322 



SELLING LUMBER 



Vfihere Brick 



Displaces 



Wood 



A Fact That 



Legislators 



Forget 



After a Fire 

 in Germany 



Wood Substitutes 



By H. S. Sackett 



Forester, National Lumber Manufacturers' 



Association 



Chicago, 111. 



The principal wood substitutes are brick, steel, concrete, fibre 

 board and patent roofings. There are also some others of lesser 

 importance, such as metal lath and terra cotta. 



Brick displaces wood mainly in home and factory construc- 

 tion, and in large cities in the construction of apartment and flat 

 buildings, its principal use being for both exterior and interior 

 walls. It is used especially for this purpose on account of its fire- 

 resistant properties and its tendency to lessen or make more diffi- 

 cult the spread of fire. It should not be lost sight of, however, 

 that after a fire has attacked a building the one with brick walls 

 is more difficult to fight than the one made of wood, owing to the 

 fact that the walls are harder for the firemen to get through, and 

 furthermore, because they form a veritable chimney for the fire 

 itself. The use of brick has very greatly increased during the 

 past few years, not so much because the home builder or the fac- 

 tory builder has demanded it, or wanted it, but rather owing to 

 the fact that legislation has compelled its use. Cities and thickly 

 settled communities are constantly extending their fire limits, and 

 this necessitates the use of greater quantities of brick, and there- 

 fore less wood. In all this agitation the legislators forget one vital 

 fact, and that is, it is the contents and not the building itself, that 

 causes the fire, and with so-called fireproof construction the tend- 

 ency is toward even greater carelessness, and therefore more fires 

 a situation which is borne out by actual facts. If we could ever 

 advance in this country to the high efficiency of the Germans, 

 what a wonderful forward step we could make! In Germany, 

 for example, when a home builder has a fire the first person that 

 visits him after the occurrence of the fire is the police department, 

 and he is immediately put under arrest, and unless he can prove 

 to the satisfaction of the court that he had nothing whatever to 

 do with the fire or its cause,* he is liable to imprisonment and fine. 

 In any event, he is obliged to pay all damages which the fire may 

 have caused to his neighbor's property, and also for the use of the 



