tlrAPPAT

the most widely used and best known of the two or three wood preservatives recommended by authorities. Recognized authorities are almost a unit in specifying that, where wood is to be used in contact with the ground, it either be treated with one of the standard preservatives or else be of heart Redwood or Cypress. We think that any sound lumberman would recommend the use of all heart Redwood, Cypress, Western Red Cedar,.or pressure-creosoted Fir wherever the conditions of use would justify the exPense.

"Our whole opposition to this ordinance was based upon knowledge that the extra expense was not justified, and that, even after the home-owner had spent his money to comply with this ordinance, he could and would still have his house damaged by termites if the termites were present, just as surely as if he had used untreated wood. Careful and proper construction, with plenty of air circulation and light under the house, and no wood allowed to come in contact with the ground at any point of the structure, plus the removal of stumps, roots and all wood debris, and the killing of existing termite colonies (all of which can be done at practically no additional expense) will eliminate practically all danger of termite damage.

"The reason for this is easily understood by anyone who is willing to make a fair-minded study of the known facts. Termites live on cellulose. Without plants or wood to feed upon they die. Also, the subterranean termite, which is the type with which this ordinance purports to cope, rnust maintain contact with the ground. Subterranean termites will build mud tunnels up a twenty-foot concrete wall to get at edible wood. They hdve an unerring instinct for joints and cracks and almost invariably enter timbers at one or the other. Therefore, if an owner goes to the expense of treating everything except the sub-floor, as this ordinance provides, and then leaves roots, stumps, chips, blocks and other wood litter of building under his house to attract and fatten up large colonies of termites, it is almost certain that when that free food supply has been exhausted they will build a mud tunnel right over the creosoted wood up to the untreated sub-floor and destroy it, the floor above it in turn, and go from there to the frame of the house.

"The way to prevent termite damage to homes is to prevent termite attacks. Merely to poison a part of the wood they would eat if they did attack your home and leave the rest of the house easily accessible to them is not a remqdy. There is nothing in the Los Angeles Building Code now which prohibits any builder using treated un-derpinning if he so desires; but it is an outrageous imposition upon the home-owner to be forced to pay that extra cost by legislative enactment when there is no sound reason for believing that the extra expense is justified.

"There is nothing we need so badly in Los Angeles as a revival of building. There is nothing which spreads activity, increases employment, and puts money into circu-

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