How Lumber Looks

All gfadet of fir tturbef<ommenr as well ar dlearrhave taken a sharp advance eince the first of the year' In fact some itemr have gone up $5 to $7'50 per thourand' The market doer not threaten to rurr awayt exactly' as it did in the memorable Winter of 1919'2O, but it is get' ting firmer and farter every day. That it doee not advance mbre rapidly ir due, er rnuch as anything, perhaps, to the conrenvatirm and caution of the mill men ttemrelvee ar they do not want to experience another distrecsing reaction ruch as followed the wild and unregulated boonr in pricee three yean ago.

California buyere are an important factor in the preeenrt fir market, ar every important intere* eelling lumber in thie atate har itr reprerentatives in the Norttwect bidding

January Receipts Break Record

Cargo receiptr at the porte of Sorrthern California for the month of January probebly broke the record of January latt year which was the best month m 1922'

In Janrnry this year Loe Angeles harbor and nearby porte handled epproximately 15O,OO0rOOO feet' Jrinu' ary of last year receipted for 141rO00rOOO feet' for rtocks. And stocks are scarce and hard to get regardleer of the pricer offered.

What is more, logr are larcHtpecially hish grade logs carrying a heavy percentage of clear lumber' That ac' countl, in part, for the distinct advance in rough green clears, as well ar frnighed lumber of all grades and patternq in the last 3O daYg.

Roush green clearu have gone up fully $1O cince the 6nt of December. More ttan half of that advance was experienced rince the first of the year' The raarket ir purhing ahead even at prerent pricee, ac stock ir far from plenti' ful.

The only department of the businets that har not shared in the increared pricel ir the ehingle muket' Shinglee bave remained firm at forrner quotationr but have not gone up' And thie deopite a good deady demand. There fu no great aurplur of shingler.. In fast they have been hard to get at timec, but the trade now io paying about all thet the roarket reems able to rtand.

The lath nnrket ir *ronger than two weekr ago rvith pricer slisbtly higher.

The furry in northem rtockr has had a tendency to bring pre$ure on redcood, with tte reeult ttat redwood ir frtmer todey than at any time in the lact reveral monthr, atthough the manufacturers have not marked up pricer' The redwood folkr are loaded up with orderr. ln the lart week covered by their association reportr lhey rold more tham trrice ar rnuch as they cut. But production probably will pick up in the next few weekr.

That the precent dcmend for lumber ir nation-wide and not confined to califomia alone ir indicated by the reportr from the varioue producing districb. southern Pine orderr have been running fully 5O per cent above production'for the last three or four weekc. Lart week production at the fir milts of Oregon and Washington war 52 per cent above production. An analyrir of the Wert Coast reportr rhowq ih"t the burinees ir fairly well dirtributed between rail and water movement, althowh fully 2O per cent of all the lumber eold up north came to Celifornia.

Tonnage ir scarce and every routhbormd vesd carrier her full capacity of lumber. Cbarter ratet have not gone up but rhip ownerr and operatorr indicate that en advance of 5O centc ia bound to take efiect soon' In fact rhippen already are paying $8 for epot loading to California'

The car rhortege that govcrned the lurnber market for !o many weeks lart Fall leema to have been relieved and ehipmentr from both the redwood md the fu diruictr arc .o-ittg through more promptly. In fact rhipperr are mak' ins little or no complaint about caru. 'All that they com' pl"io of ir the reeming inability of the rnills to fill their orderu.

Since the first of the yer the railroadr have cdmc into the market for car material and their demands probably will caure a further rcarcity, with po$ibte price increarcrt in upper gredc of 6r.