The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-01-09
LUMBER MERCHANT DISCUSSES PRICES Points to the Statistics of
 Timber Supply EXPERIENCE OF THE TRADE Manufacturer Has Adopted Plan Not to Sell Anyone Unless the Stock
 Be on Hand-Prices
 Change Rapidly.
EXPERIENCE OF THE TRADE

In discussing the present prices of building material a prominent wholesale lumber man of Birmingham who is in close touch with the lumber conditions generally. said yesterday
 "The timber supply of the United States as estmatqd by the government and also shown by statistics. will. 1t Is now be- ieved, at the present rate of consumption last only about sixteen years. The South crn Lumber Manufacturers association claims that 1t will not last over fourteen years. This latter estimate Is probably true as the association claims to be in possession of accurate information by virtue of spending d great deal of time in obtaining the exact amount of stand ing timber The stumpage has been in creased at least 100 per cent in the past twelve months. There is absolutely no doubt but that it will increase more
 General Impressions.
 'The general impression of the man Der lands" continued the lumber man, lis that 1t will advance rapidly from now on which will of necessity advance the price of lumber
 While the price of lumber seems higher at present. 1t Is no higher in this section than 1t has been In the northern and eastern and central states for the past ten or fifteen years and the price of lumber is not as high by several dol lars here, as 1t is in many other southern cities.
 ataIa Hat f. hat Ian, price of lumber determines materially the value of cost in house building, which as a matter of fact Is not the case, as the labor employed and the fixtures nee essary always cost about three times as much as the lumber; so one can readily see that though lumber is a trlne higher by comparison to what it was two years ago, t Is not the principal cost by far in the erection of building.
 Tt is universally known and under stood by wholesale men as well as by the manufacturer, that the retail as well as the wholesale dealers have for the past year, experienced severe times due to the following facts: When the whole saler would sell his lumber to the retail dealer, before this lumber could be shipp- ed the manufacturer would advance his price to such an extent that all the profit which the wholesale man had in it would be absorbed, thus causing him to lose often from $1 to S2 per 1000 feet, even above what he had figured as his profits.
 Figuring on Contract.
 Again the retail man. in submitting his estimates to the contractor on a bill of lumber to be used in the construction of a building, would figure that he could buy this lumber in sixty days at the prices which were then prevailing. or at least buy if for sixty or ninety days shipment which has been customary here tofore. and by so doing safeguard against any possible loss in furnishing this Ium- ber to the contractor
 However, the manufacturer has now adopted plan, not 10 sell to anyone unless the stock be on hand. and as the demand had been SO great they were al- ways sold up and a little ahead SO that by the time the contractor wanted his lum- Der to finish the construction of this house. which generally requires from three to six months, the manufacturer had advanced tne price to such ex-