WOOD VERSUS SOME OF ITS SUBSTITUTES 



24^ 



180,000, of which number 60,000 were 

 gondola, coke or ore cars, and 120,000 

 box cars. Had these been constructed 

 of wood as they were formerly the total 

 lumber requirement for these cars alone 

 would have been in excess of one billion 

 feet. As a matter of fact, however, 

 practically all of the gondola, coke and 

 ore cars were constructed of steel and 

 80 per cent of the box cars had a steel 

 underframe which reduced the amount 

 of lumber required from 6,500 board 

 feet per car to 4,000 board feet per car, 

 so that the actual lumber consumption 

 was 540,000,000 board feet, about one- 

 half of what it woiild have been had 

 the entire car been of wood. This loss 

 of a market for 1.35 per cent of the total 

 lumber cut of the country has been 

 felt by the lumber industry to some 

 extent but the result was not unforseen 

 on their part since it is admitted by all 

 experts that a steel-frame car is superior 

 to a wooden one. All are not yet 

 agreed, however, that an all-steel car is 

 a safer or better car than the steel- 

 frame wooden car. The abandonment 

 of the wooden frame is in line with 

 modem progress as regards safety and 

 as such should be encouraged, but in 

 justice to limiber manufacturers the 

 public shoiild not commit itself to the 

 all-steel passenger car and freight car 

 until the matter has been decided by 

 impartial experts. 



Another interesting example of sub- 

 stitution of metal for wood is in the 

 manufacture of office furniture, includ- 

 ing (desks, filing cabinets, and chairs. 

 These have little merit over wood, 

 since it is doubtful if they are fireproof 

 in character and further when injured 

 or sprung in any part of the structure 

 it is difficult to repair. The steel 

 furniture trade has not yet made great 

 inroads on the product made from wood 

 and wiU probably never command 

 more than a limited share of the furni- 

 ture business, since a large percentage 

 of the average furniture sells for a price 

 below that for which steel articles of the 

 same character could be marketed. 



Strong efforts have been made in 

 some cities especially in New York, to 

 forbid the use of wood interior trim in 

 buildings more than a specified number 

 of stories in height. The plea on which 

 ordinances of this character are intro- 

 duced is the reduction of the fire danger. 

 The passage of such an ordinance would 

 be an act of injustice to those who 

 handle wood, and an exhibit of favorit- 

 ism to those concerns which now manu- 

 facture metal interior trim. It is yet 

 to be proved that the very limited 

 amount of wood now used for trim in a 

 large office building is a distinct fire 

 menace or that it increases the fire risk. 

 In case this is true, it is possible to so 

 treat wood with a fire-retardant that 

 the danger that may exist is eliminated. 



There has been a tendency for some 

 time past to substitute concrete floors 

 for wooden ones in factory construction, 

 on the plea of greater durability and of 

 decreased fire risk. This has appre- 

 ciably reduced the amount of wood 

 flooring materials demanded for this 

 purpose. The concrete floors, how- 

 ever, have not met aU of the require- 

 ments for a satisfactory floor, since 

 they are harder upon the workmen who 

 must travel continually back and forth 

 upon them ; they have a deleterious effect 

 upon the health of employees who must 

 stand upon the cold surface during 

 working hours; and the dust which 

 arises from the gradual wearing of the 

 floor settles on the bearings of machin- 

 ery and causes a greater wear than 

 where wooden floors are used. The 

 many advantages of the wooden floor 

 will undoubtedly enable it to hold its 

 own in the future, and it is believed in 

 many factories which stiU insist on a 

 concrete subfloor will in the futxure 

 employ a top covering of wood. 



The public should give the liimber- 

 men every encoiu"agement possible to 

 utilize to the fullest extent his forest 

 resources and thereby eliminate the 

 economic loss which results from a re- 

 duced market for low grade pro- 

 ducts. 



The Canadian Forestry Association, which recently met in Ottazva, has selected Halifax, Nova 

 Scotia, for its next annual meeting place. 



