Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-01


whole world is working 1t.
Would You see the prospectors look
Ing out for fat pockets? You have
only to open your eyes to the
things all about you, or read between
the lines of the newspapers. The war
reports are full of stories of salvage.
Back of the Army in the field is an
other army, going back and forth and
saving the scraps. The broken guns
and automobiles go to the rear. the
copper and other valuable metals are
loaded on trains and taken back for
future use. Even the old hats, shoes
and clothes are mended and used over
again. The biggest repair shops of
the world have been erected not far
from the battlefelds, and a large part
saving the waste.
The same economy goes on at nome
among those that are supplying the
Army and Navy The cry is for saw
ing and government efficiency The
Council of National Defense has spe-
study such matters. They take cuffs
from the legs Of your trousers and the
pleats from your dresses. They piece
out your shoes with fabricated uppers
to save wool; They fix meatless,
wheatless and almost eatless days to
save food. and even turn on the
clocks to give us more daylight They
scription. and ask us to hold even our
pennies for thrift stamps and liberty
loans. This work will continue while
the war lasts, and 1t will be demanded
which is to come when the war ends.
The savings already have been far be-
yond expectation. and Uncle Sam is
like to pile up great reserve funds out
of the scrap.
The scrap heap I write of today is
that Of our minerals. The subject has
been Investigated by the national
geological survey and the bureau of
mines, and much of the material in
this letter comes from that source.
The mineral experts tell me that the
scraps are receiving more and more
attention each day. and that large
part of the work of the miners and
manufacturers is now devoted TO
watching the waste. Iron scrap by the
thousands of tons is being resmelted
in the open hearth furnaces. Stereo-
type metal. lead scrap and solder are
resmelted and used. tin scrap and tin
dross are recovered and zinc from
zinc clippings is saved. Not long ago.
I went through tue big gun shop here
of copper, brass and bronze are en-
ployed in making the monster cannon
and gun mounts used on our memoir
war. Every ounce OF scrap is saved
and no metal whatever goes to waste.
The copper from copper paint sludSe
and from the ashes of brass and cop
per furnaces is separated from the
metal in which it is mixed and 1t
~
Gold. silver and platinum are being
collected from jewelers. sweepings and
every dentist saves the gold IN the
teeth he pulls out. The gold IS saved
allowed to run away as it did in the
past. This is so of many of the min
ing camps and the banks which buy
geld heard Of a. case ,r in the 10 h'9 fhe
ground. and an ex-cashier got the
privilege of working over the ground
where the assay office was me re-
suit was a small fortune in gold dust.
ing special attention to platinum.
They have been going from dentist to
dentist and buying up what they
could. The government is anxious 10
get all In the market.
During the past year l nave Wis
tied many Of the larger industrial
plants Of the United States, and have
found none which is not watching Its
scrap heap. Corporations capitalized
at tens of millions are spending for
tunes to save few cents in the cost
Of product. and the old metals and
old materials are being used over and
over again. At one of the biggest oil
refineries of the country l found them
cutting the holes out Of steel plate
that had been used in boilers and
trimming them up for service again.
Not far away was lumber yard
.l,a~
to make paper out Of the sawdust. and
In the biggest sugar refinery Of the
world, near New Orleans, l saw them
saving the vapor that rises from the
boiling molasses and condensing it so
that no sugar is lost in the steam
At one of the biggest plants of the
United States Steel Company they
were saving the iron dust notes that
rise to the top of the stacks of the
blast furnaces. This iron dust Is so
11ne that 1t will float away on the
air. and they have to drop it into run
ming water where it forms into peb-
Dies or nodules that could be smelted
again.
X X
l have already written Of the enor-
nous savings of the by-product Of
coke ovens. from which we are now
getting many of our munitions of
war. our most valuable fertilizers and
the foundations of big dye and drug
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