Evening Star Newspaper, January 19, 1930, Page 98

20 . r THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 19, 1930. President Hoover’s Plan Puts Youth o W 0;k Department of Commerce Now T eaches Junior Mechanics to Make Useful Articles From Waste Materials, Starting a ““You-Can- Make-1t° Fad Which Is Sweeping the Country From End to End. BY GENE DAY. RESIDENT HERBERT HOOVER, who was responsible for the establish- ment of the national committee on wood utilization as a recent rami- fication of the progressive Sam family at Washington, believes that modern youth should be granted every efficient oppor- tunity to develop his mechanical instincts. The pet plan of our present President is a double-barreled project in that it schools me- chanically-minded boys in how to use hand tools while simultaneously it effectualizes the utilization of waste materials. Take this matter of the ultimate disposal of packing cases, boxes and crates, for example, The majority of these wooden containers even- tually sing their swan song as consuming flames reduce them to soot, smoke and ashes. “*uey are used as kindling wood or are burned to dispose of them and free storage space which they occupy for other purposes. The amateur mathematician might even figure that enough boxes and crates are burned an- nually in this coun‘ry to circum-illuminate our boundaries with a chain of campfires. From 3,000,000,000 to 4,000,000,000 feet of lumber is used annually in these United States in the construction of commercial boxes and crates. Usually these containers are employed but once as “carriers of cargo” shipped from here to there and elsewhere. Then they are burned or are otherwise wasted. President Hoover reports that the lumber @ntained in this plethora of miscellaneous con- tainers would be sufficient for building 400,000 average-size frame housese—enough to house 2,000,000 Americans—if it could be devoted to such purposes. Its market value aggregates ap- proximately $150,000,000. In addition to this stupendous waste of forestry fortunes in the form of packing cases which go to seed after their first trip by rail or water, unclassified milions of short lengths of lumber are “junked” and destroyed which might profitably be yoked for constructional uses. That is why President Hoover during his ad- ministration as Department of Commerce Secretary conceived the scheme of fostering a national wood utilization project which would conduct comprehensive research to ascertain how to detour the wood wastes of this Nation from the scrap heaps of discard to the produc- tion of useful and economical articles. The ultimate commercializations of the results of this experimentation will stimulate reforesta- tion, ON‘E method of attack recommended ~ by Herbert Hoover—a system which is ma- turing into a practical success—was to appeal to the father through his son. Knowing the s i 5 predilection of American boys for hammer and saw and plane and chisel work with wood, this internationally famous engineer who has risen to occupancy of the White House instructed his subordinates to experiment with carpentry tools and find out what prized possessions boys could make from old packing cases. The basement shops of the Department of Commerce were transformed for a time into a wood-working research laboratory where sea- soned craftsmen tested their ingenuites in de- vising new uses for cast-off containers. As a result of these shop tests with hand wood- working tools, Uncle Sam has devised practical methods of converting dry goods boxes and hardware crates into juvenile X-ray outfits, . reflectoscopes, dog houses, bag holders, box ladders, fireless cookers, window refrigerators, skate sleds, waste paper baskets, one-boy see- saws, silhouetteographs, camp kitchenettes, wall bookracks, water-chute coasters, marine telescopes, folding trellises, gardening, poultry and apiary equipment and hundreds of other “you-can-make-its.” Now through the co-operative aid of juvenile organizations and clubs which dot this coun- try, the Department of Commerce seeks to in- noculate the younger generation with the “itch” to make things out of waste lumber. Sons are interesting their “dads” in the craftsmanship tasks. Heads of families are finding that there are innumerable household articles which they can make during spare time from waste wood without any additional infringement on the family budget. Many have made waste-bag holders accord- ing to Government specifications. It consists of a wooden frame made of crate slats 2 inches wide, which is provided with four hooks at the top for holding the mouth of the sack open and supporting its weight. One of these in every home would be a real convenience. The sack holder can be made by any ®ne familiar with the use of saw and hammer in a few minutes. The folding bench ladder is another useful equipment which the amateur handy Andy can make from discarded box material. A packing case about 16 by 18 by 20 inches is sawed into two sections, which then are equipped with cleated shelves to form a combination box seat and stepladder. The two sections are hinged together, and after the folding bench ladder is painted, it constitutes a very useful piece of home equipment. IF your household needs a new fireless cooker, you can manufacture one from an aban- doned wooden container. The box should be Making a reflecrost.‘ope according to Uncle Sam’s plan. about the size of a commercial fireless cooker. The lid of the cooker is made from the re- inforced top of the box after all joints and boards have been tightened securely. Line the inside of the box with six layers of ordinary newspaper tacked and glued into position. Ex- ° celsior should be moistened so that it will pack well, and then a mat of it 4 inches thick should be placed in the bottom of the box. This in- sulating material should dry out thoroughly before the top boards of the fireless cooker are nailed in place. Two tin or porcelain-lined pails, respectively 8 and 10 inches in diameter, are required as the nests of the homespun fireless cooker. They should be wrapped in asbestos or heavy card- board and placed in proper position in the container 6 inches apart and 4 inches from either end of the cooker. Pack insulating ma- terial as tightly as possible all around the pails up to their tops, which should be level with the top boards of the culinary utensil. Smaller pails are provided to hold the food and are of such size that they can be placed readily inside the larger receptacies. A folding canvas cush- ion stuffed with insulating material is pro- vided to fill the space between the top of the nests and the lid of the cooker. This cushion should fit so tight as to require considerable pressure to force the hinged lid of the fireless The Hoover plan puts boys to building all sorts of useful articles from wood- which is generally considered waste. cooker shut and to hook it in Two soapstones are also essential diators or sources of heat for this fireless cooker. What Next in Science? Continued From Fifteenth Page. & quarter of a century of history behind it, additions are still being made. A great model of the Pantheon is under construction and 10 sculptors are at work on a model of the thermal baths of Diocletian. A copy of the monument of Theodoric has just been com- pleted. Other workmen are busy on a model of a Roman aqueduct and a sculptor is putting the finishing touches on a model of an Astec temple. It was pointed out in a discussion of the museum that in the old days the processes of industry that affected daily life were open to all. This was carried furthest in the Far East, where in the open booths of the bazaars one sees the coppersmiths fabricating pots and pans, the weaver working the yarn into rugs, the potter shaping clay into pottery on his wheel and the jewelers, tailors and others re- vealing their technique to passers-by. With the development of modern industry and the specialization of experts, the methods that created modern life were hidden away in a thousand factories and laboratories and one had to learn by reading instead of seeing. In the museum, however, one gets an intimate and instant grasp of a whole project in one visual demonstration. For example, in the Museum of Peaceful Arts in New York the public may see models of Muscle Shoals or the Boulder Dam project and, seeing th-m work or planned in miniature, may understand what the shouting is for. ‘The gyroscope keeps liners from rolling in a heavy sea and has lately been added to air- planes to keep them riding on an even keel. By using a rubber band and turning a crank a visitor may see for himself how this remark- able invention works. Turn indicator, bank indicator, earth in- ductor compass—these are familiar terms to newspaper readers since Lindbergh introduced aviation to the masses. Buttons and levers show how they work, while cards explain the principles upon which these instruments were built. On top of a cebinet are a s:ries of glass - retorts of varied sizes showing the relative amount of the different elements in the air. Down below one presses a button and, turning an eyepiece, may see the brilliant-colored spectrums of oxygen, helium, argon or neon and understand how science is able to identify the elements by their colors in a spectroscope. The old-fashioned “Hands Off” sign is absent in this typs of museum, except where there is a valuable old relic or an exhibit temporarily out of order. Here is a machine which measures the burst- ing strength of samples of paper; there a small radio transmitting station with which one can produce visible radio waves. On this bench is part of a steel rail and if you place your hand on it and glance through a tube you will read, in millionths of an inch, how much the rall is bent. - (Copyright, 1930.)