The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-01
Washington, D. c.

" dSnlnBIons lJs N5s EE1HIS is a story of the scrap heap
 It was once the despised part
 of the earth It has become it's
 chief gold mine, and the whole world is working it. Would you see the prospectors looking out for fat pockets? You have only to open your eyes to the things all abount you, or read between the lines of the news papers, The war reports are full of stories of salvage. Back of the army in the field is another army, going back and fourth and saving the scraps. The broken guns and automobiles go to the rear, the copper and other valu- tle metals are loaded on trains and taken back for future use. Even the old hats, shoes and clothes are mem ded and used over again. The biggest repair shops of the world have been erected not far from the battletields and large part of the work in modern warfare is saving the waste.
 The same economy goes on at home among those that are supplying the army and navy. The cry is for saving and government efficiency The coun- Gil of national defense has special committees which do nothing but 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 leather, and curtail your coats 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 warn us against waste of every description, and ask us to hold even our pennies for Thrift Stamps and Librty Loans. This work will continue while the war lasts, and it will be demanded by the interna- tional struggle for trade which is to come when the war ends. The savings already have been far beyond eXpecta- tion. and Uncle Sam is likely 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. in vestigated by the national geological sur Ney and the bureau of mines, and much CT the material in this letter comes from that source. The mineral experts tell me that the scraps are receiving more attention each day, and that a large part of the work of the miners and manufac- turers is now devoted to watching the waste. Iron scrap by the thousands ot tons is being resmelted in the open hearth furnaces. Stereotype 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 the big gun shop here at Washington, where great quan- titles of copper brass and bronze are en- rloyed in making the monster cannon and gun mounts used on our men-of-war. By cry ounce of scrap is saved and no metal whatever goes to waste. The copper from copper paint sludge and from the ashes of Erass and copper furnaces is sep arated from the metal in which it is mixed and it comes once more on the market.
 Gold, silver and platinum are being col lected from jewellers sweepings and every dentist saves the gold in the teeth he pulls out. The gold is saved from the assay offices and it is not allowed to run away as it did ir the past This is so Of many of tfe mining camps and the banks which buy gold 1 heard