The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-07
WORLDS WASTE Is
 \ GREAT VOLUME Would Feed Population For One
 Hundred Years THE ITEM OF COTTON SEED Up to a Few Years Ago This Valu- able Product Was Considered
 Worthless and Was in
 the Way.
THE ITEM OF COTTON SEED
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
 Some statistican with an aptitude for figures and a taste for startling in vestigations, has discovered that if all the waste of the world since the crea- tion could now be collected it would support the present population for one hundred years. Coming closer home another economist Is found who de- clares that the sewage wasted in the United States every year would pay over half the interest on the national debt. However, like John Gilpin's wife, the nation may soon be in a position to bear the accusation of having "a frugal mind," for there is a tendency to utilize products that were for many barrassing waste. Gas tar, for in stance. was one of the greatest null sances with which the manufacturer had to contend two or three decades ago. It could not be turned into streams. for 1t choked the channel and poisoned the water, it could not be buried for 1t sapped the life from veg citation. Someone then experimented with it with the result that from this one-time useless waste there have come several powerful medicines, beautiful dyes and strong disinfectants, and a saccharine product that is three times sweeter than sugar.
 One of our greatest wastes in olden times was that of cotton seed. The south ern planter found his bins choked with this product at the end of the ginning season, and after he had set aside enough to feed his cows the rest was hauled away by wagon and dumped on waste lands in an effort to get rid of 1t. The oil in the seed made it objectionable for fertilizing land, and for COW feed wien good but ter was wanted. Fifty years ago 1t was only bulky and useless garbage. In 1870 experiments showed that when the oil was pressed out the residue made good fertilizer. In 1880 some Investigating cows ate the hulls and meal and proved their great value as a cattle food, and in ten years more the oil had become a staple food for humanity. The oil is now a substitute for olive and cod-liver oil, is used for Illuminating, Is excellent for packing sardines, and forms a large percentage of packed lard. In the past year crushers paid $50 000, 900 for the cotton seed delivered at their plants, and the products marketed at a price far be- yond that.
 n and street sweepings was once a great problem for large cities. Now 1t can be made a source of revenue and when properly managed will more than pay for the cleaning of the city. Once 1t was the custom for cities to pay some one to take away the garbage. Now each city of any size receives bids on the privilege, or disposes of it in it's own way greatly to the financial ad- vantage of the municipality. New Yorks experiments have been of in terest to all the country. There the garbage is collected the liquid pressed out. and the residue dried. The dried product is sold in powder as fertilizer at s6 a ton. The liquid Is rich in grease, eighteen tons of oil being drawn off each day. This is sold at 3 cents a pound in Holland and France where it is used as a base for poma- tums and perfumes. The water eX- pressed from the garbage is mixed with brown phosphate rock and has good commercial value because of the am monia it holds
 Rubbish and trash in New York are sold under bids each year, and the present contractor is said to make about $50,0o0 a year from the Ngs, papers, old bottles, rubber, etc., that his Italian pickers deftly lift from the great revolving belt on the sorting dumps. Much of the city rubbish is burned in municipal power houses and the power is sold to neighborinS fac tories The ash from these fires is charged with ammonia and potash and for that reason is valuable as ferti- lizer for the trees in Central park though it is more often sold to soap makers who want the potash. Ashes were once a great bother to New York. Up to five years ago they were used with rubbish on land fills or cast into the sea, Then it was decided to take those not sold and use with other refuse In land building. AS result Ryker's Island will have sixty-three acres of land when the entire surface is filled in, and the city be richer by sssO. GOO in real estate. Much of the city,s ashes is purchased by construc- tion companies for use in making fire proof floors in department stores. As inc city has over 3,000,000 cubic yards A year to dispose of, and the price paid is from 12 to 20 cents a cubic foot. it would be a profitable commo- dity to handle. Ashes instead of sand make excellent lime mortar for con- struction work on fire-proof buildings. If all the unburned coal were separated from the ashes in a city of 50,00O in- habitants, it would net $SO00 year to that city,.
 Sawdust was allowed to choke the mill streams or deface the landscape for century or more before thrifty persons discovered that it could be of use. Dry distillation now results in such products as wood alcohol, gas, acetic acid and oils, all of which have a market value that makes the distllation a most profit able enterprise. Moulded in briquettes with coal slack. or spent dye woods saw dust makes a good fuel. More recent ex- periments have proved that when mixed with proper agglutinative materials it makes excellent artificial wood, and when blood is added an imitation marble Is the result. Dust of ivory and sawdust make an imitation marble, and when mixed with phosphate of lime, sawdust becomes a plastic material with which sculptor makes casts, and manufacturers make q cheap kind of bas-relief. Mixed with ce- ment and plaster, sawdust becomes a powerful protection against heat or cold.