The Portland daily press., 1898-12-29
REDUCING THE Loss.
How Goods Damaged by Fire and
Water are Handled.

cred to Almost Their Original
9Iition by Experts Employed by
ne Wreckage Companies - The
| .rscks of the Trade.
| A recent fire, by which large stock OF
merchandise was destroyed, has caused
Inquiry as to what becomes OF such fire
swept stocks as are not entirely ruined
How are the goods recovered and who
| does it?
| Insurance companies and adjusters of
! fire losses have no difficulty in answering
! these questions and refer those people who
mako inquiry on the subject to the salvage
| CT wreoking companies which exist in
Jew York, Chicago, Boston and Kansas
! City. There are salvage concerns in other
! cities also, but only few undertake large
| contracts, and they are prepared to handle
almost any class of merchandise, in any
| condition, from slightly damaged by
| water, to severely burned The salvage
company follows closely on the heels of
| the insurance people, and as soon as the
| fire has been put cut It's inspector is sent
| to the scene Of the conhagration, where an
| examination is made to see how much OF
the stock may be rescued from the ruins.
Sometimes the salvage concern works
for the insurance people and sometimes
for the owners of the goods. That depends
on the terms of settlement between the
owners and the insurance companies In
some instances, where by the terms of the
| settlement the goods, or what is left of
them, become the property of the insur-
ance companies, they are turned over to
| the salvage company which wrecks the
| goods and sells them for the account of
| tho insurance companies that had paid
| the former owners for a total loss, the
usual process being to take out, restore,
house and sell the goods for certain per
centage of the amount realized.
The operation of making goods which
4 have gone through fire saiable involves
quick, skillful handling and must be SUI
pervised by msn who are thoroughly con-
versant With the line of goods which has
been damaged. Is the fire was large one,
the stock will be found in the water soak
| ed cellar, covered with heaps OF plaster,
stones, charreG beams and ell sorts of rub
Dish. The salvage company finas the
| goods, no matter W hat condition they may
be in, carts them away to stores or ware
| houses rented for that purpose, and there
undertakes the operations by which they
may be restored as nearly as possible to
what they were before the fire, SO that
| they may be converted into money.
For dry goods, clothing and merchan-
disc of that class quick drying plants must
! be provided, and as soon as the bolts, rolls
and pieces of goods are dry they are put
| into the hands of the cleaners and reno
vators. New labels, bands, boxes and or
namental wrappers are provided, and In
some instances goods which looked too
badly damaged to pay fer carting them
away are sent to the auction room looking
| as good as new When silks, cloths or
| dress goods have been SO damaged that
| they become useless because no long pieces
can be saved, the goods are trimmed and
cut into short pieces for the use of manu-
| facturers of covered buttons, neckwear,
| CATERS, cloth slippers, caps and many 9TH
| er lines of goods where short pieces are
useful.
One of the most difficult stocks to ham
| die is clothing, and the man who takes
| charge OF the work for salvage company
must know the business in every detail.
| The garments, after being dried, must be
gone over by experienced tallors, who
work diligently to obliterate the signs of
damage by fire and water. Garments are
changed in style and size to destroy the
fire marks, and in order to sell two gar
ments third one must frequently be
| made.
A whole stock of coats may have ocou-
pied such a place in the fire that sleeve
| from each coat would be burned away, but
that would not make the coats total loss
to the salvage men, The coats would be
doctored in some way SO that they would
bring price at the fire sale, which ends
the service of the salvage company. At
these sales goods which were miles away
from the scene of the fire are often run
inn for the purpose of averaging the stock,
and to make them look like wrecked goods
they are sometimes treated to bath just
before the SALE
At one of these auctions which took
place recently buyer examined lot of
coats and said that they looked remarka-
bly, clean and new to have been through
fire. Eyes" said the man for whose bene-
fit the sale was going on; you see, they
found the buttons in the ruins and made
the coats to put them on. "
Hardware and cutlery are difficult arti-
Giles to handle because rust makes the
goods unstable. Finely polished steel,
guns, revolvers and plated ware look USE
less and worthy of the scrap heap when
they are thrown from a burned out store
into packing cases and carted to the rooms
where the salvage company takes them in
hand. There, by means of polishing bluffs,
grindstones, acid baths and Furnishing
tools, the metal is made to look fresh and
new, old handles are destroyed and new
horn, ivory, rubber and celluloid handles
are put on the various articles. Then the
small stuff is fastened on cards and pack
ed in new boxes. The stock which is ruin
ed beyond REPAIRS punched and sold to
junk dealers.
Perishable goods, like groceries, are east
ly ruined by fire and water. but still the
salvage companies know how to handle
such stocks, and have men in their en-
ploy who will not allow coffee bean to