178 



SELLING LUMBER 



Evils of 

 Careless 

 Merchandizing 



Kidder on 

 "Standard 

 Mill Con- 

 struction" 



Other 

 Materials 

 iD'elivered 

 As Ordered 



pose for which this lumber is to be used, the manufacturer, or 

 the mill owner rather, will then ship to the customer the grade 

 of lumber that is suitable for the purpose or "honest lumber." 



The mill man has for years been sawing lumber as a selling 

 proposition, and does not know or care what for, or where it is 

 going to be used. This lumber is shipped to the customer, who 

 does not know but what it is all right, as it is lumber of the size 

 he wanted. The average architect does not know either but what 

 the lumber is all right. The lumber fails in the purpose intended, 

 dry rot sets in, and the next time the consumer wants to build 

 or enlarge his factory he commences talking steel and concrete. 



Reports show that in the East where mill construction for 

 factory purposes is largely used, that with sprinkler protection, it 

 is recognized as a good hazard by insurance companies, and that 

 in some instances the companies consider such a building a better 

 risk than some of the supposed fire-proof buildings. 



Kidder says: "Wherever wooden joist and flooring are to 

 be used, it is more desirable from the point of safety from fire 

 to use wood for the posts and girders also, than to use iron or 

 steel for these portions of the building, for the reason that steel 

 beams warp and twist and pull down the building several minutes 

 before the wooden beams would be burnt to the breaking point, 

 that is, provided, the wooden beams have a sectional area of at 

 least 72 square inches, and are spaced four feet or more from 

 centers. Cast iron columns will also generally fail in a fire sooner 

 than wooden posts." 



The architect specifies and gets the steel he wants. He speci- 

 fies and gets the cement or stone he wants, we get certificates if 

 we want them. Now he wants to specify and get the lumber 

 he wants, and where there is not any architect on the work, then 

 I think it is up to the lumberman to find out the kind of lum- 

 ber the owner should have and see that he takes it, explaining 

 to him why he should have it, and refusing to sell him any other 

 kind, and save failure and thereby help "honest lumber." 



The Illinois Society of Architects has prepared and adopted 

 standard specifications for structural lumber. This relieves the 

 architect of much detail work, and of the necessity of working 

 out over and over again specifications for successive work. These 

 are not new grading rules for lumber men. They are only intended 

 for the guidance of architects, and the proper use of association 



