HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



billions of feet of as good timber for heavy beams as there ever was; 

 but the people who want to use such beams do not know it. It is up 

 to the lumberman to show them, and to tell them where they can get 

 the kind of stuff they want, and to make it easy for them to get it. 

 That has not been done. 



Speakers who occupied the floor while this topic was under discus- 

 sion were R. A. Long and J. E. Moorhead of Kansas City, and J. E. 

 Rhodes of New Orleans, secretary of the Yellow Pine association. 

 Mr. Long added his opinion to that of Mr. Kohn that the lumbermen 

 should confine their campaign solely to pushing wood into places 

 where it is safe and wise to use it, and steer clear of a policy of 

 indiscriminate attack upon substitutes or competing materials. 

 Lumber ok the Farm 



The topic on the program was ' ' Relation of the Farm Press to the 

 Lumber Industry," but the speaker, Frank W. Lovejoy, of the 

 Wisconsin Agriculturist, announced that the title did not exactly 

 indicate the direction he expected his remarks to take. 



The speaker insisted principally upon the fact that the lumberman 

 has an advantage over the sellers of most substitutes when the farmer 

 is the buyer. That is because most farmers hare always been 

 familiar with wood and know how to work with it, but have never 

 learned how to lay tiles, place cement, and fit metals. In buildings 

 and repairs about the farm, the farmer expects to do some of the 

 work himself at odd times, and he knows how to handle wood. He is 

 predisposed in its favor. Other things being equal, he will buy 

 lumber for buUdings, fences, and repairs. 



But other things are often not equal, the way matters have been 

 going lately, because the farmer, when he reads his agricultural 

 papers, as all do these days, is constantly face to face with all 

 manner of advertisements of substitutes, and seldom reads anything 

 about wood. Constant dinning in his ears of cement, tile, felt, iron, 

 and other building materials gradually leads him to buy them. He 

 often uses them really against his will, or at least against his former 

 judgment, and it is because of the activity with which these mate- 

 rials are pushed by their manufacturers. 



The remedy consists in organizing a similar push for lumber in 

 agricultural papers. Do not let farmers forget lumber. Keep it 

 before them constantly, so that, when they are ready to buy stuff 

 for buildings and repairs, lumber will be the first thing to come in 

 their minds. 



WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION 



Adolph Pfund, secretary of the Wisconsin Ret^iil Lumber Dealers' 

 Association, reported as chairman of the committee on comparative 

 costs of building construction. The report proper was prepared on 

 request of the committee by J. Norman Jensen, engineer of the 

 building department of Chicago. The tone of Mr. Jensen's paper 

 was very favorable to lumber. The thought brought out was that 

 cost comparison tests based on standard and typical specifications and 

 plans prepared by leading architects and on bids by competent con- 

 tractors showed mUl construction to be considerably cheaper than 

 concrete construction, and frame construction much less in cost than 

 brick and stucco residences. Mr. Jensen came out openly in the 

 statement that practical engineers in charge of city construction 

 have no doubts whatever on this question, and are surprised at the 

 popular impression to the contrary. 



In closing, Mr. Jensen gave seven suggestions which must be fol- 

 lowed out to prevent the lumber market from being reduced to 

 a point that would jeopardize the industry. They are: 



1 — The collection of specific and scientific information on utility of 

 all kinds and classes of lumber. 



2 — Actual tests of strength of various woods so that engineers can 

 figure with definite and dependable information before them. 



3 — Lumbermen should publish a handbook for broadcast distribution 

 giving handy tables showing all necessary technical Information and 

 similar suggestions. 



4 — Tests should be made to make wood flre-retardant. 



5 — Arguments covering all favorable points of wood should' be pre- 

 pared and spread broadcast. 



6 — In advocating wood to city offlclals, lumbermen should confine 

 themselves purely to actual technical data. 



7 — A general educational campaign on proper uses of wood should he 

 launched. 



In commenting on the report, Julius Seidel of St. Louis said lum- 

 bermen should advocate the delivering to building jobs of luml)er cut 

 to size instead of in the rough. The report will be reviewed more 

 fully in the March 10 issue. 



"Wood Buexs 



C. F. Weiho of Chicago read a lengthy but remarkably fruitful 

 report analyzing the charge of great inflammability raised against 

 wood. The report is too meaty to give it proper justice in a review 

 in this issue. It will be reviewed fully in the issue of March 10. 



The conclusions (all based on provable facts) are as follows: 



1 — That large and frequent fires are not traceable to wood. 



2 — That the problem of genuine fireproof constractlon has not been 

 solved. 



3 — That inflammable contents are not made less so by fireproof con- 

 struction as illustrated by .-nany famous fires in which contents fed 

 the flames. 



4 — That the fact that wood is consumed with a flame whereas so- 

 called fireproof substitutes are not is a much less objectionable trait than 

 the tendency of substitutes, such as iron, steel and concrete, to warp, 

 twist, crack, crumble under heat or when water is applied, and to do 

 so without notice thus increasing the hazard to life. 



5 — That reasonably fireproof construction, contents not considered. Is 

 excessively costly while mill construction on proper lines will be inex- 

 pensive and will easily resist fire until fire fighters arrive. 



6 — That every effort to reduce the nation's fire loss be supported by 

 the federation as lumbermen but that the federation protest against 

 depreciatory and false statements and literature pertaining to wood 

 when all fire records here and abroad show them to be false. 



7 — ^That the greatest direct cause of fire is lack of methods for 

 eliminating conditions leading up to fire. 



8 — That instant adequate action is necessary to conserve woods market. 

 that finance committees be formed to immediately raise funds, and that 

 a publicity committee to promulgate truths and contradict falsehoods 

 is advisable. 



9 — That a legislation committee with paid council to combat legisla- 

 tion inimical to wood is necessary. 



10 — That the only way of collecting and compiling statistics is through 

 a permanent and well-backed organization, and that these statistics and 

 data favoring wood be given country-wide publicity. 



Other conclusions had to do with fire statistics, showing them to 

 be meager and hard to obtain. Stringent personal responsibility 

 laws in Europe are responsible for small loss ratio rather than type 

 of construction. The report says that the personal equation and the 

 contents of buUdings are the main factors affecting fire losses and 

 suggests that existing insurance evils be legislated out. 



The report closed with recommendations. The first urged the estab- 

 lishment of conditions making possible the federal control of insur- 

 ance companies, and in the event of this being impossible to provide 

 for state insurance in all states. The second recommended that the 

 federation organize itself for educational purposes with proper com- 

 mittees to adequately combat the agitation against wood as a building 

 material and organization, publicity and legislation committees. 



Timber Owner's Viewpoikt 



E. T. Allen, forester of the Western Forestry and Conservation 

 Association, spoke briefly on the topic, "The Timberland Owner's 

 Interest in Promoting the Vse of Wood." He dealt principaUy 

 with statistics of supply, and pointed out the enormous resources 

 which the American forests stUl contain, after the people have drawn 

 upon them during generations. He said that some of the suppUes 

 of the far West were not likely to go to market soon, because they 

 are at present out of reach; but their time will come, though in some 

 lines probably not untU they are called upon to supply markets which 

 eastern timbers will no longer be able to fill. 



That is necessarily in the future. The timber may stand a long 

 time before it will be caUed for. Present investments will increase 

 aU the tune, through the accumulation of interest, insurance and 

 taxes, so that future sales on the stump must be made at greatly 

 increased figures, if the timber owner is to receive any profit from 

 holding his timber so long. The owner's interest lies in seeing the 

 uses of wood increase, methods of manufacture improve, and mar- 

 kets expand, so that when timber is put up for sale in the future, 

 it wUl bring enough to recompense the holder for his long wait 



SECOND DAY'S SESSION 



The second day of the Forest Products Federation opened with 

 a report by the shingle committee, consisting of F. H. Hofhems, 



