The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-04
Conservation Of Food for the Needy.


The laudable effort on the part of
Mayor MITCHEL's benevolent Commit
| tee ON Unemployment to afford i'm
mediate assistance to the needy by
gathering used articles Of wearing APP
parel, &C., repairing and otherwise
/ fitting them for practical use, brings
/ up the question why equally or per-
haps more urgently needed food may
not he obtained in the same manner.
| TO one who would investigate the con
\ tents of the ash cans Of the better
class Of houses or apartments It would
( be a revelation to note the quantity
of bread and meat and other food that
is daily wasted in this great city.
/ May not q systematic canvass Of the
| housekeepers In high class dwellings
/ inaugurate methodical separation of
| the waste foods of the households?
! by practical and scientific purifca-
/ ton and rearranging of the nutritive
elements of this wasted material
/ hroths. pat6s and other nutritious
dishes may be prepared with which
/ the urgent hunger OF the unemployed
may be satisfied. The problem in
volved in this proposition cannot be
difficult of solution when the wonder
full achievements discussed in the re.
cent meeting of the Waste Material
/ Association are studied. The presl-
dent of this association said truly:
without attracting attention. the
dealers in things that not very long ago
were considered worthless trash have
built up a business that in capital in
volved and materials handled ranks with
some OF the great industries. Greater
results have been achieved from the saw
ing of waste materials than from the
irrigation OF barren lands. The dealers
in waste have reclaimed millions of
dollars. They have turned the dump
heaps into gold mines. They have shown
the way 10 real conservation"
That this is no hyperbole is evil
denced by the fact that, by rearrang-
ing. cleansing and scientifically com
blning with other materials. waste ma
terials for the removal OF which man
ufacturers have hitherto been willing
10 pay are annually converted into
products yielding SIOO,OoO,OOO. Dis
carded hardware and tin cans, for
instance. produced Sli.oOoOOO last
year. Some of the old tin can parts
are even used for weighing silk. The
scraps of tin cut In the manufacture
of lin cans made for canning salmon
on Puget Sound were recently shipped
in 10000 bales TO Germany. Iron
and coal Stag is utilized at great
profit, the former for fertilizers and
the latter for fuel brick and building
material. The paper manufactured
from rags and the export of rags
amount to millions Of dollars. The
rag dealers association exported last
year S2,OOO,OOO worth of rags.
In Belgium and France $3,0O0,00o
worth of grease and potassium car
houate is saved from wool washings.
The oils and aromatics contained in
discarded fruits are used very profit
ably in the manufacture of perfum-
cry. Smoke even is now utilized for
the production of alcohol, lime ace
tates, &c. One of the smelters near
Salt Lake City produces smoke con
tanning $1O,00O.OO0 worth Of sulphur.
In the most scientifically managed
steel mills converted smoke furnishes
one-h half of the fuel.
In view of these actual achieve
ments it would not appear difficult
TO convert the enormous waste of food
in this city and elsewhere into pre-
cious nutritive material. The Ger
mans are already preparing for posi-.
bic famine by ordering certain limits
in preparing food.
when the terrible experiences OF he
slegcd cities are remembered the pos
Sibe diSagrceahle phase of the recon
struction of waste foods becomes inSiG
, nificant in comparison. 1t is only
necessary to enlist the interest OF
, houSekecpcrs, but more especially tn
. cooks. 10 bring clean, nutritious food
to all the needy.
III