Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-08-10
The Rise in Furniture
BY Frederic J. Haskin.

nome without ffH cOnHOfnerailDn Of tufbi-
ture is difficult picture 20 imagine, but
the furniture situation indicates that we
may yet see n reyersion 20 the japanese
style which considers q few mats and n
tea table adequate equipment for house
keeping.
just now, the retailers say that they
cannot supply fast enough the demand
for twin beds and floor lamps at prices
several times the old rates. But. as we
cut deeper into our timber reserves, the
prices will rise still further, until we reach
point where even the most rashly ex-
travagant buyer will. balk. Then there
will doubtless come a fad for simple house
keeping, which we can only hope viii take
more rational form than the overall
episode in the clothes reform.
Furniture dealers are getting stock
ordered year or more ago, and the manu-
factuTers have begun 30 recover from their
war difficulties with labor and eunbargOes.
The consumer derives no hnaDcial gain
from this lessening Of the tension. He prof
It's only to the extent that he can now
spend his money il he likes. During the
war, so far as furniture was concerned,
that privilege was limited by the shortage
Of stock, but now he is led around 10 look
al period furniture, pieces which he is
other exhibits pleasing to the eye and
tagged with startling prices
Furniture is skyrocketing with a speed
that would surprise even persons cal
loused 20 price shocks.
PRICE MULTfPLfEs SIX TIMES.
A manufacturer entertained a con
vention recently by explaining that a
dressing table Of cheap oak before the
war sold for around 1898 He said that
last year the same dresser brought sl2 80,
and now it would be tagged az least s25.
The s3.98 dresser is gone, and there is
nothing cheaper n take It's place. In
fact, even the s25 article is not plentiful.
a number Of manufacturers ~ the so
called cheap furniture the straight oak
bedroom and library sets-have stopped
making this grade because at its new price
level il is not popular.
The man who ares a cheap grade bureau
marked s25 argues thus:
That's a good deal to put into an or
binary and not tho well-nade piece of
goods Guess I'd better pay $40 more and
get something that viii look high-class
and last longer At least, that r. how furni-
ture dealers say customers reason
The dealers hold that IL is impossible
to sell very cheap furniture, that they have
tried selling il AZ cost and the public
with it, rising standards, refuses ~ give
Il glance.
Tho demand now, they say. is for ma
hogany, with walnut as second choice
Mahogany requires careful usage and
regular rubbing and polishing, but Its
wearing qualities, coupled with - aristo-
cratic appearance, cause il 70 be regard
cd rs a good investment Banks use ~
lavishly for woodwork and furnishings
in the offices Of executives, and a good
deal of the furniture for organizations
less pretentious than banks IS al-o made
Of mahogany.
To be sure. when you look with awe III
a massive dark red desk you are probably
not feasting your eyes entirely on import
ed wood. but on a combination n ma
hoganv and gum Until few years ago
tie red gum was regarded as a weed tree.
unfit TO be used for furniture material
because il warped and twisted Then q
firm found q way Of overcoming this
difficulty, and now every manufacturer
Of mahogany pieces knows some secret
process Of treating gum.
GUN SAVES MAHOGANY.
Gum IS used for legs and other parts 81
a piece where the grain Of the mahogany
would not show anyway. Gum takes the
same polish rs the mahogany top. and no
one but q cOnnoIsseur would detect the
difference Manufacturers claim that %
make a piece of furniture of solid mahogan
is as great waste OF valuable wood as u
was for the Cubans 10 lay solid mahogany
railroad ties, which they did until the
extravaganza Of il was explained 70 them.
Mahogany is shipped 20 Us in large
quantities from the tropics where X Is ap-
Darently plentiful our domestic hard
woods. on the other h4nd-hickOry maple.
walnut. ash and others-aTe being turned
into tables and sideboards 50 fast that
they are rapidly reaching extinction. Il he
Forest Service warns the country that
for every four feet Of timber cut, only one
foot IS being replaced by new growth.
Black walnut. for instance, has be-
come 50 scarce that the government ha0
10 advertise for It, and hunt out single
trees. when it was needed for gun stocks
and airplane material. Even then It could
not be obtained in anything ike sufficient
amounts. As black walnut Is one OF the
best woods for furniture, there IS a sub
stantial fortune for the patient investor
who viii plant q grove of these trees and
wait forty wears for them TO grow large
enough TO be cut prontably.
Planting more timber Is the only way
TO Offset the huge inroads made YEARLY
into the supply. Our virgin forests OF
hardwood have shrunk back from he
coasts and lumber centers to inaccessible
regions where the mills cannot follow.
Transportation Of lumber IS rapidly be-
coming large item in furniture prices.
Besides transportation, lSbor Is an
other big factor in turning the S3.9S
bureau INTO a So article. Employees At
these factories claim that in the past they
have been paid lower than workmen in
other industries Since the war, however,
their wages have increased about 80 per
cent more than have the wages in any other
industry, SO that any discrepancy that
existed has been practically removed.
Wages Of men in the lumber mills ha--
advanced to a point where many find it
convenient TO work few days and then