The Washington herald., 1921-11-13
ideal" SINGH
WALL FINDS TOP
PLACE In REALTY
Cites Great London Fire
AS Example of Unsafe
Dwellings.
TIMBER DIMINISHES
Urges More Brick Homes So
That Country Can Con-
serve Lumber.
~ WILLIAM CARVER.


Brick. as you know, 10 one Of the
most ancient Of all the building ma
tsrials and one Of the most endur-
ing. Marble crumbles into dust of
carbonate of lime; granite disinte-
CRATES into mica, quartz and fields
par; but we'll burned brick endures
forever in the ancient landmarks
Of mankind" says Sir Charles Lyell
in his book. The Antiquities of
Man" Many modern towns in Asia
Manor are built with the brick
taken from the ruins Of buildings
dating from almost prehistoric
times: and the bricks made here to-
day are made from the same ma
terial-clay-burne in the same
way. The details of handling the
material have. Of course. been inn
proved but the basic principle Of
manufacture has always been the
same.-N. r. z. J.
When America was first settled
the pioneers found the country COW
cred with forests. Lumber was so
plentiful and so handy that natural
ly IL was the material used in the
building Of the majority OF homes.
But not OF all homes. Some OF the
settlers had very acute recollection
of the great fire OF London, which
destroyed that city completely,
most OF the houses and other build
ings being OF wood. A new city
of bricks and mortar rose on the
ashes OF the medieval wooden city;
and the lessons learned in that fire
were responsible for the fact that
Philadelphia, for instance, started
out TO be a city OF brick homes. and
enjoys that characteristic today.
But in the main American homes
and American towns were built OF
wood. and in spite Of changed and
changing conditions wood Is the
principal material used today. I
firmly believe that this Is more be-
cause of habit than for any other
reason.
1t is matter Of speculation,
| however. as to how long America
can indulge Its habit OF building
with frame. The Secretary Of Ag-
riculture said recently: Three
fifths OF the original timber Of the
United States Is gone and we are
using timber four times as fast as
we are growing IT, The United
States II not only cutting heavily
into its remaining virgin forests
every year but is also using I'D the
smaller material upon which our
future supply Of saw timber de-
Ponds much more rapidly than II Is
being replaced" Every citizen has
| vital interest in the question Of
how the timbr can best be con-
served.
A large quantity OF, wood always
must be used in the construction
Of a brick house-for joists. floors
| and trim. Nothing Is so suitable
| and probably nothing will soon take
the place OF wood for these pur-
poses. But protect all this wood
work with enduring walls Of ma
sonry and II will have its period of
usefulness multiplied four times or
more as general average. BY
building more brick homes we will
be on the road to lumber conserva-
tion in Its truest sense.
The first thing a man says Is
this: "A brick house will cost me
more and I can't afford IT," The
association with which am con-
nected has recently developed an
entirely new type Of brick con-
struction which actually costs no
more than ordinary construction.
but for the present we will deal
with the brick houses built the
traditional way, with solid walls.
An average siX-room house of
brick in most localities costs not
more than $500 or $500 more than
n similar house OF frame Some con-
tractors. unfamiliar with brick con-
structfon and possibly afraid OF
starting something new. have
habit of stating off-hand that a
brick house will cost a large per-
centage over frame. But an Item
lied estimate will show that the
difference cannot be so great. The
foundation, chimneys and the whole
inside construction OF the house Ia
exactly the same whatever con-
struction is used, only the outside
walls laying the bricks is produc-
tive of very surprising results. II
saves IS per cent of the brick, so
per cent of the mortar and elimi-