HARDWOOD RECORD 



59 



Tigers and the Athletics this afternoon — oh, you 

 mean hardwood news? No, nothing special 

 doing." 



"Trade is a good deal better," says Thomas 

 Forman. "The lull felt in May Is disappearing 

 and we are enjoying a large volume of inquiries 

 and many orders." 



A strong demand for birch, poplar and ash 

 lumber is reported by the E. W. Leech Company. 



Building operations in May showed an increase 

 of eighteen per cent over the same month last 

 year. Permits were issued for 376 new struc- 

 tures to cost .fl, 228, 870, and eighty-two addi- 

 tions to cost $114,610, making a total of $1,343,- 

 4S0 for the month. 



The newly organized Standard Timber Com- 

 pany, which Is capitalized at $4,000,000, has 

 established a fine suite of offices in the Ford 

 building. Frank Filer, president, is now in the 

 South, where most of the timber holdings of the 

 company arc located. 



Many big lumber cargoes were received at 

 local docks last week. The A. B. Hopkins 

 brought 585.000 feet from Skanee ; the Nelson 

 Bloom. 488,000 from Black River, Ont., and the 

 C. G. King, 600,000 feet from Emerson, Mich. 

 Rainy weather delayed unloading of the boats, 

 longshoremen refusing to work In the rain. 



William Donovan, Sr., will be treasurer and 

 active manager of the Donovan Lumber Com- 

 pany, which has taken over the property of the 

 Burrows Mill Company of Aberdeen, Wash. 



The Warren Motor Car Company has decided 

 to make bodies for its cars and a department 

 tor this work will be included in the new plant 

 now under course of construction. 



A. V. .Taokson, a Kentucklan, was in Detroit 

 last week and sold a local automobile company 

 a quantity of poplar grown in Breathitt county, 

 Kentucky. 



The Charlotte Lumber Company has been in- 

 «orporated with a capital of $50,000. 



GRAND RAPIDS 



Trade conditions are not entirely satisfactory, 

 still there is optimism among the lumbermen 

 that better days are close at hand. In speaking 

 of the situation President F. I. Nichols of the 



Nichols & Cox Lumber Company said : "There 

 seems to be an undercurrent of dissatisfaction 

 in business circles throughout the country, but 

 if all of us keep a stiEt upper lip, things will 

 come out all right. As far as our business is 

 concerned, we can't complain at all. We are 

 very busy all the time." 



First samples for the July furniture exposition 

 in this market are beginning to arrive. All space 

 is taken in the five exhibition buildings and the 

 display will be the largest ever made in Grand 

 Rapids. Just now the local manufacturers are 

 busy putting finishing touches on their sample 

 lines and getting their showrooms ready. The 

 season will open June 24 and manufacturers are 

 looking forward to a busy fall in their factories. 



Michigan is hit, too, so it is reported, in the 

 rate-ljoosting game that railroads are playing. 

 It is said that all Michigan points will be af- 

 fected on freight from the East, the increase in 

 the case of mahogany logs and lumber amounting 

 to twenty-five per cent. 



A brilliant wedding ceremony was performed 

 June 1 at St. Mark's pro-cathedral, the contract- 

 ing parties being Miss Helen Barnhart and 

 James C. Everett. The bride is the daughter of 

 Willard Barnhart. president of the Old National 

 bank and head of the Nelson-Matter Furniture 

 Company, while the groom is treasurer of the 

 John D. Raab Chair Company. Gerald McCoy, 

 secretary of the Rice Veneer & Lumber Company, 

 was best man. 



A party of about twenty-five lumbermen, sev- 

 eral of them accompanied by their wives, left 

 Grand Rapids June S at noon over the Pere Mar- 

 quette road, via Chicago, for the Louisville con- 

 vention. The private car "Forest" was placed 

 at their disposal and the superintendent of the 

 road's dining car service, as well as the district 

 passenger agent, accompanied the party, insur- 

 ing a most comfortable journey. The party will 

 return home Saturday. 



J. C. Knox of Cadillac, secretary of the Michi- 

 gan Hardwood Manufacturers' Association, at- 

 tended the annual meeting of the Grand Rapids 

 Lumbermen's Club on May 31. 



Fifteen men graduated from the forestry de- 

 partment of the University of Michigan this 

 year. Each one of them will enter the govern- 

 ment forest service this fall. 



Hardwood Market. 



(By HA3D'WOOD BECOBD Esclnsive Uarket Beporters.) 



CHICAQO 



The legislation in Washington during the pasr 

 few weeks seems to have had the same indirect, 

 adverse influence on the Chicago lumber trade 

 as in other lines of industry. Two weeks ago 

 there was a decided slump, locally. At that 

 time it was prophesied from many sources that 

 conditions in a couple of weeks would be far 

 more favorable, but this contention has not been 

 borne out by actual developments. There is no 

 decided change either one way or the other, but 

 still a noticeable feeling of uncertainty and 

 dissatisfaction with the situation. The princi- 

 pal complaint seems to be relative to the short- 

 age of sales, as prices in most lines are holding 

 their own fairly well, and with few exceptions 

 show a slight advance. 



The veneer people are about the only really 

 optimistic thinkers in the Chicago lumber trade, 

 and have now on their books about all the or- 

 ders that they can possibly fill. Remanufactur- 

 Ing concerns In various lines are decidedly lax, 

 and still evince the former uncertainty and un- 

 willingness to buy stock. In all probability there 

 will not be any real change for the better In the 

 situation until the fall trade sets In, as the 

 situation Is not very likely to Improve during the 

 usually lax summer months. However, Indica- 

 tions have been more or less upset all year, and It 



may be that, with the legislation at Washington 

 favorable to the shipping interests, there will be 

 a smart summer trade. 



New stocks from the northern mills are very 

 favorable as to quality, and while prices are 

 being held firmly, there is no over-abundance 

 of sales. There has been no remarkable change 

 in the situation in maple, it maintaining its 

 usual encouraging position, both in soft and 

 hard varieties. The flooring manufacturers are 

 continuing their usual demand, and other maple 

 consumers ssem to be doing a reasonable amount 

 of business. No change in price is recorded. 



Large shipments of birch have begun to ar- 

 rive, and there has been a consequent small de- 

 crease in upper grades, which bring $1 less than 

 a few weeks ago for 1-inch firsts and seconds in 

 the wholesale market, while at retail there is 

 a loss of about $2. The other grades of birch 

 have felt the same influence, though not as no- 

 ticeably as uppers. Orders are not overwhelm- 

 ing, but are very satisfactory, and stocks easy 

 to secure. 



Rock elm and soft elm both remain as last 

 quoted, soft elm being somewhat stronger In 

 sales than rock elm. The same can be said of 

 red birch, chestnut and beech, all of which are 

 relatively slow on the Chicago market. 



The oak situation remains about normal as 

 stocks are somewhat easier to secure in some 

 lines. One-Inch quarter sawed red oak Is quoted 



bj the wholesale dealers at $1 less than what 

 they were asking a month ago. Quarter sawed 

 white oak is bringing in Chicago now about $81, 

 which has been considered a very fair price all 

 winter. There seems to be no appreciable de- 

 crease in consumption, allowing for the unnat- 

 ural condition prevailing at the present time. 

 Plain red and white oak remain as before with 

 a very fair stock of red oak on hand in some 

 sections, while others report diflicnity in filling 

 orders. Four-quarter common retails at $1 

 lower than formerly, while five-quarter and six- 

 quarter and heavy stuff have increased from 

 $1 to $3. 



Hickory and ash are both slow sellers, as 

 usual, ash seemingly being in less demand than 

 hickory. Vehicle manufacturers are retrenching 

 more or less in orders or substituting other 

 materials. The price of both white and black 

 ash remains practically without any material 

 advance, though five-quarter and six-quarter No. 



1 common hickory sells, both at wholesale and 

 retail, at from $2 to $4 higher than last figures. 



Gum is about the same as last month. Sap 

 gum especially is dull, though red gum has 

 brightened up a little, and has advanced in 

 price, for 1-inch stock, wholesale, about $1 a 

 thousand. Sap, on the contrary, shows a corre- 

 sponding decrease. The constant booming which 

 gum has received of late has necessarily had its 

 effect locally, though not to the extent which 

 might have been expected without the general 

 adverse business conditions. 



All the upper grades of poplar are in very fair 

 demand, and command a corresponding increase 

 in price of from $1, in the thin stuff, to $3, in 

 planks, on the wholesale market. Retailers are 

 advancing figures at about the same rate, but 

 have found It expedient to retreat a little In 

 prices on lower grades, some being as much as 

 .f'2 lower than former sales. Poplar box-boards 

 and panels still continue in demand as always. 

 and never lack a market when they can be 

 found. 



There Is poor trade in all lines of lumber used 

 for boxing, cottonwood especially suffering. No. 



2 common bringing, wholesale in Chicago, about 

 $17. Orders at higher figures are diflicult to 

 place. Many of the plants handling cottonwood 

 box-boards have a supply on hand for some time 

 in the future, and are showing a tendency to 

 cut down on new purchases, relying on their 

 present holdings to carry them through until th'2 

 sellers will be forced to cut. There have been, 

 as yet, no deductions to speak of, but sales are 

 comparatively few. The automobile rush season 

 seems to be over, and the manufacturers are 

 overcoming the necessity of snatching up panels 

 wherever procurable and at any price, and show 

 a greater tendency to "shop" for material. Inch 

 boxboards in the wholesale market are about the 

 only cottonwood items which show any advance 

 to speak of. Poorer grades are reduced from $1 

 to $2 a thousand ; boxboards are bringing now 

 $3 more wholesale. 



Walnut, butternut and basswood are as usual 

 steady but slow, and show no tendency to ad- 

 vance in price. 



Cypress has felt the slowing up In trade as 

 other lines of stock, though most grades are 

 commanding a slight Increase. Stocks In some 

 lines have run down to a pretty low point, it 

 being rather hard to fill orders for 1 14 -inch and 

 up firsts and seconds, tank and shop. One-inch 

 firsts and seconds now bring wholesale in Chi- 

 cago $43, and 8/4, $48.75. Pine users are show- 

 ing a desire to substitute cypress in many lines 

 for which white pine has always been considered 

 the only possible wood. This is opening up a 

 new market for the cypress manufacturers, and 

 gives them an opportunity to tide over ordinary 

 dull spells. 



Railroad material In general, ties, bridge tim- 

 ber, etc., are naturally not In active demand, but 

 there has been a brightening up In the last 

 couple of weeks, and row with the rate situation 



