The Washington herald., 1907-04-02

Not all Of the ingenuity of American
business men Is manifested in the forma-
ton of trusts. The little fellows are sti,!
doing business, despite the encroachments
of the millionaire corporations. Individual
ingenuity is every day finding some new
business, some new method, or some new
saving by which the wealth of the nation
is increased.
Americans buy and throw away $4,000
GOO pairs Of shoes each year In the great
majority Of instances only the soles of
these are worn out. What becomes OF the
uppers? Junk dealers buy them some
times. but It is only within the last few
months that preparations have been made
on a large scale to save 1.-THE leather
thrown away in WOrn-out shoes.
plant in New York now takes the old
footwear, grinds it into powder, mikes
it with 90 per cent India rubber and rolls
it under enormous pressure into sheets Of
renovated leather, which may be turned
into pOcketbOOks, leather ornaments, or
any of thousand leather novelties on the
market.
In the 'gumbo" country of Mississippi
the road question is one of the greatest
problems the planter has 10 deal with.
Better roads are absolutely necessary. but
how are they to be made? There isn't
any rock or stone or gravel within many
miles, either above or below the ground
nothing but clay and mud. The United
States government has been conducting
some successful experiments In that sec
ton which may solve the problem. The
road is covered with cordwood of d kind
lit for burning This wood is Overlaid
Of .fa sfrb f- 70.
be had In abundance upon all sides. Lit
tie hues are left through the clay, and
then the fuel is set on fire. When il has
burned out, the clay has hardened into
one great brick. as wide as the road and
as long as may be. This brick is not hard,
but IT viii wear on slowly. and will not
get muddy. A mile OF such road can be
built for about sl,400
In the middle West. where the rural
telephone has reached its highest devel-
opment and where the telephone com
panies have multiplied as the sands OF
the sea. the problem of distributing the
pro rata fee for long distance messages
among the several companies became
most complex. Last year telephone
clearing house was organized In Iowa,
and 1t proved to be such a success that Il
has been copied in two or three neighbor-
ing States The clearing house takes
charge of the money paid in for long-dis-
tance messages going over the lines of
more than one company and makes the
settlements. This clearing house also is
sues mileage books" which are receiv-
abie by any telephone company in the
State for lOng-distance messages, the
scheme being exactly the same as that
OF interchangeable mileage books on rail-
roads.
Speaking Of telephones calls TO mind
the ingenious story told by telephone
solicitor who went into a neighborhood
with the determination 10 convert all the
housewives to its use. When all other
arguments failed, he told what boon
the wonderful talking wire was to young
mothers. 1T is by all odds the most in
dispensable household article ever invent
ed, said the versatile agent, as he warm
cd to his subject. 1T even dispenses with
the need of q nurse for the baby When
the farmers wife wants TO run over the
way TO gossip with her neighbor, she puts
the baby TO sleep. drops the receiver into
the cradle. and tells central about it.
When central hears the baby cry, she
promptly rings up the mother. who has
tens home 10 lock after the little one" 1
think the reader will agree that any agent
who can put up a line of argument like that
is wasting his substance by remaining
in the telephone business. He ought to
join forces with Lawson in boosting cop
pers, or go to the assistance of Hartman
in juggling railway stocks.
Citrus growers Of Southern California
have been perplexed by two great prob
lems-ear shortage and box shortage. It
has been most difficult TO get the wood
shocks Of which orange boxes are made,
the wood getting scarcer and more costly
all the time Now comes a Californian
with an idea for permanent relief. He is
making a box of pulp which requires but
one-fourth as much lumber. and the
wood may be supplied III the form OF chips
or even sawdust, If necessary. The pulp
box is lighter, saving 700 pounds Of weight
IN a carload Of fruit, it is cheaper, and its
maker promises the supply win equal the
demand.
In line with this idea. the Texas lumber
concerns are introducing plants to utilize
every particle of the pine trees which
they consume. The lumber is the first
product. then the waste IS distilled into
pitch and its other distillates Then the
exhausted pulp is made into pastebOard
for paper boxes. Not a particle of saw
dust goes to waste, much less a chip BY
this development a saw min becomes not
only a saw mill, but a distillery and a
paper-making mill as we'll
A Chicago concern which started to
make a certain kind of patent door hinge
was forced to close its doors. Too many
trusts was the reason assigned. However,
the management took new lease Of life,
and began the manufacture Of fire doors
and shutters. One day the head OF the
firm went into the shop and noticed that
the blacksmith in forging the hinges for
the shutters threw them on the floor
after the first process, making it neces-
sary to rehandle and reheat them before
they We're completed. The manager put
In twenty minutes evolving a new method
10 avoid the expense and loss of time i'm
the second heating. This saving led to
another and another. until the whole
foundry was put on a modern system.
Now there is nothing but prosperity for
IT, despite trusts and other corporate
evils. Probably you. Mr. Business Man,
might tighten up things a bit if you
should look around your establishment in
a hunt for wasteful practices. Suppose
you try it.
A San Francisco smelling firm had LOCO
tons of lead and zinc stored in its ware
house during the great earthquake and
fire. These soft materials melted. ran
down I'm the deep cellar, and there cooled
into a solid mass of metal. How to get II