Evening star., 1922-06-11
TRADE STANDARDS BRING
u. S. TREMENDOUS SAVING
Scores of Industries Already Applying
Hoover Plan to Eliminate Waste
in Time and Money.
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.


| Tremendous economic savings have
! been made and the wheels of indus
| try speeded up through actual, prac-
| tical achievements already accom-
plished in Secretary Hoover's cam
paign for elimination of waste in in
| tasks toward making and keeping
the United States prosperous. The
| first big, general, outstanding result
| of this intensive campaign which CO.
ordinates all factors in the Industrial
and economic life Of the country will
be observable before long in the
building industry. meeting the serious
United States.
| The entire program is so big and
so comprehensive that it takes time
to get it all co-ordinated and worked
out, and can be measured only
through illustrative units. For eS-
ample. the first move of the division
Of sirnplif1ed practice which Secretary
, Hoover organized with William A.
| Durgin as chief, to work with the
individual industries in having stand
ard sizes adopted. was to simplify
the basic materials in the building
industry. to expedite quantity pro-
duction to meet the unprecedented
housing need.
The brick manufacturers. in con-
ference with this agency of the gov
ernment, agrted upon a reduction
from sixty-six to eleven in the styles
and sizes of vitrified brick, and then
| were SO happy over what they had
done that on March 81 they made an
other cut from eleven to seven.
Found Beds Made
| In Over 200 Sizes.
| Another big actual accom- plishment
was In the bed. mattress and spring
industry. Various sizes of beds and
various sizes Of mattresses and vart-
| Gus sizes OF springs had complicated
business terribly all along the line
from factory to the sleeper. A sur
| vey showed variety in lengths and
| widths Of more than zoo in the four
general classes Of beds-wood, metal.
| institutional and cots. It was found
| that the so-called six-foot bed meant
anything from Ave feet six inches to
six feet four inches. A peculiar thing
brought out in the statistical studies,
| CLEANED from insurance data, was
that to accommodate the normal
length man a beds inside measure
ment had to be six feet two inches
! long. If a bed Is not that long about
40 per cent OF the people cannot use
it comfortably.
! So an agreement has been reached
| standard length-six feet two inches
| inside measurement. There are to be
four standard widths Of metal beds.
two widths in wooden beds and one
each in cots and institutional beds.
The reduction in styles and sizes of
bricks and beds has been given mere
ly as illustrations Of what is being
done in seventy-six different and
| widely separated fields OF commodi-
ties.
Standardization of packing boxes
has been one problem studied In con-
junction with the Standardization OF
lumber. because it will facilitate the
utilization Of a vast quantity Of lum-
Der that is now scrapped at the mills
burned under the boilers. because
there Is no market for short lengths
The national lumber conference which
met here several weeks ago definitely
agreed to work out Standardization OF
nomenclature, grades and sizes. Com
mittees were appointed representing
all the elements in the lumber industry
to sponsor such Standardization. An
expert in lumber is about to be ap-
pointed to work at the Department OF
Commerce in correlating all lumber
interests. Another lumber conference
Is to be called later to ratify the stand
ardization these committees work out
Far-ReachinE Effects
in Uses of Wood.
The lumber people have been very
responsive to Secretary Hoover's sug-
gestion and the effect will be far
reaching, affecting every conceivable
user Of lumber-the box manufactur.
'er, the maker of box cars, houses, rail-
road ties, telegraph poles, etc.
An ofr-shoot is the Standardization
Of sash and millwork. Preliminary
contacts have been made and a sur
vey Is about to be made as to the
actual varieties and sizes. A casua
survey shows that there are 40 vari'
ations in sizes OF sash.
The window glass manufacturers
a~I{ n
Of sash to complete their plans fol
making standard sizes. Also, the
building stone quarries have founo
that they can eliminate many wastes
il they can know the standard sizes
Of window openings. They can ther
cut the lintels in their own plant
instead Of shipping them in the rough
to be chiseled to fit on each particu-
lar Job.
Tho building hardware and paint
oil and varnish people are also CO.
ordinating their production to this
general scheme OF Standardization
In those two fields so closely iden-
titled with the building industry there
has been An unbelievable variety OF
products which has been a particular
hardship on the retailer, who has
been forced to carry big stocks. with
heavy money investment and slow
turnover. They are now studying tt
} soc just how much can be eliminated
and a conference is to be held early
this fall to announce the standard
varieties.