Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-12

wise be incurred i'm removing tho
debris. The cost Of carriage is nj least
w thousand and ii costs ST a thousand
10 clean them. Having established this
NNaluIe, little more figuring shows that
l1TSLzoO'oVO bricks are worth SS,457, 500 at
lhe present time. Under ordinary cir
Icumstances second hand brick is worth
ABOUT 50 thousand but il will not
nave any such value i'm San Francisco
for many years to come.
Value Of the Scrap Metal
Though there is a far greater volume
or brick i'm the ruins than anv other ma
terlaL IT can hardly go under the spe-
enc category Of junk Generally
SPedkln junk is supposed to include a
conglomerate of all sorts of material
As far as the so-called Junk dealer is
concerned, 1t only includes scrap metal
| ANA in the scrap metal. buried and
plled in the burned area. there is about
| 90 per cent of the value of the total
Wreckage. Dealers in scrap metal have
| explored the ruins thoroughly, some of
! them burroWing about like gophers
| lheN nave made estimates, lot by LOT
| on all the 46O burned blocks of the citv
ana estimate the weight Of all the cast
| IRON and cast steel that is being mr.
chased merely as junk at 100000 tons.
! IhiS includes steel girders and bea ms
cast IRON and steel columns sheet
| metal joints, spikes, rivets. window
sash weights, angle irons. gusset nia tes
and all the great tangle of scrap that
! may be seen in a journey of MANY
miles over the burned area. The cast
IRON is bringing from $S to $40 n ton
Wnen II is merely scrap, and can be
only used for reforging into steel No
matter how it has been broken M and
| cracked, IT is always good for the mr.
pose and is worth on the lot IS a ton
IL costs ~ ton to haul it, so that II
is worth to the city in it's present state
of ruin. $40 a ton.
Ihe scrap steel in the shape of bent
and twisted girders is worth only half
as much as scrap iron. but there arc
thousands of tone of steel that have
not been greatly da mayed by the fire.
IhlS is worth more than cast metal.
lhe steel that was melted or subjected
to intense heat, consequently losing it's
temper and fineness, can be used again
only for transmitting into inferior
grades of metal. This sort of junk is
bringing about 50 a ton on the lot and
costing 81 and So a ton to cart. giving
II present value to the city of about
Sc a ton.
The steel that was not badly damaged
IN the fire, and the columns and girders
that were not bent and twisted in dvna-
mlted and wrecked buildings, vary in
''''hN ii'iil plu w o-U Il ION, so tnat in
the aggregate all of the steel is worth
about $40 ton. This will bring the
average value of the entire 100000 tons
OF scrap iron and steel up to $40 ton |
or $4,000000.
Therefore, the brick and base metals |
that will be reclaimed from the ruins
are worth 2.437 $50. and they make !
more than so per cent of the bulk of |
all the ruin
Valuable Metals
Other metals of far greater value
though less bulk are copper. brass and !
lead. About $4,000 900 worth of these
metals is being gathered together and
sold as fast as the insurance COM
panies make their adjustments on the
lots in the burned area. Copper has
lost very little of its value from the
ire. 1t is selling on the market in bars
at the present time for 1S cents a
pound. and it is being bought in San
francisco as junk for IA cents pound
The junk dealer can either melt it into
bars again and sell it at its market
value, or turn it over to the smelter.
The smelters purchase 1t by the ton
and pay Is and 16 cents a pound Scores
of dealers in scrap copper and brass
came to San Francisco from the east
Immediately after the fire few are
Stlll here, waiting for the insurance
companies to allow the lots to be
cleared of junk; but the majority re-
turned home, disguised at the DELAY of
the insurance companies in raising their
Brass Is about half as valua BILE as
copper, the yellow brass selling for s
cents as junk and the red for 10 cents
There are good many hundred tons
of this brass in plumbing material. gas
fixtures, gas pipes doorknobs and in
some varieties of electrical fixtures
Little of it has been recovered from
the ruins except on the few lots in the
business district that have been
cleared. Scores of temporary buildings
have been erected over uncleared lots
and will remain there for year at
least. Therefore, the unk dealers will
be purchasing scrap copper and brass
for several years to come. They are
this junk in advance, how
ever, making prices on the uncleared
lots. They estimate the tonnage of this !
sort of material in the ruins by getting
data from plumbers and other fixture
contractors on the amount of brass and
copper that was put into the building.
-~S-
"Jinks is true optmist. Ask him
now things are going and he'll always
say he cant complain.
HIS mere limitations do not make
him an optimist. The true optimist is
n man who can complain but WON'T
Louisville Courier-Journal
OAxN W