The enlarged and more convenient methods of making brick, as practised in the vicinity of the larger cities of the United States, came from necessity to meet the increased demand, owing to the growing of our building interests incident to the increase of our population. With the increased demand for building material in the eastern and northern portion of the country came a decrease in our lumber supply. Something had to be found to take the place of timber, and nothing could be so serviceable and durable as brick, or that would withstand the action of the elements so well.
During the past twenty-five years there has been created a demand for road-way paving brick. These brick differ from building brick in many particulars. The best of them do not absorb more than one per cent. of moisture, and are very hard —turning even a steel drill. Over 30o cities and towns have adopted this form of paving, which is a guarantee of its success.
The most popular kind of paving brick at present is the so called vitrified brick, made of some grade of shale. These are good paving material, and it is not the intention to say anything to their discredit ; but it must be granted by their friends and advocates, that they are not the only brick that make good pavements. Those who have studied the history of brick pave ments the most, know too well that the first pavements laid, and those that gave brick their present popularity as a material for street pavements, were not made of shale, and in fact many of them were not very well vitrified, yet they have siood the test of nearly a quarter of a century, and are in excellent condi tion to-day. With this fact patent to all, the present fashion runs after the shale brick, and in many instances engineers in sert in their specifications the requirement that the brick used in paving the streets of their cities shall be of this class. The motive that prompts this is laudable, and the engineers doubt less insert it in all sincerity ; but is it always wise and for the best that they should do so ? Their desire is to get the best pavement that is to be had, and fashion says that brick made of shale make the best.
An old saying declares that, " Enough is as good as a feast." In the face of prejudice and inexperience, the early brick pave ments have wrung from the minds of the people the confession that they are good enough.
Upon this basis the present boom in brick pavements has been built, Is it not then not only an injustice, an ingratitude, but an exhibition of arrogance, for the shale brick to claim that it alone is adapted to the work of street paving? If it should happen, as it often does, that there were no factories working shale near the city to be paved, but good paving brick made of other clays could be obtained near and at less expense than those made of shale, it would not be right to specify that only brick made of shale should be used. The engineer who did this and required his patrons to bear the additional expense would not be a faithful servant who guarded the people's inter ests. All of this goes to show that the market for paving brick is so largely in the hands of interested parties as to make it an objectionable feature of the business.
The use of brick for street pavements has only come into general use within the last decade. The universal prosperity of the country during that time has made it possible to pave the streets of many towns that heretofore had been neglected. Since the desirability of brick for this purpose has been estab lished and they have been placed upon the market at prices that made it possible to improve the much needed but long neglected streets, an impetus has been given to the business that is almost without a parallel in the annals of the industries.
During the present decade there have been two classes of streets to pave, those that had been neglected during the growth of the cities for many years past, because of the want of a suitable material for the work at prices within the means of the cities needing pavements, and those that result from the growth of the towns during the decade.
There has been an attempt made to bring the work of paving up to the times, and to complete the work according to the needs of each city. This work is being rapidly carried forward, and whenever it is accomplished there will be a decline in the amount of paving done each year, and this amount will natur ally become adjusted to the growth of the country.
For further information on the subject of paving brick manu facture, see Chapter VI.