Evening star., 1920-03-27
SPRING BUILDING
PROGRAM UPSET
Bickering for Power Among
Certain Artisans Is Cause,
! Says Dow Bulletin.

Protracted pickering for power
among certain artisans In the building
Z trades has upset the spring program
trades, to the extent of advancing
quotations in some lines, with more
advances probably to follow. accord
ing to the Dow Service Daily Building
Reports.
Building material manufacturers ex-
pected long before this to be able tC
gauge their 1920 production schedule
by prospective demand. Potential de-
,nand has been easily measured. but
the actual requirement is so much in
doubt at this time that few firms have
proceeded on the basis laid out a
month ago.
In the structural steel industry
while builders have been awaiting an
adjustment of labor differences, the
country's structural shops have con-
pacity. according to the February re-
port of the Bridge Builders and Struc-
tural Society. as collected by its sec
retary. George +. Clifford.
Mills Abandon Program.
simultaneously. many building ma
terial mills in various lines are aban-
doning their program for building
material production for 1920 and are
advancing prices for the stocks that
still remain on hand. With labor union
factors warning one with the other,
the presidential election at hand and
freight cars so scarce that additional
plants are closing down because they
cannot ship what they produce, all
efforts TO stabilize building material
prices have been abandoned, and the
price situation appears to have been
p-sa
last week involved terra Gotta, hol-
low tile, freproofing material, finish
ing lime. common lime and hydrate
finishing lime. Window and plate
glass discounts are without change
in actual price. although all quota
tions are nominal and depend almost
entirely upon what the vender has
to offer. Sheet metal is extremely
scarce and hard to obtain. Nails are
being sold on the ration plan. like
sugar in war days.
Freight car shortage is almost en-
tirely responsible for famine condi-
tions in the present building mate
rial market for wood lath. Oklahoma
plaster. plaster boards. Ohio lime, and
most of the departments in the lum-
ber market
In the lime department prices which
were dependable for the spring mar
ket two weeks ago are now quoted
about 80 cents above the former on
finishing and common lime. and about
s125 on hydrate finishing lime. In
cloth and paper bags The cause Tor
this advance in price is ascribed main
" to high cost of cooperage. which is
due to car shortage, which has pre-
vented the barrel companies from OBJ
tanning raw materials for heads and
slaves. In the Buffalo territory one
gypsum company has actually been
forced to close it's plant because they
have been unable to get cars. al
though their storerooms are filled
with material.
Fireproofing Materials.
material run as follows: Under 1000
square feet. 2-inch. $115.30; 3-inch.
sis53O; 4-inch. s2os.4o: S-inch. $277.9o:
S-inch. s370.50: over 1000 square feet.
split Turing. Pinch. s105.30; 3-inch,
$1ss40: 4-inch. S1s9.50: e-inch. $252.6o;
S-inch, ss36.sO. For sx12x12 Enclosure
wall tile. including header-backer for
backing rick walls. the price for
quantities under 1000 square feet Is
s416.90, and for quantities over 1000.
s379.
In the west price advances on ce-
ment occurred amounting to 10 and
90 cents a barrel. In some cases man
ufacturers are unable to accept busi-
ness very far into the future, on ac-
count of heavy orders for road re-
pairs and equipment this spring. In
this respect the cement interests and
the steel interests are similar. There
is common feeling in the building
material market that the demand for
steel and cement outside of the build
ing industry has developed SO greatly,
especially with reference to railroad
requirements this year. as to make
some of the firms Indifferent as to
whether the building market devel-
ops or not.
t.
contractors regarding the heavy cost
of making estimates for jobs that do