Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1911-03-15

WuElu IuEe0 OF IOuT decades ago, I'M
mense areas Of Canada are today.
For hundreds of miles east and west
of the Superior shore the sawmill Is
the life of almost every town settle
ment Mountains Of sawdust lay
everywhere. Sawdust Ia nuisance,
Is carted away at large expense. is
q white elephant on the lumbermak-
ers' hands. II man should appear to
any one Of the lumber manufacturers
tomorrow and say, Il will contract to
take all Of your sawdust for ten
years." the owner would be delighted
to give 1t to him for hauling 1t away.
There are not only thousands, but
millions Of tons of It. The mills do
not burn 1t in their furnaces, as many
American manufacturers are now do
ing, because they have more wood
trimmings than they can use.
How can this sawdust be used? Eas-
lily enough, and probably enough, too.
A method has now been found where
by sawdust is easily and cheaply
moulded into briquettes as hard as
wood itself, and capable Of producing
a heat as powerful as that Of coal.
By mixing sawdust with glue-water
and soluble glass. and automatically
pressing 1t, a beautiful artificial wood
is made, which in France is called
bois durci, and which possesses a
beauty Of appearance found only in
ebony, rosewood and mahogany.
Today the paper question" IL one
of national Importance. 1t has been
pointed out q hundred times that the
newspaper, magazine and popular
novel reader is responsible for the go
ing of our forests at rate which
will leave US pretty nearly treeless q
few years from now. And meanwhile.
because Of what we can class as moth
ing less than ignorance. the people Of
this country and Canada are coolly
destroying an enormous paper supply
each year. For straw, after q brief proc
ess, Ia paper. Last year personally
saw thousands of tons Of straw burn
ed by farmers on the Canadian prair.
ies. Twenty million tons were burned
between Winnipeg and the coast!
The value of those stacks, in paper,
would be tremendous, and the figure
would be doubled by those which are
burned in our own western states.
Scattered evenly over the grain fields
the burned straw would not be q total
loss, as 1t would be Of some assist
ance to the soil; but burned as 1t is.
In huge stacks. or "winrows." 1t does
more injury than good to the soil,
In the United States there are hun
,dreds Of ways in which money ia
made in the utilization Of wastes
most OF them thus far being in the
hands OF moneyed men, like million.
aire manufacturers, packers, steel pro
ducers, and SO on. The "poor mans
opportunities" have not yet been TAX.
en- advantage Of. Today, for instance
there is scarcely city of any size In
the United States where man with
from two to Ave thousand dollars al
his command could not set up by
product factory in waste fruit that
would pay him large dividends on his
money. What large wholesale fruit
merchant has carted away from his
back door as waste" would pay the
salaries Of his employees II turned
into vinegar, favors and oils" and
each Of these by-products would be W
to the highest standard OF the pure
food regulations. for decay In fruit Ii
chemically harmless change.
In another way there are opportu
mites for small capital in the sheep
raising districts of the United States
and Canada. Not many years age
gold wash" was a waste: today II
yields a treasure. It has been found
now that when sheep Is washed the
dirty water which has cleansed the
wool is Of considerable value. ant
that 1t will yield a''wool fat" fifteer
per cent as great as the wool on the
sheep. From this fat FIVE valuable
products are secured. used as the
Z i r d - g. .