Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-12
PITTsBURG. SUNDAY. OCT. u 1890.
THE TENDENCY TO WASTE.


PATCH, in advance of the arrival of the
guests the iron and steel men from abroad,
itwas pointed out that while Pittsburg would
hope for the praise of her expert visitors. their
criticisms of whatever they might find to
crIticise should be of great value to our
industries. The visit being ended, our peo-
pie can be happy in the expressions of ap-
proval and admiration from those kindly
but competent judges; and they can also OBJ
tain the benefit of some salutary criticisms.
In addition to the indisputable declaration
of one frank visitor from Sheffield that our
streets are "deucedly bad, +" the most promi-
nent and, perhaps, the most useful of these
criticisms are based on our tendency to
wastefulness.
This is by no means new presentation of
a national characteristic. 1t is an old say
ing that a French family could feed itself
with healthy and appetizing food out OF
what an average American family will
waste. The fault arises from th: very com
Portable conditions, which give us such
abundance of materials that the loss from
waste often if not generally appears OF less
importance than the loss of tim: necessary
for utilizing what is wasted. The respect in
which this tendency seemed to strike our
guests most forcibly, was in the waste about
coal mines; and here the reason is clearly
the proiusion of materials. Fuel has been
so abundant and cheap in Pittsburg, es-
pecia!lY since the gas era, that the coal
which cur visitors consider waste, would
not be worth enough to pay for mining. or
for transportation to market
But this happy condition of profusion
cannot he permanent, and a prudent outlook
=or the future will take into consideration
all methods for saving such waste. If, as has
been pointed out, our present methods waste
one-sixth of the coal, which proportion
would be saved in England or Germany, it
is plain that there is an immense addition to
our mineral wealth to be either utilized or
stored up against the future day when il can be
brought into consumption. Reference is often
made to the immense piles of refuse coal
around our coal mines, which may be pre-
sumed to contain large share of the wasted
material, referred TO by our foreign critics.
The method by which these piles can be
turned into materials for industry, will
make a vast addition to our industrial
wealth; while if that cannot at once be done
the method which preserves them for the
future will create an immense storage OF
material for another era.
1t is doubtful if this criticism cannot be
proftably studied in other industries. In
the higher manufacturing branches both the
cost of material and the closeness of compe-
tition tend to reduce waste to a minimum.
But there are many other departments
Of work where the correction OF waste might
make an almost incalculable addition to the
national wealth. There is no doubt that if
our farming industries were pursued with as
close a care to utilize everything, as is done
in France or England, the agricultural pro-
duction of the United States would under
60 an infinite enhancement. The condition
OF our country roads which THE DISPATCH
has made prominent of late, and of city
streets, to which reference was made by our
visitors, are examples of the fault which
causes waste of effort and power. We lay an
expensive pavement and then waste it by
tearing it up to lay underground pipes that
should have been put down before the pave
ment. Millions of dollars worth of fertility
in city sewage is wasted yearly, and at the
same time one OF the best gifts of nature is
thrown away by tainting the purity OF our
streams. Examples of this great fault
could be continued to infnity. bat these are
sufficient
The criticism is an instructive one, and it
can be made useful, by taking all means to
correct the fault. Now that our tendency
to waste has been pointed out by such high
authority, it is to be hoped that it will re-
suit in the addition to wealth and industry,
secured by utilizing the waste wherever it
is possible.