PERMANENT ADVANTAGES OF WOOD The clever and persistent advertising given to many substitutes for wood and timber might lead the reader to think that in a few years lumber will be either unnecessary or unobtainable. Wooden sidewalks went out of fashion long ago; wooden buildings and shingle roofs are not permitted in restricted sections of cities; boxes of paper and fiber are used in place of boxes formerly made of boards; steel passenger and freight cars and concrete culverts and bridges are common; while structures of concrete, brick, or tile are found on the farms, and steel row-boats glide about the pleasure parks. As a matter of fact, wood has been so cheap and abundant in the United States that it has been used for a multitude of temporary purposes, and often for purposes for which other products are better suited.
Another stage of economic development has now been reached. Wood is taking its place as one of the finer materials, and the coarser uses are being given over to coarser products. This makes it possible to have a relatively larger supply of wood for the purposes for which it is unquestionably the most suitable material. No doubt, also, some of the present use of substitutes is a temporary fad, and public favor will eventually return sensibly to the earlier material.
The permanent advantages offered by wood may be summed up as follows: (1) Its general availability. Wood is a natural product more widely distributed and more easily obtainable than any other structural material which the earth affords. The multiplicity of purposes for which it is used is surprising, even to those best informed upon the subject. A recent study of the wood-using industries of Illinois showed that in the factories of that State white oak is used for 276 distinct purposes; that hard maple has 164 functions in these same factories; that birch is used in the manufacture of 154 different articles; and that red oak, longleaf pine, red gum, yellow poplar, white pine, and basswood are each used for 100 to 140 different purposes. Moreover, the new uses developed for wood yearly through discovery and invention, offset to some extent the lessened demand because of substitutes in other directions. For example, the use of wood block paving is rapidly increasing.
(2) Wooden structures can be altered and moved, or built over, more easily and cheaply than can structures of any other material.
(3) Wood is very strong for its weight, compared with other structural materials. The average weight of the woods ordinarily used is some 30 pounds per cubic foot; that of iron and steel is 14 to 15 times as much. This is a great advantage in handling. A bar of hickory greatly surpasses in tensile strength a bar of steel of the same weight and length. Similarly, a block of hickory or longleaf pine will sustain a much greater weight in compression than a block of wrought iron of the same height and weight. Indeed, practically any piece of sound, straight-grained, dry wood is stronger than steel, weight for weight. Moreover, wood will sustain a far greater distortion of shape than metal, without suffering permanent injury; while, of course, no such distortion can be sustained by either concrete or clay products.
(4) Wood is easily worked with common tools, while to work the metals requires special tools and much power and time. Anyone with saw and plane and auger can build a structure of wood; an ironworker is a skilled mechanic whose services come high.
(5) Wood is a non-conductor of heat and electricity, as compared with metal; and of moisture, as compared with ordinary concrete and brick. These are points for serious consideration in home building. They also explain why we prefer to sit on wooden seats, work at wooden desks, and eat at wooden tables.
(6) Wood does not contract and expand with changes of temperature, while its tendency to shrink and swell with atmospheric conditions can be completely overcome by proper seasoning and painting; hence wood can be made to "stay where it is put." (7) Wood has a varied and beautiful figure with which no other material can hope to compete, for furniture, house trim, and general decorative purposes. It gives a comfortable, homey atmosphere that can be obtained in no other way.
(8) Wood offers a combination of strength, toughness, and elasticity not possessed by- any other material. Imagine, if one can, a base ball bat, a golf club, or an ax handle of anything but wood.
No matter how great may be the inroads of substitutes, wood will continue to be an essential component of articles of necessity, of luxury, and of sport. We shall always have it with us, and such increase in its cost as may be brought about by natural causes will only serve to make the many intrinsic qualities of wood more highly appreciated.