Los Angeles herald., 1905-05-02
CREMATION BES!
DECLARES EXPERT
AUTHORITY ON GARBAGE WILL
AID COUNCIL
EXPLAINS VARIOUS SYSTEMS
Rudolph Herring, Well Known En-
gineer Authority, Tells How Re-
fuse Is Handled in other
Cities
EXPLAINS VARIOUS SYSTEMS

Rudolph Herring, the eminent civil
engineer and probably the best known
authority on garbage destruction in the
world, is spending a few days with his
Stafford.
Mr.. Herring read a paper on munich
pal garbage destruction in st. Louis
at the worlds fair last summer be-
fore the International Congress of
Engineers. This treatise has since
been Endorsed by the leading engineers
of both Europe and America.
When asked yesterday regarding the
best means for getting rid of munich
pal garbage, Mr.. Herring said:
"I understand that Los Angeles in
tends in the near future to purchase
garbage destruction plant. There are
six methods of getting rid of this re-
fuse in use by the large cities in the
world at the present time. The first
is practiced in New England to con-
siderable extent and is the feeding of
the garbage to swine. The second is
dumping the refuse on low ground and
filling. The third is burying the refuse
by plowing large burrows and then fill
ing in on top of the garbage, thus en-
riching the soil. The fourth way is to
dump it into water. as in the outfall
sewer, or by direct dumping into a
flowing stream. This method is used
by some of the largest cities of the
country. The fifth method is the re-
duction method, by which the grease
is taken from the garbage and sold.
This system is in use in twenty cities
in this country, including all of the
larger ones. The last and 1 believe it
is the best system, is the cremation
of the organic matter. There are
number of methods of doing this, but
so far the English engineers have sue
ceeded in turning out much better in
cinerator than the Americans. The
reason for this 1 think is that the
American has not as yet grasped the
true principle in the building of his
crematory or incinerator, whatever
you wish to call it,
System Is a Science
"I understand a bid for a Meldrum
destructor has been filed with the city
clerk. This destructor has been in
stalled in several hundred cities in
England and is a good plant. They do
not have failures over there; they
have gotten the system down to
science.
THE finest destructor in the world
is located in Hamburg, Germany, and
burns the refuse from a city of 100000
people with satisfaction to all 1t is
built on the principle of the Meldrum
destructor. The furnaces used in Eng
land and Europe are far ahead of the
American article. have to say this,
much as l hate to admit it,
"Cheap labor should not be en-
ployed in these garbage destruction
plants. The best skilled labor to be
had is usually the cheapest. 1 think
the city engineers of the various cities
in the country should carefully study
this question, for II is an engineering
problem and an important one. The
furnace in San Francisco is a fine fur
mace. but without question the worst
handled one 1 ever saw.
ACROSS the water they get and uti-
lize a great deal of steam power from
their garbage Instructors, and by the
system employed they are able to keep
the temperature OF the furnace the