The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-05-27

Ontainers-milllOns Of wood 1 boxes
and fibre cases, and the IAe. are
thrown away or broken up for kim
ding after only one or two trips.
While we are spending hundreds Of
thousands of dollars of federal, state
and even municipal funds to protect
the forests against fires, still few
people even give a thought 20 the
$120,00O,000 kindling wood pile Of
discarded containers.
"Although we spend a great deal
of money to safeguard the forests
against fires, the entire annual loss
from such fires in the United States
averages only 100000 according to
the official bulletins from Washing
ton. This is less than. six per cent
of the waste on packing cases,
"Of course, a few OF the boxes
made of fibre are sent back to the
pulp mills to be ground over, but
from only those concerns which do
a large enough business to make |
such returns in quantities worth
while.
"The most use that is derived from
thousands of the cases is their con-
version into kindling wood for poor .
families. The boxes often are thrown !
out on the sidewalks and it is a ia, |
mlliar sight in the cities to see WO- /
men and children knocking them to .
pieces and carrying them off 20 their /
homes. Sympathetic onlookers may /
feel that it is a worthy purpose to !
which to put the boxes, but is it not /
an cXtravagant form of charity? The /
stOrekeepers may be we'll pleased to !
be rid of the cases. When one con- |
siders, however, thai this waste is |
going on the country over, he is made /
to realize its enormous proportions.
"If wood and fibre boxes couI0 be |
given up entirely Tan impOssibiity, !
of course) it would mean that there
would be a saving of forest cutting |
of more than one-third of the cost
of all material entering into the
paper industry of this country. Such
a saving as this would tend to re-
lieve the paper shortage which is at
! feCting the newspapers and nearly
every other line of business.
at is difficult to conceive all the
material and labor thrown away year
after year in making more than 500
100000 shipping cases and boxes
which are destroyed after one trip,
bad if we were to have forests to
squander for all time. If this were
true, forest fires would also he Of
comparatively small concern. Ameri-
can of even middle life are old enough
to recall the prodiRal manner in
which trees were chopped down in
the old days, and they know from eX
perience that this policy of denuding
h. &c oEF
in greatly enhanced costs of lumber
and its by-products. New England
now is trying to conserve its supplies
eleventh hour, after having seen the
bad results of waste, reckless waste,
of a God-given supply.
"The national government has for
q number of years been spending mill
lions of dollars annually in creating
new federal reservations, conserving
against fires. Despite these facts,
we seem to have entirely overlooked
millions of dollars worth of standing
timber that is being wasted on boxes. /
zone feature, perhaps over empha-
sized during the past two years be
cause of the abnormal business de-
IliclIANlSs oAloQlh llbL ~ NilIlNN'tNN4 NlltbL
is, the constantly increasing cost of
wooden boxes and all lumber pro
ducts. Will not the cost keep on
gaining until it makes the cost of
one-trip containers prohibitive? LWm-
Der is going up, laborers are receiv-
ing more pay, and if this tendency
continues-and who shall say that it
will permanently halt?-then the
| business men, the railroads and the
! federal government will have to de
wise some remedby. 1t will be neces-
! sary to lessen the use of the expen-
siv One-trip cases or to secure as a
substitute for them, containers that
| will be capable of number 81 trips.
Zone effect of the increased cost
of wooden boxes has been the sub
stitution Of the less substantial fibre
cases. In turn the wooden case
makers have been forced to slice
/ their stock thinner and thinner in
order to meet this connection for
( lessened cost and weight Each of
these moves has meant heavy loss
/ in tonnage for the railroads the COun-
try over. and also a tendency to larg-
/ err damage claims on account Of more
goods being crushed or stolen in