flaMwoM RociJM 



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

 Hardwood Interior Finish, Wood Cheraicals, Saw Mill and WoodworKing Machinery. 



Vol. XXII. 



CHICAGO. OCTOBER 10. 1906. 



No. 12. 



Publislied un the lOlll and 25lh of pacli miiTldl hv 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry H. Gibson, President 



Frank W. TUTTLE. Sec-Treas. 



OFFICES 



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Telephones: Harrison 4960 Automatic 5659 



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COMING HARDWOOD ASSOCIATION MEETINGS 

 National Hardwood Lumber Association 



A semi-annual meeting of this association will be held 

 at Hotel Havlin, Cincinnati, on Thursday and Friday, 

 October 25 and 26. 



Michigan Hardwood Manufacturers' Association 



An important meeting of this assoc tion will be 

 held at the Park Place Hotel, Traverse City, Mich., 

 commencing at 10 a. m. on Wednesday, October 31. 



General Market Conditions. 



All analysis irf tlie hardwood market coiulilioiis iin-vailiiiK in all 

 tlif liavihvood consuming centers nf tl'c country rcxM-als tliat tlir 

 general demand is strong, with prices firm. The neathi r conditions 

 prevailing in the South during the last two weeks, wliich liave varied 

 from a heavy rainfall to a hurricane, liave jiractieally shut off hinilicr 

 production over a' large area of hardwood territory. Condi tiotis in 

 northern hanhv.iod production and demand icinaiii aljout nurinal. 



The Editor of the H.vrdwood Recokd has just returned from a 

 month's cruise in the hardwood [iroducing sections of Pennsylvania, 

 West Virginia, Virginia, western Kentucky, western Tennessee, east- 

 ern Korth t'aroliua and northern South Carolina, and has paid especial 

 attention to the" condition of stocks in tlie hamls (if producers in 

 the various sections named. 



There never has been a time in the histoiy nf the linnlwdDd industry 

 when there was such a manifest shortage in all of the staiulard liard- 

 woods in those sections as there is at the jn-esiMif tinn-. In the great 

 trammed yard <if the Burt & Brabb Lumber Coniiiany at Ford, Ky.. 

 there are acres of bare foundations and the stock of poplar is of the 

 most meager description. The same condition jirevails in the yards 

 of the Swann-Day LumlM>r Company at Clay City, Ky., in the several 

 yards at Coal Grove^ Ashland and Ircjulmi, and in the entiri' lumber 

 producing section of the Appalachian range, which nnlurally at this 

 lime of the year would show many millions of feet of pophir, oak and 



chest nul. In stock unsold there apjii-ars to Ite but a paucity of lum 

 iiri- in I'ilc, ami even . n large proportion ' of these suuill stocks is 

 iiLirkcd up as having I)een sohl. 



K'e|HOls coming from Nashville, Cairo, Memjihis and scnithwestern 

 (listriits |irodncing oak. Cottonwood and gum would imlicato about 



I lie sMiiii ndition of all'airs prevailing in that region. Huyers can 



tlieiid'ore be assui'cd that lliere is no possible chance of an overstock 

 of any varii'ty of liai-dwoo<ls for the i-i'maindci- of this yi'ar, and can 

 make their piin-hascs with the assurance that the (hanaud is alreaily 

 in e\ci'ss of supply and \vith cM'ry i iidical inn thai \alues will 

 streiiHlhi'ii as the year ad\aii<-es. 



A Heart to Heart Talk by the Editor. 



Ni'arly all the sharjis of the bunlier press liavc> had Iheii- say on 

 hardwood inspection. To be s\U'e they do not know nuu-h ahoiit the 

 subject, but tlien it is an interesting topic. While 1 spent a gooil 

 many years of my life with a board rule in one hainl and a marking 

 stick in the other, T am not sure that 1 know very much more than 

 sonu' other people about the just way to grade hardwoods. However, 

 1 feel constrained to discuss the subject. 



.V coujile of years ago Billy Bennett, who is the nuist geuercnis man 

 in the world — with advice — told me how to run a lumber news|iaper. 

 ' ' Trimarily, " he said, "let associations alone. Let inspection 

 systems alone — entirely alone. The whole scheme doesn't amcnnit to 

 much anyhow. You go ahead and attend to your ow'u business. Sjiend 

 mighty little money on your paper — get profit out of it.'' Up to 

 date 1 have ]n-etty nearly followed Bennett's advice, save that I 

 liave spent a lot of money on my newspaper and have not made much 

 money out of it. 



I have a letter from an esteemed friend at Detroit, who is insistent 

 upon knowing how manufacturers of hardwood lumber can benefit 

 consumers. The answer to this inquiry gets me deep into the in- 

 spection problem.. The inquiry, which is undeniably made in gooil 

 faith, is from a man who has s|:ient his lifetime in nianufactnriug 

 and jobbing liimlier. lie is a mighty clean man commercially and 

 if lie ever shipped a "salted" carload of lumber 1 never heard of it — 

 but more about his letter later. 



T -was talking with a small furniture manufacluriu- in Chicago a 

 fiMv days ago and asked him what he was paying for oak. He 

 told me that ho was buying firsts and seconds delivered at his factory 

 at $4'_: a thousand. 



" ^'(nl .an' not buying straight firsts and seconds at that in'iee, are 

 you?' ' 



"1 certainly am, and I know the yrade is right liecause T in- 

 spected the lumber myself.'' 



1 hioki'd over the shipment carefully. The stock did not show 

 Iwenty-five per cent of firsts and seconds by any standard of grading 

 in use. 



The man was paying fully five dollars more a thon.sand than if he 

 had bought the relative proportion of grades which the shipment con- 

 tained at current market prices. 



What are you going to do with a case like this.' 



^ ->; ^:- 



A Pittsburg jolibi'r showed me something of the ins and outs of the 

 hardwood trade a few weeks ago by exhibiting an invoice from a. West 

 Virginia maiinfactnrer for a little less than 2,000 feet of firsts and 

 s( nds, plain red and white oak, and 12,000 feet of No. 1 coniinon. 



