The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-24
BIG FORTUNES THROWN AWAY
Tons of Paper. Coal, and General Re-
fuse Wasted Annually.

Vast fortunes are thrown away annual
~ in the waste of New York city The
poor Of Paris could be well housed. fed,
and clothed with the proceeds from the
waste of that city. This statement is not
based on mere superstition. but upon
facts CLEANED from an experiment which
was tried by the city authorities last year
In caring for certain portion Of the
city's waste.
For period Of twelve months the re-
fuse and waste gathered from Street
Cleaning Districts Nos u, il, and IS was
delivered at a special station, where it
was carefully separated into its consti-
tuent parts and such as could be utilized
for any good purpose was sold for what
it would bring and the balance was de-
stroyed. The area covered Included a
population, according to the census re
turns, of JIG. 523. Every class of house,
shop, store. and a few factories are to be
found within the districts. so that the
results of the years work would form a
fair basis for estimating the value Of the
waste Of the whole city.
During the year u 9i7 loads of separated
refuse from carts holding four cubic
in the aggregate. 5.se5 tons. were gath
cred from this territory. OF this amount
| IS per cent to go per cent was burned
| as useless, and from to s per cent was
worthless, while about 81 per cent was
marketable. The matter reserved for
| sale contains 3U5S.6l6 pounds of paper,
| which was classified as follows: Manila
| paper. al .2Sj pounds; news, J0j,5C1; mixed.
| 442sg5; strawboard. 5S7.2CS; mixed wrap
ping GZ5. la6; books Is $40.
| There was a total of 57G.S12 pounds OF
rags, classified as follows: Wooden. 49,
| 6l.; white, Il 49, mixed. 1860: black.
1876 S25: bagging. B.Oo5: twine p G70 soft
| lack carpet. 1915: bareback carpet. a.
| $50; wool carpet. ISIS linsey carpet, 7,lS0;
old coats, 2G9iJ; stockings. 1890
Among other articles there were found
| $3.50 pounds of old iron; 49i pounds OF
| copper. 2G90 pounds Of zinc, 1.6G7 pounds
| of brass 3p3 pounds of lead 9 80 pounds
/ -E. ,~,tfE Of oil ef1n
| 800 pounds of hair cloth. 765 pounds OF
| curled hair. 2,l0O old hats. l. loads of tin
| cans. 40 mattresses, ESQ barrels and
| 1925 proprietary bottles Besides all
| this, il must be remembered, there was
an immense amount of matter of all
| classes gathered by the countless number
1 Of rag and garbage collectors who do a
| business independent Of the city depart
ment.
Taking these figures as basis for es-
| timating the amount of refuse collected
from the borOughs of Manhattan and
| Bronx for this year. at the same time al
| lowing for the natural increase, 1t would
| amount to 1l2,0JO tons for twelve months.
| About q peri cent. or S5.SiO tons, repre-
sents the paper and rags.
| il is interesting TO note that the daily
newspapers in New York consume $50
| tons of paper per day, of which, il is es-
\ timated, one-half remains in the city and
/ IL not sent into circulation through the
| mails This one-kalf will a.-ount to g.
| $40 tons during the year. To this vast
/ paper hetp must De adued the immense
| stack of printed matter, such as circu-
4 lars, posters advertising letters. etc. and
| the refuse from the weekly and monthly
] publications.
| About one-half OF this vast total OF
/ waste paper finds its way back to the
| manufacturer through private channels
| while much of IL is consumed in the fur
| naces OF Office buildings, institutions and
4 the like. with most unsatisfactory results
| For example, the Federal authorities Ir
| their building downtown undertake "a
destroy large quantities OF paper, and ow-
ing TO the fierce draft due 10 the tall
| chimneys and the poor combustion, half
| burnt paper is distributed impartially
| over the neighborhood.
| For weeks together last summer the at
| mospherc OF a section. including parts OF
1 Broad, Wall. and Exchange Streets, was
at certain hours loaded with floating
4 ashes and half-burned scraps of paper
4 and on several days in particular this
walks and pavements in the vicinity OF
4 the Custom House were literally csrpetec
with charred fragments of burned Gov
4 eminent records.
| These crude methods OF disposing OF
i this particular kind of waste are bound
TO become a thing OF the past very soon
1 for steps are now under way whereby q
| modcrnized destructor one which is pat
| termed after an E'--''sh Instructor will