6o 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Fellers Brothers' saw and stave mill of Har- 

 riette, Werford county, was burned June 18. The 

 night watchman left the mill for a while and 

 upon his return the mill was burning. Every 

 man in the village did what he could, but it was 

 impossible to save the mill. The loss is about 

 $10,000 with no insurance. The mill has run 

 for twelve seasons and it was estimated that 

 it would cut 4,000,000 sta%'Os this summer. At 

 this time it i.s uncertain whether the mill will 

 be rebuilt. The yards are filled with stave miU 

 stock. 



The Booth Manufacturing Company of Muske- 

 gon Heights will move to Howard City this 

 summer, where it will manufacture ofBce filing 

 cases and do special order work. The company 

 proposes to start with a force of about seventy 

 men. 



The Slate Railroad Commission held a special 

 conference on June 8 to consider switchiUf; 

 charges. Numerous complains had come to the 

 commission from various parts of the state. It 

 was found at the hearing that while in some 

 cases some roads were making excessive charges 

 others were not charging as much as prescribed 

 by the statutes, and that while some of the road^; 

 absorb all snitching charges on cars netting 

 them in excess of ^10, other railroads absorbed 

 switching only when compelled to do so by com- 

 petitive roads. The commission asked the rail- 

 roads to make their rules and charges more uni- 

 form in this regard. 



The Manistee Navigation Company was 

 granted 8111,796.66 ,by the court in its suit 

 against the Louis Sands Salt & Lumber Com- 

 pany, Manistee, for a claim of $45,000. The 

 jury was two hours in reaching a decision. 

 Learned legal talent was employed by both sides. 

 The Navigation company claimed the .$45,000 

 was due them by the Louis Sands concern for 

 sunken logs which it had raised and sold to that 

 company. 



Shippers throughout Michigan are interested 

 in the hearing which will take place before the 

 Michigan State Railroad Commission on June 24 

 at Lansing, Mich. Examination of rates charged 

 by the different companies is said to have re- 

 vealed gross discrimination in charges between 

 points in different parts of the state which calls 

 for a revision of the present rates. 



GRAND RAPIDS 



Fred I. Nichols of the Nichols & Cox Lumber 

 Company has returned from a business trip to 

 the South, 



L. L. Skillmau of the Skillman Lumber Com- 

 pany and wife, who were at the Louisville con- 

 vention and remained in the South for a few 

 days to visit friends, have returned home. 



Andrew Pyrl Harper, son of Henry Harper of 

 the Tucker-Harper Lumber Company, was mar- 

 ried Tuesday evening, June 21, to Miss Carrie 

 Isabelle Hurt of this city. Mr. Harper was 

 formerly in charge of the Grandville yards for 

 the Tucker-Harper company, but is now with 

 the Nichols & Cox Lumber Company. 



The Grand Rapius Lumbermen's Association 

 will hold its first meeting since the annual ban- 

 quet and election of officers on Friday evening, 

 June 24, at Bauman's. Committees will be ap- 

 pointed and the work of the coming year out- 

 lined. Plans for the annual picnic will also be 

 discussed. Fred A. Diggins of Cadillac, president 

 of the National Hardwood Lumber Assoeiatioa. 

 will be a guest of the club and will give an 

 address. 



While the midsummer furniture sales did not 

 open officially in this market until June 24, there 

 were eastern buyers here a week before that 

 date, and considerable business has already been 

 placed. While the eastern men talk of slow 

 trade, they are not hesitating about placing 

 their orders quite freely for goods. Some of 

 the manufacturers are slow in getting their lines 

 ready, and the market will not really open in a 

 gingery way until after July 4. The number of 



lines being shown here this season is approxi- 

 mately 350, not varying greatly from last 

 January. 



The Grand Rapids Furniture Association has 

 re-elected officers for the coming year as fol- 

 lows : President, Addison S. Goodman,' Luce 

 Furniture Company ; vice-president, David H. 

 Brown, Century Furniture Company ; secretary- 

 treasurer, F. Stewart Foote, Imperial Furniture 

 Company. 



Through the kindness of the United States 

 Forest Service the junior class forestry students 

 at the Michigan Agricultural College have re- 

 ceived appointments for summer work in various 

 sections of the country. A summer course for 

 the sophomores of this school will be conducted 

 on the shores of Iliggins lake, in Roscommon 

 county, with Prof. Baker in charge. 



Chas. A. Phelps of the Hackley-Phelps-Bonnell 

 Company has returned from a business trip to 



the Pacific coast, being accompanied by Chas. 

 W. Liken of Sehewaing. who is also interested 

 with other Michigan men in the Michigan-Puget 

 Sound and the Michigan-Pacific lumber com- 

 panies, having headquarters at Victoria, B. C. 

 The Puget Sound company is building a double 

 band m;ll, which, when completed, will double its 

 cutting capacity. This year the Puget Sound 

 company will cut 50,000.000 feet of logs and the 

 .Michigan-Pacific company will do almost as well. 

 "When I left," said Mr. Phelps, "we were loading 

 a four-mast sailing vessel with lumber for South 

 .\frica. W'e have a complete sash, door and blind 

 plant, and are equipped for making sideboards and 

 buffets, if needed. We have little or no oak of 

 our own, but buy this wood in quantities from 

 Japan. Victoria is a fast growing city of 45,000 

 people. The streets are paved with fir blocks 

 which are cut in our mills and treated with creo- 

 sote before being laid " 



Hardwood Market. 



(By HA3D'WOOD BECOBD Esclnsive If arket Reporters.) 



CniCAOO 



The condition of more or less depression and 

 uncertainty as to sales which has been evident 

 in the Chicago trade for several months, seemd 

 to have continued right along up to the time 

 when the regular summer let-up is scheduled to 

 begin. With this idea in mind there doesn't 

 seem to be any prospect for an opening up unti' 

 usual in the fall, as the summer dullness will 

 undoubtedly be accelerated. The trade in almost 

 all quarters is complaining of slow payments, 

 even from firms which have always formerly been 

 considered to be right up to the mark. 



Remanufacturers are doing a fair amount of 

 work, and in some lines are buying rather freely. 

 This is especially so of the car builders using 

 hardwood ; they evidently feel considerably re- 

 lieved over the settlement of the rate contro- 

 versy, or the partial settlement, and are placing 

 orders which, while not normal in volume, still 

 are encouraging and promise more for the fu- 

 ture. This is especially true of the tie market, 

 one concern in town being asked to quote on 

 250,000 red oak ties. Furniture manufacturers 

 are not buying as freely as a short time ago, and 

 the same can be said of oflice and store furnish- 

 ing people, and the manufacturers of interior 

 finish. 



Taken as a whole, however, there is no decided 

 slump in the past fortnight, though some manu- 

 facturers are complaining bitterly. That some 

 of the big interests can see fair weather ahead 

 seems evident, as they are buying up what they 

 can get at low prices, evidently thinking they 

 will be justified in speculation of this sort. 

 There has been no break in prices in any stock. 

 Birch has held strong, especially in the upper 

 grades. Sales have fallen off to an appreciable 

 extent, though not enough to be alarming at 

 this season of the .year. Shipments from thi' 

 North continue to arrive, and as a rule are 

 easily disposed of at a fair price. 



There is a noticeable betterment in the trade 

 in elm, particularly in the thick stock, though all 

 thicknesses and grades seem to have felt the in- 

 fluence equally. This is a condition which does 

 not prevail generally, but is noted widely enough 

 to merit mention. There is no noticeable differ- 

 ence one way or the other as to price. 



Oak continues normal with slight increase in 

 stocks on hand, and in some quarters a lessening 

 in price. Quartered white oak continues to feel 

 the influence of the abnormal demand, and high 

 prices which prevailed a short time ago, and Is 

 now quoted as low as $75. Orders seem to have 

 taken a slight slump also. Stiff prices prevail 

 for red oak in general, though the supply seems 

 to be about equal to the demand. Southern 

 stocks can be secured without any difficulty, as 



with this weather the green lumber dries out in 

 short order. Heavy oak construction timber is 

 finding a livelier market than a short time ago, 

 and prices are satisfactory in most quarters. 



Hickory and ash are still slow and, as last 

 iioted, hickory seems to have the sale over ash. 

 While this is true of lumber, such special ar- 

 ticles as wagon tongues and other manufactured 

 parts are hard to secure and prices are up. In 

 general, however, it is safe to say that the wagon 

 and carriage manufacturers and other consumers 

 of hickory and ash are not doing as much as a 

 normal business. 



Some wholesalers report difficulty in securing 

 suitable stock of firsts and seconds red gum, 

 though sap still remains weak. One Chicago firm 

 has had an order for 100,000 feet of firsts and 

 seconds sap gum, and has had trouble in finding 

 the stock. The gum situation can't very well 

 decline to any extent with the constant booming 

 and the natural qualities of the wood which 

 adapt it so well to the uses for which it is mar- 

 keted. I'rices are about the same as usual, with 

 a little improvement in the upper grades of red 

 gum. 



Poplar box boards are a scarce article at pres- 

 ent, and are demanding fancy prices. This con- 

 dition win probably continue until the consumers 

 come to realize that they can substitute some- 

 thing else. Firms are asking as high as $70 and 

 $71 without cracking a smile. Low grades are 

 more plentiful and harder to dispose of. 



The box manufacturers are still up against the 

 paper and fiber box game, and consequently or- 

 ders are far from satisfactory for boxing mate- 

 rial of all species. 



Walnut, butternut and other fancy woods are 

 normal, with nothing out of the ordinary in 

 price or orders. 



Cypress people are still complaining because 

 of the dullness, which, however, they feel is in. 

 keeping with this season of the year. Stocks are 

 pretty well worked down in all lines and at all 

 points, and no great quantities are being offered 

 on the local market. Fair prices prevail, with 

 no change from last quotations. 



The tie market is brightening up appreciably 

 in response to the action of the administration 

 in Washington, and while prices are unsettled and 

 governed merely by what the market will pay, 

 there is an apparent tendency to give more than 

 it did a couple of weeks ago. A fair price for 

 common red oak ties is 05 cents. 



In summing up, there is no apparent cause for 

 alarm over the trade situation in general. AH 

 lumbermen realize the fact that this is a slow 

 time for the trade anyway, especially for the 

 carlot shipments, which at present are rather 

 below wagon shipments. Some of the local trade 

 feel that there will be no relief In the near 

 future, but the concensus of opinion seems to 



