STRUCTURAL PURPOSES 



The annual average wood consumption, excluding firewood 

 and rails, in the United States for the past few years has been 

 about 52 billion feet B. M. Of this amount some 40 billion 

 feet is in the form of manufactured lumber. The percentage 

 of this total used for construction purposes has not been deter- 

 mined accurately, the best figures indicating that about 20 per 

 cent of the entire consumption is used for engineering con- 

 sumption. While accurate figures are of no particular value, 

 it is interesting to know that the timber used annually in en- 

 gineering construction has an estimated valuation of fully 

 $100,000,000. 



The per capita consumption in the United States has 

 always been higher than in most other countries about 500 

 board feet per capita in 1905 because of the liberal use of 

 the most widely available building material. As wood is used 

 more wisely, its life will increase, and as more timber is cre- 

 osoted or given other preservative treatment, the annual renew- 

 als for any class of structure will naturally decline. On the 

 other hand, educational propaganda and the application of 

 standard and permanent timber construction by the engineer- 

 ing profession, will tend to increase or at least maintain the 

 present lumber consumption for perhaps a decade. Follow- 

 ing this, since renewals will be reduced by a more proper use 

 of timber, there will be a falling off in consumption, the 

 demand then being for new structures and for the reduced 

 volume of renewals. To the structural engineer the possibil- 

 ities in this line are very great. 



Quoting again from Messrs. Greeley and Betts : 



"The country is thus evidently drawing upon its forest capital at the rate 

 of 60 to 70 billion feet annually (including the loss by fire and insects). 

 Long before the present enormous forest resources a~2 eaten up, however, 

 it is more than probable that readjusting economic conditions, particularly 

 higher values for timber and a lower per capita consumption, will reduce the 

 annual drain to an amount not more than the annual growth." 



Page nine 



