The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1901-10-09

Have you seen my diamonds" shout
ted an excited man he rushed into the
City Refuse Utilization company's build
ing few days ago. Like a man bereft
OF reason he fell upon the mountain OF
waste papers and would have riddled II
from top 10 bottom I'm his eager search
had not the superintendent assured him
that each day brought its fresh dump,
and that a the diamonds had been miss
ing from his room for days before IL was
useless TO look there for them The man.
however would not be convinced and
every envelope he saw he grasped AT like
"a drowning man at a straw in hopes that
his search would be rewarded. His sor-
row was that he had lost three splendid
diamonds that he had kept In plain.
white business envelope in his desk and
the uselessness OF hunting for them there
did not make Itself clear TO him until he
had watched operations for "A time.
Each mornings dump. sometimes thifty
loads and sometimes loo. Is all pitcheu
onto the endless belt of steel THAT SLOWLY
moves along on level for space. then,
Ike toboggan chute rises and fails INTO
the mouth OF a blazing furnace, where
everything IL reduced to a mush OF ashes;
AS the belt passes along on the level all
the available stuff is picked on by the
men stationed each side. lt is one man
business TO rescue every piece ol biohli
paper that passes; another one looks out
for rubber: still another fishes for Feather
and another has only eyes for all kinds or
metal. while the prize watched for BY
another is wood. The wood is not sold,
but il kept Ia kindle the furnace.
Glass bottles are the cynosure or an
other mans eyes. aud cloth OF all descrip-
tions fnds It's way 10 certain pile so
II is with all things that are worth saving.
Back of each man Is the great yawning
mouth of a hopper. ana What ne mus
ftfs he ant QlA q "a "A
fash
These hoppers are only the openings in
to basement receptacles, and when their
capacity has been taxed to the utmost
presslire Is applied and In short Time
an S00-pound bale OF paper is ready 10 pe
bound. Then loads and loads OF these
bales of paper are carted To the paper
manufactures. For the man, therefore,
10 look for the diamonds was useless, Tor
~ the envelope on the belt passed, a.
many do. into the furnace, the stones
would he gone forever. and IL IL was
pressed into a bale and token 20 factory
there was even less chance of anybody
ever finding Il So the man had 10 sor-
rowftilly hetake himself home. lie was
not az all sure that his diamonds had
found their way ia the dump heap, put ~
was his forlorn hope that they hah ana
that he would see them again. 50 every
week people hurry down here LOOKING Tor
"a poCkCtbOok or some other treasure mat
they think got into the waste paper bas-
ket To be sure. some things OF Nalne
have been found on the belt, ana no one
has ever made any inquiry In regard TO
them. hut, generally speaking, there -
little or any value. SO far as the world
goes. that reaches the belt. ne pelt
ptckers are Italians and often they can
see great value M what seems utVdS
useless TO anyone else.
In IL interesting 10 note the thrifty way
the italian housewives have OF making
much out of nothing. Sometimes their
husbands casually remark at home that a
chair or an old table, or broken down
sofa has arrived At the dump and lnva =
riably next day the women arrive rive r,,d smd
drive sharp bargains for the discarded
pieces OF furniture. As the price de-
manded ~ mere nothing, the house
wives nearly always get whatever lheI
see possibilities In. There are al present
a lot of old trunks that were cast forth,
and there are also Italians that coNet
| them. When the refuse mas All petn
| sorted there are two heaps that nothnk
| has been done with until recently.
| special man has been engaged To expert,
men. and see what can done 'In csns %i,n Sra ore
snbiccted TO Just sufficient heat To melt
| the solder. and as solder ls valuable ihis
| effort Will pay very well Bo,'iss, W. w. !,
| been found arc hardly worth botherins
with. For everything saved there IS a
market. and municipal economy, like
| King Midas. has changed the dump heap
MONDAYS and Thursdays are the busies,
| DAYS for then the store COLLECTIONS are
made and the loads are fredusntly oNc,
| inn in uumbcr The sanitary division oi
| the street cleaning department makes the
| collection. aud each load is weighed oi
| the scales IA "A enters the great plant ~
/ iga Atlantic avenue. VI would he hn'
| object lesson for every housckcclef ll
4 the city " they would one ana All Nsn
| me piabt and see lust what " done Wit
| tho refuse. and see how much they c"uio
| facilitate matters NJ they would onN
| sirsctiV obey the mandate that calls toi
| All rcfuso to be divided into three secuon'
| ashes garbage and papers. Nothht
| more piainly shows the advance IN SAM
| iation than this utilization plant
| once d shes garbage. papers ana ~
| were dumped into the ocean. and the tlh'
| brought the debris hack ana cast u ATOMS
\ the shores until people comnlain'n -
| loudly that n had 10 bc stopped. nov
| the ashes are taken In sCows far out nc
| voud tho lghtship. and then the botton
| az the scow is drawn and the ashes slnf
10 the bottom OF the ocean The eHf
! hagp N also put in scowS and taken v
1 Dorchester. where "a a. creinatcd ~
! such a conglomcrate mass there is al