Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-02
NOT SUITABLE TO THIS CITY
Why the Health Officer Reported Against
the Dixon Orematory.
Conditions In Atlanta Different From
Those in Washington-Hfs
observations.

| made report to the Commissioners upon
the merits of the Dixon crema tory, which
is the crematory the garbage contractor
proposed to use II the Commissioners ap-
proved. Dr. Wcodward's conclusion, as
stated In yesterdays Star, was that the
Dixon system would not be suitable to
Washington. In his report he describes the
apparatus used at considerable length He
says:
I'm order to understand the work Of the
crematory at Atlanta 1t is necessary to
know that the city collects all house waste,
and that, excluding night soil, is separated
into two classes only. the ashes being kept
in one receptacle and all other waste in the
other. The latter receptacle therefore con-
tains old paper, pasteboard boxes, parts Of
wooden boxes. excelsior animal and veg
etable waste discarded shoes. etc, and the
entire mixture, regardless of its component
parts, is called garbage The word gar
bage,' wherever used in Atlanta reports,
refers to this mixed material. The refuse
denominated in Washington garbage is
known in Atlanta as 'swilr or 'slops.
There is no way of determining or even
forming an approximate estimate of the
per cent Of :swiiP or of combustible and Of
non-combustible waste collected in the At
lanta garbage 1t Is impossible to deter
mine, therefore the amount of swill which
this furnace can consume, and the amount
# fuel required for given amount Of
swill, the amount of combustible garbage
peinS an unknown quantity IN eStlmatlng
the amount of fuel.
An Objectionable Dump.
TT has been reported" he says, that
suits were pending to compel the discon-
tinuance Of the use of this crematory. The
suits which have given rise to this report
were not directed against the cremetory
itself. Ore sought to restrain the city from
using the tract of land upon which the
crematory is situated for its present pur-
poses, viz, the deposit of refuse matter.
This would have prevented indirectly the
use of the crematcry, but that was not
Its main object The suit was unsuccess-
full Later atten' pit was made to recover
damages from the city on account OF the
alleged nuisance arising from the dump:
This case has been tried very recently, and
after hearing testimony for five days the
Judge dismissed the suit. AS neither case
was successful 1t is of no great Importance,
yet 1t may be worth while, in passing, TO
note that the ground which occasioned
these suits there are dumped daily, without
burning. about 316 loads of garbage and
street sweepings, and there are pitted 300
barrels of night soil; this in addition to
the 30 loads of garbage and 100 barrels of
night soil which are burned. There are daily
deposited hereabouts 1872 tons of waste mat
ter of all kinds and 40 barrels of night
soil. The city is at present arranging to
secure crematory capacity enough to ere
mate all garbage and night soil. DR.. j. F:
Alexander president of the board Of
health: DR.. F. ". McRae, its secretary.
and Thomas E. Veale chief inspector, state
that the Dixon crematory meets perfectly
all conditions existing in Atlanta, and they
are each Of the opinion that it can be
operated in any part of the city without
creating a nuisance" Dr. Woodward then
described his own observation Of the opera
ton of the furnace, agreeing in his con-
illusions substantially with the conclusions
of the Atlanta officials SO far as Atlanta
is concerned.
Not Adapted to Washington.
TT will be SEEN" says DR.. Woodward.
that the problem which has been solved
in Atlanta is very different from the one
to be solved here. Representations which
have been made as to the possibilities Of
the Dixon crematory in the way of de-
stroying garbage must be considered as
referring to the garbage of Atlanta, and
not to the 'swill of Washington. This
matter was carefully gone over with Mr..
H. A. Andrews, manager southern depart
ment Dixon Sanitary Company. 1 Of
the opinion, and in this Mr.. Andrews
agrees. that the Dixon crematory could
not be satisfactorily operated in Wash
ington for the following reasons:
81 The free water collected with swill
would find its way through the CRATE and
seriously interfere with, if not extinguish,
the lower fire
- The small particles of swill would
pass between the crate bars in consider
able quantities, and. being constantly
:oaked by water from above, would not be
consumed by the lower fire, if such fire
could be maintained.
3 The swill resting on the crate would
be solid mass. incombustible until it
dried which process would take long
time as the fame would only attack the
surface and not eat its way through and
through as in Atlanta garbage
II. The absence of the large amount Of
ccmbustible material such as is found in
the Atlanta garbage, would necessitate
the purchase of a much larger amount of
fuel While under the Atlanta system the
fuel is evenly mixed with the garbage in
Washington 1t could only be applied at
one end. This, too. would necessitate
further increase in the amount of fuel
used, the flame having to pass twenty-five
feet to cover the garbage.
%. Night soil would find its way through.
the crate too rapidly to be burned, having
no absorbent bed. as paper, ETC., 10 retain