The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-12-28
!, n1sCARDED COTTON, CORN
coRS CANE STALKS AND
LEATHER SCRAPS.
NeDIected Sources of Wealth

cobs Could BE Made Into Lumber and
poilroad Cross Ties. Millions Lost
- Neglected Peat Deposits. Some
rioures on Wasted Assets of the
Industrial World.
toward the close of every year
.n,ohody or other Of mathemati-
ii or frugal turn of mind begins to
senre out how much we might have
saved had we begun harvesting our
oennies, oil and wine at the begin
hing of the year. This time it is
robn T. Schaffer, inventor of labor
saving and waste-preventing devices,
If R chester. N. Y, who leads the
van with interesting financial statis-
tics of what might have been.
Mr.. Schaffer, by the way, was the
irst man to put wire into glass for
Dractical commercial purposes,
ID hereby causing a saving in bills for
broken glass. He also applied the
rheumatic cushion to car bumpers
for the reduction of shock in re-
bound thereby causing a saving in
nerves. His great hobby for thirty
Years has been study of the con-
servation of wasted assets of
the industrial world. According
to data compiled by him many mil
lions of dollars were simply thrown
away during 1910 because we let
them dribble through our fingers.
1 He has more statistics on the waste
! problem than any other man in the
country. OF the long list of mate
4 rails most grossly wasted in America
corn cobs, oily waste, corn stalks,
sugar cane stalks and waste leather
scraps are perhaps the most valuable
when scientifically treated for con-
servation.
According to M. Schaffer the Iu-
bricating boxes on railroad car
wheels are one great source of I'M
conserved wealth. There are TO-
249,462 car wheels in the United
States on passenger and freight cars
and locomotives. They require, on
an average, thirty gallons of oil per
year, which makes the annual con-
sumption of oil for car and engine
wheels alone 307 ,483,S6O gallons.
To soak up this vast amount of
hbricator 51,247,310 pounds of
waste are used, or an average of
five pounds to each wheel A demon
stratOn of saving oil from waste
used was made by Mr.. Schaffer, and
from 60 pounds of the oily waste
Z gallons and 1 quart of oil was
squeezed.
If, on the average, 100 pounds of
waste produced only gallons of oil
the amount possible to save from
the oily waste used by the railroads
Of the United States in one year
would reach the total of 4,097,784
gallons, and at an average price of
only 80 cents per gallon it's cash val
ue would be $1,366,595.
Discarded corn cobs are another
neglected source Of wealth. Mr..
Schatfer claims that they can be con-
Yerted into wood block in many
forms, the most valuable of which
are lumber, railroad ties, and the
basis of many kinds of furniture.
he estimates that this years crop of
approximately 3,000,00O,00O bushels
would produce $50, 100000 bush
els Of cobs on the basis of So per
cent cobs, and these pressed into
boards would yield 10, 800, 100000
leet OF lumber. Made into railroad
5eS the cobs would produce 412,-
ooVV'OOO ties, which would be enough
lof 1888 miles of railroad The
coOS OF the 1910 yield would, if
pressed into lumber, make $50 solid
pAes the size OF the Pulitzer build
ing.
VI the neglected and undeveloped
sOufces of wealth Of this country
psat Is foremost. Some of the richest
Peat deposits in the world are around
nlack lake, st. Lawrence county,
New York. The Great Dismal Swamp
VI virginia is worth more than many
SoIu mines. Cape Elizabeth, Maine,
las las a great vein Of peat located
ouIee years ago by the United States
oovosraphical survey. There are vast
Quantities in the Dakotas, Minnese-
a. "a, Wisconsin, Michigan, the New
npsIand states, and their total val
b S1 at SO per ton, has been estimated
SGo federal experts at $S8,00O,OOO,
WV wv One Of the most successful
~ eS 10 which peat has been put is
~ h lne production of gas. 1t has
~ I9en used by the Notia Steel Works
n M sweden for thirty years for the
1IeoH 6oag of gas, and from $4,000 to
Nav no,QOo cubic yards of dry kneaded
a aT@' are used for gas making annu-
''' Peat gas is used in several