National Conference on Forest Products 11 
low grades of lumber be given lower they are given a zine chloride treat- 
freight rates in order that the rail- ment at a cost of about 20 cents per 
ways may get the benefit of the traffic. tie, which lengthens the serviceable 
If this proposition is sound from the life from 6 years to 13 years, an in- 
standpoint of the railroad, it is doubly crease of over 100 per cent. Exclud- 
sound from the standpoint of timber ing interest items and installation 
conservation. I have never been con- costs, the cost per tie per year of serv- 
vinced that the principle of lower ice is thus roughly 10 cents for the 
tariffs for low-grade lumber or the treated tie as against 17 cents for the 
waste products of a particular group untreated tie, aside from the fact that 
of industries, enabling such materials the treatment proportionately pro- 
to reach the points where they can be longs the local sources of ties avail- 
used, could not be much more widely able to the transcontinental railroads. 
applied in the United States. Yet quantities of untreated ties are 
Without attempting a comprehen- still being put into permanent rail: 
sive analysis of timber wastes, it may road tracks in this region. 
facilitate the proceedings of the con- Estimates indicate that the pulp 
ference to indicate where some of the and paper industry in this country 
greatest wastes occur. Decay in must now absorb into its cost of pro- 
standing timber, in stored logs, pulp- duction not less than $6,000,000 an- 
wood, wood pulp, and lumber, and of nually, lost through the decay of 
such products as structural lumber, stored pulp and pulpwood, a loss 
railroad ties, pole and mine timbers which could largely be prevented at a 
while in service constitute one of the comparatively slight outlay for bet- 
greatest drains upon the timber re- ter methods of storage, or simple 
sources of the United States. Much treatments with fungicides. 
of this loss is unavoidable. On the Probably the fundamental reasons 
other hand, preventable decay prob- why such losses are not prevented up 
ably destroys enough wood annually to the full limit of their economic 
in the United States to build a city feasibility are: First, that the finan- 
for a million people. The enormous cial control of the industry or of the 
quantity of wood exposed to decay construction job does not know what 
in forms of construction where dura- that economic limit is and may not be 
bility is a prime factor makes the loss inclined to listen to the engineer who 
of wood in gervice particularly seri- does know; and, second, because a 
ous because to the cost of the material showing of low construction or oper- 
has been added the cost of transpor- ating cost or quick results are more 
tation, fabrication, and construction. attractive to the management than 
Losses from this source can be largely slower work or larger initial outlay 
curtailed. notwithstanding the earnings which 
Just as one of a thousand illustra- they would gain in the ultimate profit 
tions, let me cite some of the tem- of the business or in the ultimate 
porary buildings erected in the Na- durability and reduced upkeep of the 
tional Capital to house Government structure upon which the business 
offices during the war. Within four depends. 
years the floors of many of them had The solution of this particular prob- 
begun to sag. An investigation dis- lem would seem to lie in educating 
closed that for lack of ventilation the manager's office so that not only 
much of the floor construction and will its attitude toward the best engi- 
parts of the lower walls had been neering practice be receptive but that 
consumed by the fungus commonly the best engineering practice will be 
known as dry rot. This entire set of demanded. And In attacking the 
buildings had to be refloored in 1921 great, nation-wide loss from the de- 
and 1922. This instance is typical of cay of timber, we should not overlook 
an immense amount of construction the millions of small individual users 
that is done under circumstances of wood. At a time when the country 
where there is not only time to pro- is particularly concerned with en- 
vide ventilation or to use preserva- abling the farmer to reduce his operat- 
tive methods, but where the cost of ing costs and balance his budget, it is 
maintenance and replacement would important that the great losses from 
be greatly reduced by such methods. decay in fencing and wooden struc- 
On a number of national forests in tures on the farms be cured through 
the central Rocky Mountain region educational measures. 
the lodgepole pine timber is now being Some one has pictured the seemingly 
cut extensively for railroad cross ties. preventable waste in logging which 
The ties cost about $1 each delivered now occurs annually as corded wood 
at the railroad. In some instances extending a staggering distance, I