The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-10-13

bNNh I'M lOl SA Il 4uEluCC
of a little-known branch of government, the forest
products laboratory, situated at Madison, Wis.
MIR. Hallauer and his associates hope to teach this
country how to save two billions Of dollars an
nually.
He is confident that it can be done; that is, that
the annual cut of wood, now valued at two bill
lions, can be made into articles of use which at
present prices would bring double that amount.
1t Is a man-size job, but the confident engineer
points proudly to unbelievably vast economies al
ready effected in the wood trades through the
work of the forest products laboratory's chemists.
They are in such terms that 1t would be hard to
tabulate the exact savings, but there is little
doubt that they run over $780, 000,0 900 a year.
Few persons outside the wood trades know of
the laboratory, the first of it's kind ever to be es-
tablfshed, but which has been initiated in a mum.
Der of countries since it began operation. Its
annual appropriation is small for the work it
does; something less than $500, OOO.
The laboratory is now looked upon to save the
paper situation of the country, and it cheerfully
tackles the job. Only recently announcement was
made In Washington that the laboratory had dis
covered that good grades of paper can be made
from a number of far Western woods and that
Wisconsin paper mills were already ordering
trainloads of wood chips from the West for paper
pulp. The cost of freight to Wisconsin is more
than offset by the cheapness of the chips, and the
paper thus made is expected to prove q consider
able factor in relieving the paper famine.
A visitor who leaves Mr.. Hallauer can scarce
ly believe that there is anything which cannot be
made from wood.
How about the cabled story that the Germans
have discovered a food they can make from wood
which they are feeding to Russian prlsoners?'
was the first question asked.
almost surely not true" he said. 1.-THE hui
man stomach cannot stand 1t. 1t is possible to
convert sawdust into cattle food, and that was
probably the foundation for the story"
But Germany from her forests is obtaining such
~ rnct,Itc thnN a. n- 49, Ea-IlaI -.{A. ~
suggested impractically, England were to destroy
Germany's forests, the war would surely end
very soon. Artificial cotton is one of the things
which are being supplied from wood. Paper shirts
are also being used, but then Japan is supplying
these to the Russian soldiers.
Germany has been driven to extreme use of her
forests by necessity, but no country with the ex-
ception of Germany has made such a systemati
effort at developing forest products as the United
States.
Charcoal for the manufacture OF black gun
powders is being obtained from dogwood, willow
and alder. Great quantities of alcohol and ether
are made from imported molasses, but If we were
cut off from this raw material we could depend
upon the forests. Alcohol could also be made from
grain, but In war times grain would be required
for food. 1t is estimated that during the present
year 100000 gallons of denatured alcohol will
be used at home, while huge quantities are being
exported.
The use of wood for gunstocks is. generally ia
mlliar. Our supply of seasoned black walnut, the
most suitable wood for the purpose, has been en-
tirely exhausted by the heavy demands of Europe.
Heretofore the practice has been to let g%unstock
material air season for months before 1t would
be worked up. Time became so important that
artificial seasoning was resorted to-, but improper
methods destroyed too much of the material.
The forest products laboratory has now per-
fected dry kilns which overcome the trouble, and
as a further aid is perfecting methods Of using
other woods, notably birch, for gun stock. Then
there is the near relative of the gun stock, the
wooden leg, making heavy demands for willow.
Millions of feet of lumber and heavy timbers are
required In war times for structural purposes,
such as the erection of docks, bridges, trenches
and temporary shelters.
Disinfectants are now a necessity. They can
be made from wood. Pure wood alcohol is the
only substance that can be converted into for
maldehyde, universally used for disinfectlOn
against such contagious diseases as smallpox,
scarlet fever, ~diptheria and tuberculosis. 1t is
also used to prevent crop diseases by disinfecting
the seeds.
But the Importance of forest products for war
supplies in no way compares. with their import
ance for Industries. The largest of these are the
lumber. pulp, and paper, naval stores and dis
~tillation industries. They employ more than