The Washington herald., 1908-08-08
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

The National Architectural Exposition
TO be held the middle OF next month at
Madison Square Garden, New YORK Of
fers exceptional advantages 10 clay work
ers, and since It is the first Of its kind in
this country It is safe 10 prophesy that
brickmakers VIII not be slow to take ad-
vantage Of It Where three hundred years
ago brick vas brought over as ballast in
tobacco ships to build Virginia and Caro-
lima homes. or was imported by New Eng
land al great expense. the brick industry
IS now one OF the greatest in the United
States. The reports Of the United States
Geological Survey show that only three
other mineral products-pig iron, copper.
and bItuTnirous coai-exceed in value the
output OF the clay beds Of this country.
Of the clay products, brick, tiles, and pot
tery. the common brick leads with an an
nUal output on the market OF ten billions.
The value Of This product amounts 10
over s50. .00oeoo a year. and the prices vary
from SA50 per thousand. New Yoriz's price
this summer for brick. to the $50 per thou
sand that a Santa Rosa firm is paying for
white enameled brick being made at the
Tesla (CaI) yards IN recent years the
demand FOR brick has been greater than
that for any other building material To
supply this. 5000 workmen are employed
n the various manufacturing plants scat
tered throughout every State OF the Union,
sending out as many as 1000 brick per
day from some yards. The fire loss II
the United States last year was 800, co, ,005
more than the amount spent on new con
struction- The average loss per capita IS
$50 in the United States, against SO cents
in Europe. Last year ffty-fve OF the
leading cities OF this country suffered by
FIRE a loss amounting 10 sSS0. .6oo. .000. and
this the manufacturers OF brick believe
would have been reduced 20 e very low
figure II brick had been used as cOnstruc-
ton material and the houses properly
built
prompted thereto by the great fire losses
and BY the modern tendency toward sky
scrapers. the United States government
recently made a thorough tess OF building
materials. 20 determine Just which would
best stand the heat OF a great fire. The
engineer II charge OF the structural ma
terial laboratories OF the Geological Sur
vey made the tests in Chicago. All struc-
tural materials used IN modern buildings
were made each into the form OF a sliding
panel. and these formed the walls OF a
great furnace Air blasts forced gas
flames against these panels until a TEN
perature of LOO degrees Fahrenheit was
secured. and Il was kept at this point for
two hours more Water was then turned
on Z with e pressure Of fifty pounds 20
the square inch and the results Of the ex-
pertinent carefully noted None OF The
panels passed unscathed, but hydraulic
brick stood the test best OF all Nature S
own building materials Jared more sadly
than the manufactured, sandstone crum-
bling hopelessly away under the ordeal
Fifty per cent OF the new brick split Up.
From 50 TO 70 per cent OF the Old brick
were not damaged; % per cent OF all brick
remained uncrushed-
Aside from the fact that the govern
ment IS necessarily interested IN protect
ing the 12,o0oeO0 OF more buildings that
harbor its citizens and their property. Il
has many valuable ones Of its own 70 care
Cor II owns buildings valued al 500. .o00, =
60 and Is spending S20.0000e0 a year on
new ones. Naturally II wishes Are-resist-
Ing materials, for Il carries no fire iasur-
ance- The government owns the one ab-
soluteIy hrepr0of building Of all the nil
lions In this country. This is the Pension
Ofhce IN Washington, a gigantic red brick
building. the largest Of this material in
the world It IS not notable for its
beauty, and It IS said that when Gen
Sherman saw 4 and was told that Il was
absolutely freproof he purpose1y rnisun-
derstood the pridefuI import Of the words
and sadly murmUred. What a pieyl'' De
spite the annual alarming FIRE loss. last
years building figures show that 81 Per
cent OF the houses put Up were still Of
wooden construction Despite its returned
prosperity, the nation IS not yet quite
able 70 afford all brick OF stone houses for
It's people. as the average brick house
built last year cost a little over 5000 and
the average wooden house only a fourth
as much The panic Of last fan left its
impress On the building statistics. for all
the leading cities fell OF IN this respect
except San Francisco, whose operations
increased I62 Per cent in a comnendabIe
effort 70 recover from her great ca5as-
trophe
The brick Industry received a great in
petus II California Just after the san
Francisco fire. and soft-mud brickyards
sprang up Ike mushrooms in the territory
cOntnguous 10 the city It was believed
that there would be a local demand for
all the output and last year 10000 90
brick were made These plants almost
denOralized trade for awhile. and when
it was found that San Francisco had not
yet learned her lesson and had begun TO
put up many wooden buildings. half the
brick remained unsold and half the plants
could now close without damage 70 the
market One thing the san Francisco
yards had not figured on was the use Of
SO many Of the old brick n the new con-
struction-
The brick manufacturer usually caters
20 local trade, but after a government
test that declared certain Pennsylvania
brick OF superior grade. several carloads
have been sent out across the continent
70 the Mare Island Navy Yard. New
York's decrease Of nearly q per cent in
building operations in the year past had
its telling effect On the great number Of
b-ickyards that lie near the Hudson.
Many sold Al cost. and even below cost.
where g steady rate OF IS per thousand
had usually obtained.
On the other hand. Denver almost suf-
fered a brick famine early this summer.
having cleaned Up every brick in her
yards. while builders clamored for more
IN Seattle the yards have run at their fun
limit for the past year The lowest
priced brick market n the Middle and
Southern States is Nashville, where a
n1illion-dollar business IS done and where
q thousand laborers are kept at steady
employment One Of the largest single or
oers ever given for brick is that being