Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1908-05-20

Prahran. Austria, has recently re-
turned from a tour of Europe and
America which occupied about seven
mouths, and during which he investi-
/ gatei municipal matters in the vari-
GUS larger ciies, which he has de-
seribe1 = a report to the city council.
This report deals chiefly with coIlec-
tion and disposal of refuse, street paw
ing, dust laying, street sweeping and
watering, street lighting, parks and
Fairgrounds, public baths and wash
houses, sewage disposal, tramways
and smoke abatement, the first of
these having been a matter Of partic-
ular attention because it was the sub
iect which is at present most inter
esting his city.
On the continent there are, he
states. about ten refuse destroyers.
but Paris has just begun an installa-
ton of thirty-six meldrum units for
burning their refuse, larger plant
than any now existing in any country.
He believes that the principal rea-
isons for the increasing popularity of
destroyers are, first. the adoption of
forced draft with high temperature
furnaces, which has practically done
away with the nuisance existing in the
older furnaces of the low combustion
! type with draft induced by chimney
only. Second, the discovery within re-
/ cent years that there was sufficient
caiorific value in ordinary city waste
TO make it. in many cases, a source of
profit Third, the affiliations of the
residual clinker amounting to 25 per
cent. or 35 per cent. of the gross
weight Of refuse burned for many
purposes. The labor cost of turning
/ varies considerably from Is cents to
20 cents per ton, but the average cost
! with well managed modern de-
structor is about 20 cents per ton. He
inspected thirty-four plants in Great
Britain, which we're classified as good
bad and Indifferent. The best refuse
! for burning he found in the coal coun
try in the north, and the worst IN the
south, particularly at some of The bet
ter class residential suburbs. He be-
] AiCfCO tAAdN AlC Hul4dh N1CAAANhN ChNNA
largely into the successful. or unsuc
cessful operation of plant; that
where steel is combined with fire
brick there is an unequal expansion
and contraction of these materials
with resulting damage from which he
concluded that the less steel used in
their construction the better. He also
believes that the drying hearth is de-
sirable only in cases where very wet
refuse L. being dealt with, this includ.
ing sludge, the principal reason being
that most of the offensive doors are
given off in the drying rather than in
the burning of the garbage. He also
bellows that so-called labor-savlng APP
lpliances are not always best. Mechan-
ically arranged trucks used for feed
ing Instructors he found frequently
out of order, due to the rough hand
ling to which they are subjected. He
also found that clinker tracks for re.
moving clinker from the furnaces had
been abandoned in many cases in ia
vor of wheelbarrows, partly because
II is not always desirable to carry the
clinker to the same point for deposit
or removal In general, he believes
that Instructors cannot be made too
simple; for instance, an inclined road
way is always preferable to any kind
of mechanical lift. The American
plants he found very different from
those in Great Britain, and giving
him few points which ne thought adj
yisable for adoption by his owe city.
The plant at Buffalo he considered the
best and ruost businesslike American
plant visited, the heat being utilized
for pumping sewage. In Australia, as
well as In this country, the matter of
refuse receptacles has not been salts
factorily settled Mr.. Calder recon-.
mends that they obtain iron recep.
tacles of handy size provided with GOV.
lers, and that these be purchased in
large quantities by the municipalities
d. and sold to the house-holders at cost,
which should not exceed $1.75 each.
For paving suburban roads he found
used in England a material called
, 'tarmac." which is simply furnace
SlaS CodtCu Win tdEs ana WHICH U6 re-
/ ports as giving very satisfactory re.
suits; also tarmacadam. for witch
he considers stone of porous nature
such as limestone, to be much better
than granite or other impermeab'
, rock. The London streets he found
paved with granite blocks for heavy
tratfic and with wood blocks and as
phalt for the lighter. The asphalt is
mainly rock asphalt. about 2 inches
thick and about 6 inches of concrete.
but these he finds very slippery. es.
pecially upon moist days, even when
cleaned with rubber squegaes. He
makes no mention of the use 81 sand
/, stone or any other than granite for
block pavements. For wood pavement
he finds that pine and other soft
woods are replacing the Australian
hard woods, because of the greater
slipperiness OF the latter, and difficulty
in obtaining blocks of uniform hard.
ness, the non-uniformity resulting In
holes in the pavement. In Edinburgh
he found a paving composed of q 5.
inch layer OF G to cement concrete
on a rough stone foundation. he sur.
face being dressed with eindevs and
sand. In West Liverpool he saw q