The yards are very well stocked. A very 

 good inquiry continues for plain oak. No 

 weakness is found in quartered oak, although 

 the demand is not active at present. Elm has 

 not been attracting a great deal of attention 

 of late. Black walnut moves in a fair way 

 without any change in prices. Offerings are 

 not large. The usual call for mahogany is re- 

 ported. 



The demand for maple flooring is moderately 

 active and prices hold steady. Whitewood is 

 firmer and the demand fair. Dry stock is in 

 small offering, but larger blocks are expected 

 in about a month. 



Cypress is in larger offering, with prices 

 unchanged. 



New York. 



At this writing there is no question but 

 that the buying activity in the hardwood trade 

 of New York and vicinity is considerably less 

 than at this season last year, but after a care- 



ful consideration of conditions it may be said 

 that there is not the slightest warrant for 

 any foreboding. There is not a lumber yard 

 or a woodworking establishment, except per- 

 haps piano manufacturers and a few others 

 with whom this is always a dull season, which 

 is not running actively, with prospects excel- 

 lent for the balance of the year. And they 

 are not buying freely simply because so many 

 were caught short of lumber last spring and 

 summer that this year they did their buying 

 early and supplied their wants in January, 

 February and March, instead of waiting until 

 later in the season. It is generally conceded 

 that within thirty to sixty days, or just as 

 soon as the dealers unload sufficiently, buying 

 will be resumed along normal lines. 



In the meantime there is nothing for the 

 manufacturer and wholesaler to do but wait. 

 Lumber has moved so freely in the hands of 

 manufacturers and wholesalers during the 

 past few years that they are apt to jump at 

 conclusions relative to market conditions too 

 quickly and endeavor to make concessions 

 here and there to keep up the pace of recent 

 years, but if they properly judge conditions at 

 buying end of line, they will wisely wait. 



In plain oak, ash, chestnut and birch there 

 is no surplus stock in the better grades. Pur- 

 chases are sufficiently free to absorb the of- 

 ferings and maintain prices, but any in- 

 crease in demand would immediately force a 

 shortage and put up prices. Every buyer who 

 orders "wants it quick," which indicates ac- 

 tual conditions of supply and also the futility 

 of concession as a means to trade. Quartered 

 oak and maple are slow, and basswood only 

 fair. The hardwood flooring trade is enjoying 

 very fair activity. Poplar is easily holding its 

 own, both in price and demand. 



Philadelphia. 



The local market continues good with fair 

 trade, although the demand experienced lately 

 has not been unusual. In fact, at this sea- 

 son of the year, local dealers expect a slight 

 falling off, preparatory to the increasing vol- 

 ume of summer business. The past Spring 

 has been a good one in lumber circles here- 

 abouts, furniture trade and building activity 

 having been suflicient to keep the dealers 

 busy. Yard sales are good. Shipments to 

 local points have been rather hea'vj' during 

 the last fortnight. One of the big local con- 

 cerns found thdt every storage yard on the 

 B. & O. was filled, with a practically similar 

 condition prevailing on the Reading line. 



The better grades of poplar have stif- 

 fened lately and this is the case with all 

 woods. The consensus of opinion among the 

 trade is that if any change at all is impend- 

 ing it will be advance. Several firms declare 

 now that prices are better today than for a 

 long time heretofore. Cypress is steady, with 

 a considerable quantity still coming into the 

 market. Quartered white oak is strong and 

 chestnut is very good. Basswood is doing 



