872





RECORD AND GUIDE





November 9, 1912





BUILDINGJIATERIALS

Sand to Advance Ten Cents January 1
—Cement Demand Light.

Distributors Send Sleuths Into Brick
Manufacturing Districts to Discover
Available Quantities on Hand—Little
Call for Building Stone—Slow Metal
Embarrasses Fabricators—Coal Situa¬
tion Aggravating to Building Manag¬
ers—Car Shortage Hits Lumber.

THE straws which point the way the
building material zephyrs blow were
found in preliminary reports of detect¬
ives sent up the river to discover how
much a reserve supply the manufacturers
have. Every common brick plant in the
eastern district is now closed for the
season, with not more than 1,000,000,000
as the season's output. Of this total
900,000,000 came in by barge load, the
remainder by schooner. This will make
the available quantity of brick in the
North River district approximately 350,-
000,000 to last until the new brick mak-;
ing season opens. This figure excludes
brick in shed that has been contracted
for. Bluntly speaking, this is not
enough brick to meet current require¬
ments. Prices, therefore, of Hudson
river brick will be higher than present
prices, plus covering charges in March
and April, Turning to the Raritan riv¬
er manufacturing center, the heavy
drains of the past season, coupled with
bad weather conditions and a scarcity
of labor, have combined to prevent the
accumulation of even a healthy normal
supply and there is not any too many
brick on hand to supply the probable
winter's requirements.

Portland cement is not in heavy de¬
mand now. The dealers are well cov¬
ered in this district, which accounts for
the few sales reported at the new $1.58
level. But this does not imply that this
price is weak. Mills have less than nor¬
mal stocks on hand and there is a heavy
prospective winter demand. While it
is always unconservative to predict price
trends in the Portland cement field,
there is every reason to believe that as
the season wears on greater stiffness
will  be reported  in this  department.

Building managers who came into the
market this week for steam sizes of
coal found a rising market. Those cov¬
ered for the year on contracts, of course,
are protected in a measure, but even
they, are up against the stiffening mar¬
ket, only in an indirect, instead of a
direct, way. Many managers who con¬
tract for their coal by the year have
the railroads for themselves as parties
of the first part. A reservation usually
is made making it optional with the rail¬
road whether they will deliver from the
Jersey City freight yards or not. Just
now they are not delivering and some
managers holding such contracts are
paying cartage, although they are get¬
ting their coal at the contract price
agreed upon early in the summer. The
railroads are now accused of holding
back on shipments, whereas a few weeks
ago the coUeries were accused of crimp¬
ing production. The railroads declare
they are shipping as fast as they can,
btit that the shortage of cars, coupled
with heavy reserve buying on the part
of manufacturers and building managers,
is really responsible for the slow trans¬
portation afforded this commodity.

Sand is scheduled to move up ten
cents a cyd., on January first td fifty
cents, to proper dock. New York, in¬
cluding Gowanus canal, Newtown creek
and Harlem river. Increased demand,
due to vast quantity of new concrete
Work required for the new subway,
higher cost of mining and increased cost
of  transporting  the     sand,     owing    to





higher prices of coal and labor, have
combined to make the new price level
imperative.

Lumber users are complaining about
the difficulty of getting cars enough to
ship the finished products of the mills to
market, and so acute has this become
that some mills are facing a shut-down
unless they can move their stock more
rapidly and, indeed, actual cases of shut¬
down have been reported to the New
York Lumber Trade Association.

Fabricators of structural steel are re¬
porting an increasing difficulty in get¬
ting shapes from the mills and in con¬
sequence they are embarrassed in their
deliveries here. The slowness of steel
receipts at six out of every ten building
operations in the district is solely re-
responsible for the unprecedented condi¬
tion now prevailing of generally stiffen¬
ing price levels with a sharp restriction
in volume of materials moving.





BRICK  BUYING HE.VVIER.

.*1I   Plants   No-nr   Closed   for  the   Season—

Reserves Ijl{:;ht.





COMMON brick -was In a more active
market this week. All of the brick
plants in the North and Karitan River
districts closed for the season. Conse¬
quently the market is now being- supplied
from sheds and buying is increasingly ac¬
tive owing to the short time between now
and closing of navigation. The market
for common brick is short. Buying, how¬
ever, is cautious. Last week the sales
and arrivals of North River common brick
were even as far as numbers were con¬
cerned, and the current week opened
strong.

Transactions last -week for Hudson
River common brick with comparisons
for the corresponding week in 1911 fol¬
low-;

1912.
LEFT OVER, OCTOBER 28-38.

Arrived.        Sold

Monday   ....................   29               15

Tuesday   ....................    5               10

"Wednesday  '4................     7                 6

Thursday   ...................     9               12

Friday   .....................     7               15

Saturday   ...................     8                 9

Totals   ....................   67               67

Condition of market, strengthening.
Prices, Hudson River, $6.75 to $7.25.
Basic, $6.78%. Raritans, $6.76 to $7.
Basic, $6.78%. (.Wholesale, dock. New
Tork. Add cartage and dealer's profit
in estimating retail prices.) Left over,
November 4-30.

1911.
LEFT  0"VER,   OCTOBER   30-19.

Arrived.        Sold

Monday   .....................   18               10

Tuesday   ....................    2               12

AVednesdav   .................     7               15

Thursday   ...................   16               10

Friday   .....................     7               10

Saturday   ....................     6                 4

Totals   ...................   56               61

Condition of market, quiet. Prices.
Hudson and Raritan, $7. Left over, No¬
vember 5-14.





BUILDING   METALS   DE1,A"\'ED.
Inability   to   Get   Strnctnral   Steel   Embar¬
rasses   Steel  Constructors  Here.





THE slo-wness of deliveries from steel
mills to jobs in all parts of the East,
but especially in the metropolitan dis¬
trict, is responsible for a sluggishness in
actual erecting work that has become
very noticeable during the last few
weeks. It seems inconceivable that with
steel prices soaring because of increased
demand, with the railroads choked on
their deliveries, and prices of all building
commodities in this market moving up in
price and mills practically all sold up for
several months ahead, that actual con¬
struction work in this city to-day is slug¬
gish.

Tet such is the case. Steel erectors
are only about tliree-fifths employed or
are employed only a few days out of the
week pending arrival of steel, and the re¬
sult is that bricklayers, stone-setters and
other artisans are idle in larger propor¬
tion than the volume of new work com¬
ing out would seem to indicate could be
possible.

Admission was made by structural mills
this week that they were eight weeks be¬
hind in their shipments, but this only
came when they were face to face with
another advance in the price of pig Iron,





which  probably  will  be  formally,  quoted
on  or about the middle of next week.

Complaints are heard of unusually high
estimates being filed on fabrication and
erection of structural steel, due partly to
the scarcity of prompt steel and partly
to the difficulty in securing labor. Con¬
tracts being closed for plates are taken
now subject to "earliest possible" ship¬
ment.





SAND GOES UP 10c. JAN. 1.

Current  Stiffness. Due to Heavy  Deniand,

makes   Increase   Necessary.





THE latest building commodity to fol¬
low the lead of other departments in
upward movement of prices is that of
sand. 'Whereas the price current of stand¬
ard washed Cow Bay sand last year at
this time was 35c. and 40c., it is 45c. to¬
day, and on January 1 a new winter level
of 50c. will go into effect. These prices
are for deliveries alongside of proper
New Tork harbor dock in scow-load
quantities. The scow-load prices at Har¬
lem River, Newtown Creek and Gowanus
Canal are now five cents higher. After
January 1, the fifty cent quotation will
cover all points in New Tork harbor.

The cause of this shifting in price is
the tremendous amount of concrete work
and building construction now going on
here, the exceptionally heavy prospective
building movement during the winter as
shown by reports from architects and
builders, the high cost of mining and in¬
creased cost of transporting sand, due. In
part, to higher cost of coal and labor.





CAR    SHORT.IGE   HITS    LUMBER.

Smaller    Plants    Threatened    with    Shnt-
Don-n  Because  Unable  to   Ship.





THE car shortage is beginning to be
seriously felt by the lumber inter¬
ests. Some of the smaller mills are
threatened with enforced shut-down be¬
cause they are unable to ship their
stocks, and several are reported to have
already closed temporarily. The com¬
panies having larger resources, however,
are able to ship, but their capacities are
sold so far ahead that new business is
not being sought.

Upward prices are the rule rather than
the exception. White pine is firming
again on No. 1 and No. 2 cuts, shaky
clear, No. 2 dressing, shelving, barn and
box. North Carolina pine is one of the
scarcest items in the lumber list, and
buyers are having trouble to get ship¬
ments even on old orders. All the stock
on hand at the mills is sold, but cannot
be shipped for lack of cars. This condi¬
tion can only result, if prolonged, in the
closing down of more plants, which in
turn will further stiffen prices about
April  1,

Hard -woods, like other lines, are shift¬
ing upward sharply. During October
thick ash, common ash and birch ad¬
vanced $1 to $3, chestnut about a dollar,
maple $1 to $2, and low grades of poplar
about $1. Further advances between now
and April 1 are reasonably sure.

Tellow pine is moving up fast. The
price has already advanced $1 to $2. A
raise of another dollar within the next
sixty days is now looked upon as certain
because of the car shortage.

Hemlock is steady at its new $23 Penn¬
sylvania price level reported last week.
Cypress is firm, and another advance is
looked for on or about January 1, ac¬
cording to advices received by this de¬
partment from the Southern Cypress
Manufacturers'  Association  this week.

Spruce Is being taken in this city al¬
most as fast as it arrives. It is strong
at current list prices both on immediate
and future deliveries. Lath is now quoted
at  $4.25  wholesale.





AIAN.VGERS  WORRIED  OVER COAL.
Complaint   Is   Heard   That   Railroads   Are
Holding Back on Shipments from Mines.





BUILDING managers in the market
this week for buckwheat Nos. 1 and
2, Pea, and other steam coals, found
prices stiffer. The explanation they re¬
ceived for this condition of affairs was
the fact that instead of coal being short
at the mines railroads were short of cars
and could not ship, according to their
contract.

Companies contracting with railroads
direct for coal in this market were con¬
fronted with the reserved stocks permit¬
ting railroads to deliver only to Jersey
City yards. This meant that the consum¬
ers were obliged to do their hauling,
which was equivalent to the higher price
that new comers in the field had to meet.
Prices are Inclined to go up further.