Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-16
CEMENT CONES TO THE FORE
Buildings Erected Swiftly and ohssply by
the New Process.
BUILDING MATERIAL PROBLEM SOLVED
Marvellous Expansion of Concrete
Construction In the East-va-
riety OF Uses-Bxpert Labor
Not Needed.

Unless all signs fall. one of the greatest
problems OF the age has been solved
that is. what will be the building material
OF the future The answer is cement.
But for cement. many large building
operations would be at a standstill, for
wood has become too expensive to be
used In house construction, and the en-
forced wait for all kinds OF structural
steel virtually eliminates that material
where quick work Is desired.
Almost everything can be done with
cement, and with incredible swiftness and
cheapness of price. The new process. tho
mixing OF cement sand and gravel with
cinders or broken stone. flooded with water
from a hose, is being used TO build houses,
raise giant hotels, build the piers and
bridges for railroads. erect barns, lay side
walks Ak a girder or fashion a chimney
cap.
Almost anything is possible to the new
material.
Probably the best instance Of working
against time with cement as a medium is
shown in the experience Of an Atlantic
City hotel company. They wanted
structure 400 feet long. RS feet wide and
1854 feet high. 1t was to be elaborate. and
TO have capacity for 100 guests Bids
were asked for a steel building. and not
only were the prices lofty. but the delay
In getting the giriers and other structural
parts made II a certainty that a couple OF
years must pass before the new hotel could
be ready for guests.
Big Hotel Completed I'm Eight Months.
In this predicament the proprietors had
recourse to the new process OF reinforced
cement The work went with gratifying
celerity. In eight months and three days.
without the loss of life, the new hotel
was completed. 1t is a work OF genuine ar
chitectural beauty. the pride Of the City
by-the-Sea, and as great an expert as
Thomas Alva Edison, after going over tho
structure from cellar to the Moorish dome,
said that II was the first perfect building
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 question
Of fire insurance. The underwriters who
examined Atlantic Citys new model hotel
were so well pleased that they made a
price per cent lower than for other hotels
of the same class. 4.
The farmer or suburbanite, who contem-
plates building home. always looks at the
fire question thoughtfully. for in outlying
districts there is little facility for lighting
flames, and once they get hold, an inham-
mable building is likely to be destroyed.
But home built of cement cannot burn.
for the reason that there is nothing to be
consumed, except the interior furnishing.
and enough insurance to cover the cost
OF these decorations and furnishings Is
really about ell that Is needed in such
cases.
A Staten Island man. who recently put
UP cement house at q cost of ss.15,
most elaborate and pretentious country
homo. estimated that the outlay would
have been 5000 greater for o frame house.
and with that kind of building would have
been the ever present danger Of total de-
struction by fire.
A cement house does away with all need
of plaster and lathing. Paper can be put
right over the walls. or II preferred. they
can be frescoed OF otherwise decorated.
Building such a house does not require
much expert labor. The army OF metal
workers. bricklayers, carpenters and other
artisans required In wood or steel con-
struction, is almost completely done away
with on a cement building. All that IL
needed is an expert to superintend the mix
ing of the cement. and a carpenter and
staff to construct the molds or frame work
into which the soft cement is poured.
/ Once a cement house is finished the work
| is done. and done TO stay. according to
all natural laws. IN a century the building
ought to be in as good shape as eyer. There
is nothing TO rot OF fall into need OF repairs.
The building does not have to 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 replac-
ing because they have rotted. Wooden
porch posts are always rotting.
| While the building OF low priced con-
crete houses is still In fits infancy the
farmer has been so impressed with the idea
that he is extending It to his barns and
outbuildings. and finding that 1t works
admirably.
II more than one concrete building Is
put up by the farmer, he can use his same
wooden forms over and over again, and II
there is a stone crusher in the neighbor-
hood he can utilize in making his concrete
the old stone walls OF the neighborhood, or
the thousands Of stones that are constantly
being impelled to the surface OF the cholo-
est pasture land.
\ Building by concrete does away with
many of the city's noises. The terrific
pounding on steel girders that marks the
erection OF a metal building is absent when
concrete is used. In fact. one apartment
of a hotel has been occupied with complete
absence OF any discomfort to the guests
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