January 25, 1913





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





187





BUILDING   MATERIALS   AND   SUPPLIES





Coal in Better Condition—Completed Lumber Inventories Show
Stocks Lower at Mill Than Was Expected—Stronger Tone in
Building Metals—Managers Find General Stiffening Tendency
in Building Supply Market—Rubter Prices Advance—Steel
Sheets    in    Higher    Trend—The   Annual   Gnybco    Meeting.





THl'^ building material market this
week was featured by an attempt
In boost the prices of black and galvan¬
ized sheets, making the quotation $2.90
per 100 pounds for No. 29 black and
$4.15 for 100 pounds for the same size
galvanized  sheets.

New business in structural steel has
Ijeen larger, proportionately, than for
several other kinds of steel products.
Not only have building operations been
very heavy all over the country for a
number of months, but there has been
such a demand for this kind of steel
that many orders are coming out now
that had been withheld because of the
inability to get deliveries w-ithin a
reasonable time -Another factor has
been the mild w-inter in nearly the wliole
country which has enabled construction
work to proceed, and some orders have
been placed at this time that otherwise
would have been credited to spring or
summer business.

Very little new business has been
booked in wire and wire products, but
an improvement is looked for w-ithin a
few weeks.

In the coal market, heavier orders
are being placed by suburban factories
and mills for bituminous grades during
the present shortage in anthracite. This
is having an effect of keeping anthracite
prices steady, and it is believed that the
stress in this department is rapidly be¬
ing overcome.

Lumber mills have been taking inven¬
tories and have found that their mill
stocks are much lower than they had
figured, owing to the mild winter
weather conditions, w-hich have per¬
mitted such a large volume of construc¬
tion work to proceed.

In the common brick department the
mild weather has permitted navigation
to continue up the Hudson River later
than at any period since 1810, and it is
very evident that, were it not for the
shortage of steel in the market at the
present time, heavy brick consumption
w-ould have seriously depleted available
stocks lon,g before this.

The prices of general building sup¬
plies show-ed a decided upw-ard tendency
this week. In the paint market, how¬
ever, there was a slight difference be¬
cause of the fact that linseed oil and
lead are running at a low price level.

At the annual meeting of the Greater
New York Brick Company, held this
week, the present officers were re¬
elected as follows: John B. Rose, Presi¬
dent; A. E. Aldridge, Vice-President;
Robert Main, Treasurer, and Frank De
Noyelles, Secretary. I. J. Rose w-as
elected to membership on the Board of
Directors to succeed his father, the late
Alonzo Rose and Edw-in Brockw-ay was
elected a member of the executive com¬
mittee to fill the vacancy caused by the
death of the late director. Reports
showed that there was a reserve shed
supply of North River brick amounting
to 304.000.000 on Jan. 1, as against 289,-
000,000 at a corresponding period in 1912.





LIGHT   DEM.VXD   FOR   BRICK.

Fronts    in     a     Stronger    Tone    as     Mild

AVeather Conditions  Continue.





P RICK is in light demand in this mar-
O kel. In New Jersey the call for
common brick is much stronger in pro¬
portion   to   the   market   than   it   is   here.





Front brick is reporting an unusual win¬
ter movement, but prices have remained
fairly steady. The steel situation is still
having- a retarding effect upon sales at
the wholi-sale marlcet as shown by the
fact that only 24 barge loads were sold
last   week.

Official transactions tor North River
brick transactions for last week with
records covering- corresponding week last
year  follow:

1913.
left   Over,   Jan.   11—71.

-\rrived.    Sold.    Covered.

^londaj-    ...........12               4                 i

Tue.sday    ..........   0               2                 0

Wi-dnesday     .......16             12                 3

Thursday     ........   0               1                 2

Friday    ............   o               5                 0

Saturday     .........   o               0                 0

Total    ..........   2S             24                 6

Condition of market, dull. Prices, Hud¬
sons (basic), $6.75 to $7; covered, $7.25.
Raritans. $6.75 (wholesale dock N. T.).
For dealer's price add profit and cartage.
Left over, Jan. IS—75. (Open) Total re¬
serve, 54. Number covered barges sold, 7
1912.
Left   Over,   Jan.   13—32.

.■Arrived.    Sold.    Covered.

ilonday     ..........   0               2                 1

Tuesday    ..........   0               0                 1

\\'ednesday    .......   0               0                 2

Thursday    .........   0               0                 0

Friday     ...........   0               0                 0

Saturday    .........   o               0                 o

Total    ...........   0               2                 4

Condition of markel, dull. Prices, $6.75
to $7. Raritans, no quotation. Total
covered,   64  barges.     Reserve  Jan.  20—30.

WIRE ROPE I.\ HEAVY DEMAND.

tluotntians   witli   Discounts  on   I-;ievntor

Specifications.

■yV/IRE rope prices are running without
VV change in spite of the recent advance
announced by the American .Steel & Wire
Oompanj-. The demand is exceptional for
elevator requirements owing lo more vig¬
orous inspection ot elevators in this city
and vicinity by casualty and other com¬
panies. A discount to the larger trade is
42V^ and 5 per cent, from list, for galvan¬
ized and 50 and 5 per cent, for bright.
Prices follow:

,-----------------Price per tt.-------------^

Diameter.      Cast.             Crucible             Plow-

Steel.               Steel.               Steel.

■H     .........10                     .11                     .13

%     .........07                     .09                     .10

'i     .........06                     .07                     .07

BUILDIXC;   SUPPLIES   FIRItt.
Managers    Find    Oeneral    Stiffening    Ten¬
dency   in   Most   Lines.

p RICES of general building supplies
■I while steady on quotation are never¬
theless showing a stiffening tendency, es¬
pecially in engine room requirements
Bismuth is quoted in this markel by job¬
bers for .small lots at $2.25 per pound;
brass sheets, IS^ic; brass rods, lSi4c.!
and half guaranteed solder, 32e.; zinc
sheets, lO^c; manganese bronze rods,
IS^ic.; manganese bronze in crucible
form, 16?4c. The following quotations
are current on iron pipe sises of brass
tubes:

''4-in.......................$0.23

^i   lo  3-in....................22

3U-in.......................23

4   in.........................23

Linseed oil is quoted by jobbers al 47
and 48 cents for American seed city, raw:
48 and 49 cents for city, boiled, -\merican
seed,  and  70  cents for raw  Calcutta seed.

In the paint market there has been no
change in prices, although the tendency
as shown by the foregoing linseed oil
prices  is   still   upward.

The year has started out well, wilh
paint requirements as shown bv orders
flled by the general trade; and" in view
of the fact that this is the eve of the
busy season in the paint and varnish
business, it is expected that new price
levels wherever decided upon will be fully
maintained. Quotations for paint ingre¬
dients now current in New Tork seem to
indicate that prices will not run, however





to excessive limits. These quotations fol¬
low: -n'hite lead in oil in 100, 230 and
500-Ib. kegs is 7»4 to 71/20. per lb.; In 25.
and oO-lb. kegs. 7?4e. per lb. Red lead
and litharge in ino-lb. kegs is 7 to 7i^c
per lb.

Colors in oil are quoted at the follow¬
ing prices per lb.: Lamp black, 12 to 14c ■
Chinese blue. 36 to 46c.; Prussian blue, 32
to 36c.; Van Dyke brown, 11 to 14c.-
Chrome green, 12 to 16c.; Raw and Burnt
Umber,   11   to   14c.





RUBBER   PRICES   ADV.VXCE.

I'liis  -May  .Vftecf  Prices of Fire and  Other

Hose and  Some Building Supplies.





p LEBER showed a higher price this
i^• week as the result ot recent general
stiffening in this department. The fact
that trading was not especially active
leads lo the impression that the supply
is somewhat curtailed. It was reported
on Wednesday that the advance in price
was made to induce manufacturers of
hose, mats, packing and automobile tires
to come into the markel instead of hold¬
ing off for a drop, which for some reason,
had been predicted as a result of alleged
surfeiting of supplies at mills and gen¬
eral withdrawal of orders. The advance
is expected to be permanent.

Some reason for this rumor may be
found in the fact that statistics of rubber
importation during 1912, in the opinion of
one prominent dealer, showed greater ac¬
tivity on the part of the manufacturers
of rubber products than ever before, so
far as the buying of the crude material
was concerned. Whether the several
thousand extra tons taken in the course
of 1012 were put to work, or whether they
are what might be called an "invisible
supply" and, therefore, detrimental lo the
present activity of the market is the
source of no little speculation.





COAL IX  BETTER CO-XDITIOX.

.More   Bituminous   Being   Used   in   District

Tlian Heretofore.





P E. S-AWARD, editor of the Coal Trade
A • Journal, gives consumers an encour¬
aging survey of the market. The fact
that bituminous coal has made up in
part for the scarcity in anthracite coal
has led suburban manufacturers and some
railroads to use soft coal where boiler
conditions permit, and this practice, in
consequence, has created a less divided
demand here in the New Tork market. In
his  review  Mr.   Saward  says:

"While the year 1911 disappointed those
who expected it to keep up the record-
breaking habit of the American coal
trade and fell slightly behind the figures
tor 1910, the year 1912 saw so great a
tonnage produced that it not only estab¬
lishes definitely a new- trade record for it¬
self, but, as one might say, has something
to spare for the deficiencies of 1911. AH
this has been achieved despite a serious
interruption of the operation of the an¬
thracite mines, and more or less unsettle¬
ment of bituminous matters in the spring,
pending settlements in one district and
another, following the genej-al settle¬
ment arrived at in Cleveland at the open¬
ing  of  the  spring  season.

"Tho bituminous output has made up for
any shortcomings in the anthracite ton¬
nage, and the large production thereof has
been achieved naturally enough in view
of the increase in manufacturing and
railroad traffic and in foreign trade, as
well as in the multiplication of usage for
various public utilities such as gas and
electric companies, which are using a
constantly increasing tonnage of coal. De¬
mand having been brisk in all directions,
once it was well established that the
political campaign was not to be the un¬
settling factor that it has been in some
presidential years, it followed as a matter
of course that the output of bituminous
coal amounted high above 460,000,000
tons, and with anthracite showing a total
production of more than 80,000,000 net
tons, il seems safe lo set down a total of
340,000,000 net tons and more as the
year's output, overtopping by fully 40,-
000,000 tons the high mark established in
1910."

LUMBER   I.VVEXTORIES  COMPLETE.

Results   Show   Stocks   .Are   Lovier   at   Mill

Than   Was   Expected.





WITH the completion of inventories at
the lumber mills, marked surprises
have resulted among the trade centering
around Xew York. In the hardwood de¬
partments stocks are particularly low.
The greater stress is laid on plain oak,
but other woods are reporting consider¬
able demand. Large consumers of hard¬
woods are evidently following out the
plan of steady purchases, which indicates
that some mills have contracted far in ad¬
vance on volume. Not in many years has
the outlook been so promising in respect
to this department as now.