The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-10-25
War Department Prepares Plans
10 Enforce the Most
Rigid Economy.
SOME USE FOR EVERYTHING
Effect OF New Plan 10 to Turn Into
Large Profit What Hitherto Has
Been Very Considerable
Expense.

Washington.--The war department
has taken elaborate and Dmprehen-
slye precautions TO prevent waste in
the army environments, which will soon
contain more than 100000 men. and
in the embarkation camps In the
feeding of the men waste will be mini
mixed through the fact that the food
will be prepared under the direction
Of mess cooks, who will be trained by
special courses In army cooking
| schools.
The officers training camps have not
been under the control of the war de-
partment so far as the food supplies
are concerned, and the waste In those
camps has been due to the lack OF
skilled management In the handling
Of food A committee representing the
war department and the United States
food administration will also assist In
dealing with problems of eliminating
waste.
The food administration has re-
ceived from the secretary of war an
announcement Of a thOrough-going
plan for conserving all the waste ma
terial of the National army camps,
which will result in salvaging many
thousands of dollars.
Collecting the Waste.
The army's first consideration in
planning this work has been the SAM
tary and hygienic problem. At each
cantOnment the wastes will be collect
ed and transported to a single trans
fer station" under the direction OF the
sanitary inspector. Through the use
Of the two-can system, wastes will be
tightly enclosed throughout their col
lection. Sterilized cans will be sub
stituted for the filled cans at the
KITCHENS, the nuisance Of disagreeable
Qdors and danger from flies being re-
duced to a minimum. Every step In
the process Of reclamation and utiliza-
ton Is carefully safeguarded and Is
under the absolute direction Of a san
itary force, each contractor being
placed under heavy bonds.
At the transfer station, the wastes
are turned over to contractor, who
will remove them to point at least
three miles distant from the resersa-
ton. There the wastes will be COM
pletely sorted. Bottles will be ster-
ilized and sold for commercial use. Tin
cans will be baled and the solder, tin
and iron reclaimed. Paper, which Is
estimated about five tons per day, will
be baled. Bones will be kept separate
and ground for fertilizer. The hides
of dead animals will be removed and
the carcasses reduced" for grease and
fertilizer.
The chief items Of waste will be the
garbage and the manure. 1t is esti-
mated that there are 1000 animals at
each cantonment, producing 12O tons
Of manure per day. AT the date OF
the report the manure from ii can
tonments had been sold for $24O,9OQ
annually.
Big Saving Through Garbage.
The greatest element Of saving is
through the garbage. This has been
sold for an annual price of S446,-
394.57. The garbage from IL of the
cantonments will be used for feeding
swine. 1t Is estimated on the basis OF
experiments conducted at the Chilli.
cothe cantonment, that the garbage
waste from 10 to Is men will feed one
hog and enable it to add to its weight
one pound per day. At this rate, the
garbage from these 10 environments
will produce 1S,9S0,000 pounds of pork
per year.
When not used for feeding, the gar
bage will be reduced" that is, cooked
at high temperature, the grease ex-
tracted, and the remainder ground and
used for fertilizer or feeds.
BY the method Of incineration for.
merly In use, not only would all these
waste materials have been
destroyed, but 1t would have cost APP
100000 for the installa-
tion Of incinerator plants and an an. :
nual charge of approximately $595,OOO
for their operation. When we add to
this saving the amount annually re-
ceived by the government from these
wastes, the net saving the first year [
amounts to S1,707 $40.
The effect Of this new plan, there
'Ee, Is not only to conserve large
Quantities Of valuable food wastes, fer =,
.ilizers. etc, but to turn into large
profit what has hitherto been very
expense.