New-York tribune., 1905-01-26
TIE uAYOR'S EXPERIMENT,

The extremely interesting announcements was
made yesterday by the Mayor that Wllhlh lour
months he confidently expects to nave an elec-
trio lighting plant I'm operation under lhe MAI
haitian entrance 10 the Williamsburg briage oL
sufficient capacity to light that structure ana
the temporary buildings OF the Board OF hau-
cation in the neighborhood. and to produce
considerable surplus of energy which may be
emnloved for other purposes. The Mayor may
be rather too sanguine in suppoSinG that fouF
months will suffice for the installation, hut there
is no apparent reason why the work shouid
not be steadily carried to completion. eSpeclaliE
If no legal obstacles are interpOsed. An uh-
usuaIIv fortunate combination of circumstances
favors the undertaking The Commissioner OF
Street Cleaning and the Bridge Commissioner
have at their command appropriations Whlch
they are glad to devote to the purpose me
Board of Education is willing to help by ex-
changing convenient piece of land already
under its control for another near by, and close
at hand is a dock for the delivery of city waste
10 the furnaces so that all the material require
ments are supplied.
1t happens also that the operation OF Commls-
sioner WoOdbury's experimental inclnerator at
the foot Of West 47th-st., of which The Tribune
recently gave an account, has supplied much
information which can be directly utilized i'll
equipping and running a larger ana better
plant on the East Side That crude little es-
tablishment suffers from various disadvantages.
The furnaces and boilers are not what they
ought TO be, and the dynamo is a second hand
affair. but it generates, by the economical con-
sumption of refuse which would otherwise be
worse than wasted-and though large volume
Of superfiuous steam is constantly blown OIL
a current Of electricity which is more than sur
flcient TO light the departments stable in 52d-st.
It has long been Dr. WoOdburys opinion, sup
ported by the calculations of his consulting en-
gineer Mr. Baylis, that this small experimental
plant conclusively demonstrates the feasibility
of lighting the city by means of the citys waste.
In a special report on the subject submitted 10
the Mayor three weeks ago Mr.. Baylis said:
'The municipal lighting of city or large town
'.is always possible if its mixed refuse is en-
''ployed as fuel to evapOrate water TO steam
s'and the steam is utilized in the generation
"of electric currents" Applying that general
proposition TO the particular case OF New-fork,
after study of the results obtained abroad Mr..
Baylis confidently affirmed that 1.-The city has
now IA great cost to dispose of a quantity or
material having fuel value at least two and
perhaps three times great as the maximum
requirement for municipal electric lighting"
1t is probable that this conclusion was instru-
mental in persuading the Mayor to undertake
the scheme announced yesterday.
II has TO be admitted that the same interpre-
tatiOn is not universally put upon the results OBJ
tained in various European cities from the con-
version of waste into electricity for municipal
use There are those who maintain, not always
from motives of sefinterest, that all the ele-
ments of the case are not disclosed in the hg-
ures which seem 10 prove that such operations
are economical, and the prediction has been
made that, if New-YOrk should follow for
eign examples on a large scale, it would not
take long TO prove the folly Of the enterprise.
But the little 47th-st. incnerator has supplied
enough evidence Of its utility to justify more
convincing test OF the system which 1t Illus
trates On the point of economy DIR. Woodbury.
has already testified that it costs Slo.Z6o less
a year to burn the unstable stuff delivered
there than it would cost TO tow it out to sea
and dump it. If that calculation is correct, IL
assuredIy supplies Il powerful argument In favor
of utilizing the entire waste Of the city by SINH
lar means At all events, the further expert
ment which the Mayor has resolved to make
will be generally approved and watched with
keen interest, in the expectation that II VIII at
least throw much light on an important ques-
lion of municipal policy.