204 GEOLOGY OF OHIO 



are essentially the same size, shape and weight although manufactured by- 

 twenty different companies. This growth of the block manufacture 

 would have been much more marked, except for one thing, that is, the 

 disposition of the culls. 



Block culls are not a merchantable article and are disposed of at a 

 sacrifice. The- culls of the common brick size and shape, while not pro- 

 fitable to the maker, are not usually a source of loss to him, for they are 

 a desirable building material when soft and when hard are in good de- 

 mand for foundations, vaults, sewers and side-wall use, and in fact any 

 place where exposed service is demanded. 



In consequence of this fact, block-makers have had an uphill fight f 

 and they deserve far greater credit than the}' receive, on account of what 

 they have done to raise the standard of the material. 



The future of this great industry largely depends on the concen- 

 trated efforts of paving brick makers to keep up the high grade of their 

 wares. To sell a soft and imperfect article, merely because the purchrser 

 is ignorant of what he wants, or because the contractor who is putting 

 the pavement down, hopes to hoodwink the citizens who pay for the 

 street by putting in an inferior material because he makes more out of it, 

 is not only an act of dishonesty on the part of the manufacturer but .is 

 short-sighted policy, as well. 



If brick are put in at one-half the cost of granite or asphalt and last 

 only one-quarter as long, the market will be largely reduced after the 

 first crop of streets begins to fail. On account of this fact, the manufac- 

 ture of blocks rather than brick, and the use of ever} 7 means to prevent 

 the sale of soft or imperfect material for paving purposes ought to be the 

 policy of the manufacturer. By making paving blocks popular, the 

 market for brick will be damaged; brick of the proper kind are con- 

 stantly liable to be mixed with low grade brick, which are difficult to 

 recognize or cull out, It is the constant temptation of the maker who 

 is selling two kinds of brick of the same size and shape, to sell just as 

 many as he can for the highest price. Paving brick are worth about 

 twice as much as building brick, and when both are manufactured at the 

 same yard it is a moral impossibility to get a shipment of uniformly 

 high quality. 



On the other hand, the public is entitled to the advantage to be de- 

 rived from large blocks and at the lowest cost which will enable the 

 manufacturer to make a fair profit on his business. It is unfair that the 

 makers of large blocks should be compelled to charge the public a price 

 sufficient to pay for the loss of his culls. What is recommended in the 

 joint production of vitrified blocks and bricks at the same time. In 

 down draft kilns set twenty-five courses high, the average paving brick 

 burn will not include over seventy-five per cent, of thoroughly first class 

 paving brick. Of the twenty-five per cent, culls, the twenty per cent, is 

 soft material in the bottom and around the sides of the kiln out of the 



