The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-20
Big Advance in All
Lines of Building
Material.
HIGHER THAN FOR TEN YEARS.
Jerome Marble Company's
Explanation
Of 1t.

The general advance lis all lines of
building materials that is sweeping the
country has struck Worcester with full
force. The cost of everything which
enters into the construction of a house
has advanced from 10 per cent to 100
per cent over prices that ruled year
ago. Increased demand is the cause of
the boom in prices.
Steel and structural iron, lumber,
builders hardware. plumbing, glass and
even putty and paint, have SCARED in
price steadily and persistently until
now quotations are higher in all lines
than they have been at any time for
ten years.
Most noticeable of all is the increase
in the price of every kind of lumber.
William H. Sawyer says there has been
nothing known to the trade to compare
with recent sharp advances all along
the line. He has recently returned
from an extended trip through the
lumber regions of The great northwest,
and found an invariable dearth of lum-
Der of all kinds. The advance in
price, Mr.. Sawyer says, is legitimate,
that there is nothing of abnormal infia-
| ton, and is the natural return to nor
| NAL prices that ruled before the outra-
| geously low prices of the past three or
four years The swing of the pendu-
lum has been perhaps trifle wide, but
prices will adjust TO the condition of
supply and demand.
During the last two years prices on
all grades of lumber have been below
the living mark. The inevitable result
of prevailing conditions has been the
failure or crowding out of small pro-
ducers, and the retail yards have been
completely stripped of stock Now the
reaction has set in in force, and the
demand is tremendous. Prices are there
fore soaring. Hemlock and spruce
have advanced 81 a thousand feet;
spruce boards have advanced 81; south
ern pine owing to the failure Of nu-
merous small producers and consequent
small supply, has jumped Sc to 81 in
price over quotations of last year;
Michigan pine is $40 higher than a year
ago; and spruce frames have gone UP
So a thousand.
In the west Mr.. Sawyer says, and
through the middle states, the demand
| for every kind of lumber is enough to
consume the entire output of the mills,
| and 1T is in some sections almost i'm
possible to purchase a carload for inn
| mediate delivery in Worcester. In
Vermont and New Hampshire, owing
| to the low price that has prevailed for
bark during the last four years, hem
| lock is extremely scarce and cannot be
| bought. Matched spruce boards and
all small stock are in the rise, and nc
| kind of lumber escapes.
| In structural steel and iron the rise
| in price has been proportionate to the
| jump in lumber. The general average
| is an increase of 20 per cent. Stee
shapes are selling at cents a pound
and at that price the builder must
place his order with no guarantee or
delivery. He must take chances. In
| the opinion of the Webb Granite and
| Construction Company and Norcross
| Brothers, the rise is legitimate and due
! to increased demand that has come il
a volume large enough to bury the steel
| producers beneath a flood of orders
| Although prices are ruling higher than
! for 10 years in every branch of build
| ing material, the two great Worcester
| building firms do not hesitate TO say that
the rise is due to legitimate demand.
and bears little or none of the earmarks
of inflated prices.
The much heralded rise in hardware
continues in full force 1t affects every
line that is used in building. The rise
in nails and bolts and many lines Of
hardware that are considered close to
raw material, come in for the biggest
increase which reaches from 10 per
cent to 20 per cent over the prices of
last year at this time.
Copper, in every form, has doubled
in value. Bronze has increased nearly
100 per cent. Glass shows an increase
in price of 20 per cent with prospects
of a further considerable advance
Even paints and chemicals are in the
boom. Colors show gain of 10 per
cent.
The Jerome Marble Company ex-
plains the rise as a perfectly natural
one. Prices have been below the liv-
ing mark and are coming back to nor
NAL under the influence of increased
demand.
Plumbing materials have been soar
ing in price for months, and are now
scarcely visible from the level of prices
that prevailed last year.
The only staple that maintains it's
level in the present boom is granite.
Although brick show a slight increase,
granite must remain stationary. The
Webb Company is turning out the stone
at 80 cents per foot, which is the ruling
price of last year.
Dealers and even builders argue from
the present skyward tendency of
prices nothing but prosperity. In
creased demand, they say, is at the bot
tom of the imitation, and it is extraord-
mary all over the country. Increased
demand means more factories and bet
ter wages.
1t doubtless augurs temporary stag
nation of building activity, which, in
deed is already apparent in Worces-
ter, but 1t augurs return of unbound
ed prosperity such as the country has
caIdOr1n If ar1inup6