Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-01-11
Making Wood Do More Work
By Frederic j. Haskin
7 ASHINGTON, Jan. ITO make two
\ trees grow where one grew before

| wv ASHINGTON, Jan. To MAKE Two
w trees grow where one grew before
w is in general the aim of the United
States forest service, but that branch OF 1t
known as the forest products laboratory, at
Madison, Wis, has demonstrated the POSI-
bility of doubling the wood supply In erect
in another way-by making one tree do the
work, or furnish the amount of material,
that two trees did before
The forest products laboratory was started
as a branch of the forest service, working
comparatively with the University or
Wisconsin, in 1910, with about eighty
employees The number of employees
was subsequently increased to about
500, but due to small appropriations given
the laboratory and the rise in salaries and
all other costs, it now has little more than
half that number of employees Industrial
concerns have learned the value Of it's work,
and are applying to it in considerable num-
bers for aid, but most Of these requests must
| be refused. No less than 1873 SUCH spectre
requests for assistance from business con-
Germs have been received in the last eight
months Most of them have necessarily been
refused. Nearly all of the business concerns
were willing to pay for the services they re-
quested, but even 1t was impossible to
render them because there were not fac1l1-
ties enough available.
Research Stopped
And this inability to meet the specific re-
quests of business is a small part Of the diff
ficulty Research work which could uti-
mately save the country millions OF dollars
has been stopped for lack Of funds. In this
situation the forest products laboratory ap-
peals to congress and to the country for bet
ter support, and offers facts and figures to
prove that it is worth it.
It's case is worth considering because it is
typical. Many other constructive govern
mental activities, which pay large dividend
in actual increased production of industry,
are being starved out just as the forest prod
ucts laboratory is, while enormous amounts
are asked for army and navy support, for the
enforcement Of prohibition and for other nom
constructive activities.
| 1t is not meant to imply that these are not
needed. But appropriations of this sort, and
those by. which the congressman hopes to
bring money into his own section, such as
river and harbor appropriations, seem to pass
with little criticism, while the much smaller
needs of the government for constructive
scientific work are attacked as rank extrava-
gance.
Thus the forest products laboratory dur
ing the entire ten-year period Of its existence,
has cost the nation but 100000. It claims
to have repaid this many times over by Gre
ating new taxable values. For example, the
| claims actually paid by the railroads for loss
| and damage to goods in transit amounts to
| 81 90, 900, 900 annually. The forest products
laboratory found that large part of this
loss due simply to a wrong method OF
mailing covers on boxes. An improved method
| of mailing has been worked out by the labo-
ton of Box Manufacturers and through them
| by many companies and shippers. 1t 1s
pointed out that if this method results in
saving of but 1 per cent, it will be worth
million year to the nation.
Millions Saved
Again, it is a matter of record that during
the war experiments conducted at the Sabo-
ratory in making water-resistant CLUES and
in the use of plywood saved the war depart
ment $6,000,000. Investigations made at
| 1oI0 oct IN no
use of cotton hull fiber and second cut cot
| ton linters for pulp have made available
| 5000 tons of material for this purpose.
Plants for making paper pulp out Of this
new material have been established, with
| total capacity of 300 tons day. and the an
nual sales value of their product is SIS ,000,-
| 600. The laboratory has made study of
| the methods of taking turpentine from pine
| trees, with the result that methods have
come into use which yield more turpentine
| and destroy less timber. The average an
nual saving resulting fro mthis work is $4,-
| 100000 per year. In these and other ways
the laboratory claims to have increased pro-
duction and decreased waste to the amount
of at least 100000 a year.
What the laboratory asks is that small
percentage of the wealth which it has
ated be given back to it for doing new con-
structive work The tasks that await it are
| far larger and more important than those it
| has done.
l
place is an enormous one The lumber and
wood-using industries in this country repre-
sent investment of $4,000, 000, 900, they
employ about million people; they are first
among the nations industries in the number
| of employees and second in the invested CAPT.
| tai and in the annual value of their products.
Our civilization is built of wood as much as
of steel, and there is no substitute for wood
in most of the ways it is used. We face a
| constant dwindling Of the source of supply.
| The economical use Of wood is second in i'm
| portance among industrial problems only to
the establishment of sound forest policy.
Waste of Wood
And we waste wood from the time the
tree is cut until the finished product is put
on the market. Logging operations in the
woods are enormously wasteful. Losses in
| the seasoning of wood in this country are
estimated at $50,000,000 annually. The use
| Of preservative processes on ties, poles, pill
| ing, mine timbers shingles, lumber and other
| wood exposed to the weather would save the
country about $75,O00,0O year. The an
nual loss from fire in this country is about
$200,000,000 year. A large part of this is
| in wooden structures, and large part Of it
could be avoided BY the use of fire-retarding
paints and compounds and fire-resisting con-
struction. With the country facing a paper
shortage which is rapidly putting books be-
yond the reach of all but the we'll to do, SIS
per cent of the wood fed into the pulp d.
gesters is now lost in the waste sulphite
liquors.
| These are only some of the problems which
the wood-using industries face. All Of these
wastes are in some degree unavoidable. The
ways Of avoiding most of them are already
known in theory, have been demonstrated
eXperim entally. What is needed is further