Evening journal., 1906-09-19
BUILDING PROBLEM
SOLVED BY CEMENT
With the New Process StFuC-
lures Can Be Erected
Swiftly and Cheaply

I'h'A N+NA'AAH MRNANi DN 0A a. NAAINrNllii AUF
wood has become too expensive to be
used in house construction, and tho
enforced wait for an kinds of structural
steel virtually eliminates that material
where quick work Is desired.
Almost everything can be done with
cement, and with incredible swiftness
land cheapness of price. The new pro-
cess, the mixing of cement, sand and
gravel with cinders or broken stone.
Hooded with water from a hose Is being
used to build houses, raise giant hotels.
build the piers and bridges for rail-
roads erect barns, lay sidewalks. fix a
lgirder or fashion a chimney cap.
The new Union Bank building AZ
Eighth and Market streets is being
built by the process.
The best instance of working against
time with cement as a medium is
shown I'm the experience OF an Atlantic
lCity hotel company. They wanted a
struoture 400 feet long. 125 feet wide
land 164 feet high. 1t was to be clabo-
lrate and to have a capacity for 1900
guests. Bids were asked for a steel
building, and not only were the prices
lofty but the delay in getting the grid
lers and other structural parts made
III a certainty that "a couple OF years
must pass before the new hotel could be
ready for guests.
Hotel Completed in Eight Months.
In this predicament the proprietors
had recourse to the new process Of re-
linforced cement. The work went with
Gratifying celebrity. In eight months
and three days. without the loss of a
life, the new hotel was completed II
Iis work of genuine architectural
beauty, the pride of the City-by-the-
Sea and as great an expert as Thomas
Alva Edison after going over the struc-
ture from cellar to the Moorish dome
said that IL was the first perfect build
sng he had ever seen. and that It was
built of a material destined to be the
great staple of the future
The concrete building solves the
lquestion of fire insurance. The under
writers who examined Atlantic City's
new model hotel were so well pleased
that they made a price per cent. lower
than for other hotels of the same class.
The farmer or suhurbanite who COM
templates building a house ever looks
at the fire question thoughtfully, for in
outlying districts there is little facility
: for fighting flames. and once they get
bold, an inhammable building is likely
to be destroyed. But a house built of
lcement cannot burn for the reason that
I there is nothing TO be consumed. ex-
: lcept the interior furnishing, and
enough insurance to cover the cost of
these decorations and furnishings is
really about all that is needed in such
cases.
a Staten Island man. who recently
put up a cement house al a cost OF
! S3S75. a most elaborate and pretentions
! country home. estimated that the out
lay would have been $4,000 greater foi
frame house and with that kind ol
building would haYe been the ever
g present danger OF total destruction by
!, fire
e a cement house does away with all
E need Of plaster and lathing. Paper can
, be put right over the walls. or II pre-
ferred they can be frescoed or other
wise decorated
Building such house does not re-
quire much expert labor. The army OF
r metal workers. bricklayers. carpenters
! and other artisans. required in wood or
Z steel construction. Is almost completely
! done away with on a cement building
r All that is needed is an expert to SUI
: perintend the mixing OF the cement. and
- a carpenter and staff to construct the
molds or frame work into which tho
soft cement is poured.
Once the cement house is finished the
work is done, and done to stay, accord
ing to all natural laws. In n century
the building ought to be in as good
shape as ever. There is nothing 10
rot or fan into need OF repairs. The
2 building does not have 10 be painted
yearly as in the case of wood, or gone
over for rust, as in the case of steel
The foundations and pillars never need
b replacing because they have rotted.
! Wooden porch posts are always rotting
While the building of low priced con-
! crete houses is still in its infancy, the
5 farmer has been, impressed with the
E idea so that he IS extending il 10 his
r barns and outbuildings. and finding
that It works admirably
E If more than one concrete building is
Z put up by the farmer he can use his
same wooden forms over and over
! again. and If there is a stone crusheT
r in the neighborhood. he can utilize I'm
. making his concrete the old stone walls
of the neighborhood or the thousands
of stones that are constantly being inn
PEELED to tfs surface Of the choicest
pasture land
Building by concrete does away with
many of the city's noises The terrific
pounding on steel girders that marks
E the erection of a metal building is alb
sent when concrete is used In fact
one apartment Of a hotel mas been oc-
a cupied with complete absence Of any
i discomfort to the guests while new
: walls OF concrete were being put VI
within q few feet
! Railroad Bridges Of Cement.
The big railroads are all adopting
the cement bridge. 1t is cheaper, more
enduring. more quickly erected, and II
; releases the builders from slavery &c
n the steel mills.
d The tremendous boom in cemen
B: building is shown by the difference II
/; the output Of cement now and eigh
5. years ago In 1897. this country pro
c duced about million and a half bar.
n rels Last year this had grown Z
= ltwenty-six and half million. and th'
5. total for 1906 will exceed even tni
I great amount.
d Fortunately the supply is virtual.
r unlimited The Lehigh Valley region Il
# Pennsylvania alone can turn out 90.
Z, 600 600 barrels a year Indefinitely.
I, Cement was found in this country a