The New York herald., 1921-09-06
BUILDING MATERIAL
STOCKS DEPLETED
In Face Of Under Production
and Heavy Demand Prices
Begin to Move Upward.

Buying for building construction Is
beginning to tax the production capacity
Of certain building material manufac-
turing Industries. according TO the cur
rent Dow Service Daily Building Re-
ports.
This condition of affairs confirms re-
cent predictions that price recovery in
the building construction industry has
definitely set in. 1t fulfls the prophesy
made as long ago as August. 1919, that
price turn upward would certainly fol-
low the pancky price pruning that was
forced upon an industry woefully under
supplied when public opinion was be-
ginning to balk construction work under
the impression that prices would soon
20 back to pre-war levels. General COM
modify prices were under pressure for
reduction then because stocks had been
overproduced. Building material stocks
have been underproduced ever since the
war. and their condition In the face of
growing demand Is worse to-day than
II has been in generations. The Federal
Reserve Banks computation fixed July.
1921, as the time for the turn in price
declines.
Spruce lath advanced last week from
| $1050 to S1i.50 and $12 a thousand
Builders found 1t increasingly difficult to
buy Hudson or Raritan brick below SIS
thousand wholesale, to which handling,
haulage and 10 per cent. is to be added
for deliver ed prices
AS far as the basic building material
| market Is concerned, 1t Is not hard to
establish the economic reasons why pres
ont price levels cannot be sustained long
under existing conditions of demand and
supply. a few citations will suffice.
Production Is Inadequate.
For the last thirty-three weeks the
| national lumber cut has totalled 4.9S5,-
$4,000 feet. The actual shipments
npEainst that total were 4.976,o32, 900
For the week ended August 26 the
Shipments totalled 74,0OO.000 feet In
ths same period only 10000. 900 feet
wet'e cut.
Cement offers another example From
January to July inclusive, production to-
| tailed 52036,000 barrels Against that
total 5o,376.ooo barrels were shipped.
In the month of July. according to Gov
eminent statistics just issued, 10,301,-
600 barrels We're shipped, against a total
| nationwide production of 9.56s,000. The
stock on hand at this time are more
stock FOR any month except January of
this year.
IN common brick the Hudson whole
sale market here was wholly sold out on
Friday evening. No definite official count
mas been made OF the supply of Hudson
common brick that will be available for
this market this year. but it Is known
TO be below any recent years reserve
excepting that OF i91s-19.
In normal times a total production OF
.2Oo,000.00a brick is accredited to the
Hudson district with 119 plants operat-
ing. About forty of these plants are
idle. and have been since the war. Those
that have been operating have not been
eDie TO turn out more than 80 per cent
OF capacity. normal winters brick
reserve is computed to be 400. 900. 900.
This year the reserve win be less than
that. II coal is hard to get and weather
forces an early shutdown the reserve
win be below 00,000.00o. At 100000. 900
New York Will have an ample supply for
moder2 construction programme
IL the Spt rate of consumn-
ton is ed. however. or consid-
erabiy etween now and next
May. esent seems possible
prices of brick cannot be main
ments arc heavier than productions
Plaster and lime are not materials char
acterized by vast uncalled for stocks
that would force sacrifice prices.
other Reasons for Upward Trend.
There are those who have been awaiting
the return OF normal times in the build
ing business. The term normal times"
is hard to define. but In building con-
struction fair idea of what that phrase
means is obtained by striking an average
of building construction permits granted
over a period of years. In a selection
of seven years from 1912 to 1918, In
elusive. the average yearly New York
construction total may be set down as
s1S7, 000,0 200. The total value of pro-
jected New York city buildings recorded
at the various city building bureaus in
the first half of this year was $751;
453.919.
If further demonstration of the
strength of the building market Is
wanted let IT be known that 1t seems
futile to wait for much lower wage
scales for skilled building mechanics
when contractors In The Bronx and else
where are bidding s11 and s12 per day
for the most proficient worl<men In some
of the trades, and cannot get them even
at that figure.
In order further to set forth the
strength of the present building material
prices and construction costs citation
may be made of the fact that In the
keenest kind Of competition last week.
that In Public School No. 10. for altera-
tions and an addition, one contractor fig
ured the job at s41s. 800. while his rival
estimated the job at s419.562. All eight
contractors were within 100000 of each
other, among whom were the shrewdest
building material buyers in New York.
The foregoing Is typical of the whole
market. whether on private or public
work. 1t establishes beyond doubt the
fact that the bottom level Of building
material prices in this market this year
ha hae, rcarbad