Omaha daily bee., 1918-06-16
JOHN H. KEARNES.

JOHN H. KEARNES.
Twenty years ago, a young mar
fresh from the ghettos of Russia, WIN
could hardly speak the English Ian
guage, worked for.half day in Oma
ha for junk dealer.
He received 50 cents as compensa
lion for his half days work, and will
the money as capital, and gum,
sack as warehouse, he started in busi
ness for himself.
Today that man employs over 81
men, buys scrap iron by the hundred
thousands dollars worth. utilizes
blocks of city ground for warehouse
factory and yardage space, and in
the course of the year does a gross
business An scrap iron alone OF 81
100000, and in manufacturing and
metal reclamation another $l,000,0O0.
He furnishes the scrap steel and
skinned iron for score OF factories,
and in his yards at Fourth and Lea
venworth streets, and Seventh and
Douglas streets, one can see in re-
ality the beating OF the plowshares
and pruning hooks into the imple.
fneflfs. of war, for reapers, plows and
cuifiyators and threshing machines
are broken up and are Shipped to the
Pacific coast shipbuilding plants
where they are cast into armor plates
to sheathe vessels of war against the
torpedo and shot Of enemy ships.
Scrap Iron Master.
All B. Alpirn is the young Russian
emigrant who has become the scrap
iron master OF the Trans-mississippi
valley. He is known to all of the
IRON master Of the continental and to
the presidents and general managers
Of big railroad corporations as BUSH
ness man of high standing.
He ID the young man who started
with capital of so cents and gunny
sack, who, while he wearily sought
customers in summer heat and winter
blasts, dreamed OF the time he would
own a horse and wagon, then yard,
and larger things so colossal that they
were vague visions of the magma
lion. And all have come true.
Twenty years ago the conservation
OF junk materials and related prod
ucts was an eastern activity, devel-
opcd to its largest volume in the At
lantic ceast states.
Men who engaged in the industry
here were pioneers and because of
lack of capital and the wasteful meth
DDS of the native population who
scorned turning their waste products
into cash, were limited in their opera
tions. Most of the junk salvaged
was in the cities OF Omaha and Lin
coin. Farmers and country town
dwellers permitted farm machinery
and shop and household equipment
Of iron and steel, which had served
its usefulness to rust in back yards
and vacant lots and the wealth waste
due to this carelessness and prodi-
gality was immense.
Then came the peripatetic junk
dealer with his horse and wagon who
managed to secure loads of discarded
materials and on this great indus
try was created.
Center for the West.
Omaha is the scrap iron center for
territory embracing all of Ne
braska. western Iowa. and the two
Dakotas. In nearly every country
town there is junk dealer who
gathers material from the surround
ing country and when he aecumula-
tes carload ships it to Omaha,
II is estimated that the four scrap
iron mongers Of Omaha will handle
A,500 cars in year, and of this am
cunt 8 600 cars are apportioned to A.
b. Alpirn.
In the immense yards on Fourth
and Leayenworth streets and scatter
ed through the contiguous district
are countless tons of scrap iron in the
shape OF locomotives and locomotive
tenders, worn out steel rails. auto
mobiles that have seen their day Of
usefulness, mountains of steam
boilers, gasoline stoves. farm mach
inery, safes, and every item made of
steel or iron.
So that il can be economically
handled by the manufacturers who
purchase the salvaged materials all OF
the massive pieces of iron and steel
must fe broken up. This is done by
Z bonbardment Of huge steel cannon
balls dropped with Immense force
from a lofty height. Flat pieces are
cnt with giant scissors OF which there
are nearly a score in the different
yards
All Of the metal is sorted and
graded by men who are experts in
their knowledge Of metal composition
and fhey put in separate piles the
NTqaeht iEoE. maiieable iron and,