HOW TO SAVE $100,000,000 A YEAR 



So GREAT are the possibilities 

 and so urgent the need of wider 

 use of preserved timbers that 

 it is estimated that $100,000,000 

 a year would not cover the saving which 

 could be made by the universal treat- 

 ment of woods in commercial use, which 

 are exposed to decay. A Forest Servdce 

 bulletin issued five years ago made the 

 estimate then that about $72,000,000 a 

 year would be saved if proper preserva- 

 tive treatment was given to all kinds of 

 structural timber which can be treated 

 with profit. 



In order to show the wood using pub- 

 lic just what may be done in wood pre- 

 serving, the American Wood Preservers' 

 Association has decided to have an 

 elaborate exhibit at the Forest Products 

 Exposition in Chicago, from April 30 

 to May 9, and in New York from May 

 21 to May 30. This exhibit will show 

 the development of an industry which 

 has trebled in the number of plants and 

 quadrupled in the capacity of output 

 during the past 10 years. By charts 

 and graphic representations will be 

 indicated the wonderful saving of treated 

 over untreated material on both a cost 

 and physical basis. All of the commer- 

 cial woods of the countrv will be shown 

 as to their adaptability for treatment, 

 and the preservatives and processes 

 best suited for various woods in differ- 

 ent conditions will be exhibited. Rail- 

 road cross ties, which are treated to the 

 extent of over 32,000,000 annually, repre- 

 sent the most important phase of the 

 industry; but wood in a hundred other 

 forms can be chemically preserved, and 

 the more important of these miscella- 

 neous uses, will be shown by actual wood 

 specimens. The list of miscellaneous 

 material suitable for treatment, includes 

 piling, poles, paving blocks, construc- 

 tion timbers, cross-arms, fence posts, 

 mine timbers and lumber of all 

 kinds. 



As irrefutable proof of the efficiency of 

 proper treatment, many actual speci- 

 mens of treated material, which has had 

 long service, will be shown. There will 



be creosoted piling from Galveston, 

 which is still sound after 37 years in 

 teredo infested waters; there will be 

 wood blocks which have served as 

 flooring for over 30 years ; creosoted ties 

 with a record of a quarter of a century 

 in situations where untreated ties of 

 the same character will rot in six years. 

 There will be shown the possibilities 

 of treating wood such as gum. sap 

 pine, beech and other hardwoods, which 

 rot quickly, so that they will resist 

 decay almost indefinitely. This one 

 development has opened an enormous 

 field in the utilization of timber for 

 which there was little or no market 

 untreated. 



The exhibit will demonstrate, for 

 example, the advantages of framing 

 timber before treatment, the boring and 

 adzing of cross- ties before treatment, the 

 distribution of preser\^atives in various 

 woods, and the application of established 

 principles in the preservative processes 

 and ultimate use of the material. The 

 more general educational features wiU 

 be fully covered. In the center of the 

 space will be a model of a typical plant 

 and yard showing the eqmpment and 

 general layout of a modern plant, also 

 a model of a creosoted silo. Supple- 

 menting this will be transparencies and 

 bromides of both general and special 

 features in plant construction and 

 operation, and the use and character 

 of treated material. 



Fundamentally the exhibit is being 

 planned with the hope of bringing home 

 to the lumberman, the architect, the 

 engineer, and the general public, a 

 realization which they have never had 

 before of the magnitude and economic 

 importance of the wood preserving 

 industry. A lesson in conservation will 

 also be taught through the obvious 

 reduction of waste and the fuller ser- 

 vice from wood in many forms. If the 

 lessons which the exhibit will teach were 

 fully applied, the economy expended 

 woiild duplicate the annual expendi- 

 ture on our army or navy in times of 

 peace. 



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