Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-10-09
SUBSTITUTION OF OTHER MATER
IALS FOR WOOD INCREASING
Demands For Lumber Growing Daily.


Twenty-Five years ago lumber was
regarded as almost as much OF ne
cessity as wheat. while today it is
steadily being replaced by various
substitutes, says a report by the
Forest Service on The Substitution
of Other Materials for Wood" just of
the press. Disregarding the temper
airy effect of the war, with its sud
den demand for lumber and its great
enhancement of prices OF many sub
stitute materials, the report points
out the tendency in the long run.
Each year more steel, concrete.
brick, or tile is being used in places
where lumber was formerly employ
ed. This is particularly true in cities
where enactment of building codes
and the development of new forms of
construction have created a demand
for more durable building material.
Shingles have given way largely to
composition and tile roofings, wooden
sidewalks have been almost wholly
replaced by cement, while the mod
ern skyscraper with its steel frame
work, and stone, brick, or tile walls
occupies the site of some former
frame structure Railroad crossties
and mine props are about the only
forms of wood which are not affected.
How hard this substitution has hit
the lumber business is shown by the
government estimate that the total
replacement of lumber in all forms
of use is 5000, 900 board feet, or
ton of the United States in 1915. The
rate of substitution seems to be in
creasing and is now in excess of $780,
100000 board feet year. Approx
mately 20 per cent of the lumber cut
goes into forms of use whose de-
mands appear to be decreasing.
Twenty per cent more goes into
strongly competitive fields. In the
remaining ten per cent of wood uses,
there seems to be much better OPP
portunity for a larger consumption.
Increasing substitution has not,
however, lowered lumber prices to the
consumer, the report points out. On
the contrary they have steadily adj
vanced, while the cost of many sub
stitutes has decreased. Exhaustion
of the stands of local timber and dis
covery of new sources for the manu-
facture of other building materials
are given as some of the reasons for
these changes. More than rs per
cent of the replacement of wood,
however, is made in spite of higher
initial cost of the substitute.
The effect of the growing use of
other materials has been to accentu-
ate competition and decrease profits
in the lumber business. AS result
of this and other reasons, alternate
periods of curtailment and over
production have made the lumber
market unstable. This in turn has
resulted to the disadvantage not
only of the persons whose money is
invested in timber and sawmills, but
to the many hundred thousands who
are dependent upon the lumber in
dustry for their living.
Lumbermen have felt, it is said, the
effect of the replacement of their
product by other materials, but have
not realized the extent to which it
had taken place. They have failed to
adopt aggressive selling methods and
have been unable to supply the con-
sumner with reliable information re-
garding lumber, because they did not
have it, A complicated system of
rrodac ic II, ,Yca which ic MT intalIi-
gible to the average consumer and is
even the subject of considerable dis
pute among lumbermen.
Manufacturers of other building
material have spent large sums of
money TO obtain reliable information
about their products. They have had
to advertise extensively to make
place in the sun" for themselves.
Substitutes for lumber are guaran
teed to meet specifications which are
easily understood by the consumer
These facts, the report states, have
combined to make the substitutes in
creasingly popular.
For lumbermen to hold their mar
kets against competing materials, it
will be necessary for them to learn
more about the fundamental proper
ties of wood, the author of the re
port says. They can do this either by
scientific research for themselves or
by cooperating with agencies al
ready established Better manufac-
turing and selling methods, and the
development of by-products should
enble them to make profit in spite
of the limitations on the prices of
lumber which may be Endorsed by
competing substitutes.
Even with the increasing substitu-
ton for wood, the report points out,
there will be need for all the wood in
the United States, and more The to-
tai consumption of the country for
many years has been far in excess of
the growth. Already in many regions
timber shortage and high prices have
followed the exhaustion of the local
supply. From the public standpoint
there is a real need for growing for
ests vastly larger than are now plan
ned for