The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-07-29
Judge Shumway Delivers Decision from the Bench After Brief Evidence Is
 Submitted President Livingston Testi- fies to Amount of Matter > Not Garbage Sent to
 His Plant
But H1 Testimony Is at Variance In Many Points With that of City's
 Weigher

Declaring that the By-Products Go. has an adequate remedy at law, Judge Milton A. Shumway, in the temporary injunction obtained by the By-Products Co.,, through Judge Ralph Wheeler of New London, re- straining the City of Bridgeport from carrying out it's contract made with the American Extractor Go. of New Bedford. The decision was made from the bench.
 It was the contention of the By Products Co. that the City of Bridge port had failed to live up to it's con tract with them in the matter of the garbage procured. They claimed that more than 20 per cent. of the gar bage collected was refuse matter, and was an entire loss to them getting into their machinery, and compelling them to bury the garbage.
 City Attorney Thomas M Cul1inan contended that the By-Products Co.,, through the closing down of it's plant or May II forfeited it's contract and was therefore liable to damage suit, and that the Board of Health, under the circumstances, had right to ask for and to receive bids from other
 To substantiate their claims that a large percentage of the garbage col lected was rubbish, and worked great damage to the operating plant,xJudge Edward K. Nicholson, counsel for the By-Products Co. called J. B. Living ston, its president and general man. ager, and George B. Selleck, super tneendent of the plant.
 MT. Selleck stated that he had been superintendent of the plant for six years. or ever since it went into operation. When the garbage was first collected there was about per cent of the collections, rubbish. Within the past few years that per- centage has doubled. The garbage weighed, and placed on an endless belt, to allow for the picking over by employees. 1t is then cooked, then screened and finally dried. There is considerable iron found in the gar-a bage which gets into the machinery causing its break down.
 MT. Livingston, president of the plant and its general manager, stated that plant cost $75,000, and $25,000 more has been put into it, in inn proved machinery and repair.
 When the company first started, fairly good garbage was collected, there being about per cent. of rub bish. When the plant closed in May, about 20 per cent. of the collections were rubbish. These collections, MT:
 
 everything, including alarm clocks, bricks. statutary, oil stoves, grass, strawberry baskets, broken crockery, bottles, horseshoes, iron and tin cans.
 It is almost impossible, he said, to pick all of this rubbish from the gar bage, much of it going into the boil CTS and vatS.
 Last Fall, MT. Livingston said, the plant had been shut down six times within four weeks. causing much loss, besides necessitatfng the burial of the garbage, which alone cost $3,- 900. 'If the rubbish was not pres ent," said Mr., Livingston, "the plant would go along smoothly" The grease from the plant is sent to Europe and the fertilizer to manu- lecturers in this country: operations in all $7,0O0 has been lost, due to break downs from rubbish which break downs the city under the contract was liable for. MT. Liv- ingston stated that he had complain ed many and many a time to the health board about the conditions, but they were always going to do something, but never did anything. I've asked them to enforce the ordi- nance, but they say they can't do it."
 The By-Products Co. is capitalized for $100,000 of which stock MT. Liv- ingston has $20,000.
 Since the injunction was obtained, last week, MT. Livingston said that the garbage brought to the plant has been very much better, but still does not come within the contract. Livingston stated that he had read of them in the newspapers, but that no complaints had ever been made to him.