Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-06-16

600, 900 or more. as junk 1t brings
not more than one-hundredth part
of that sum. The battleship Maine
was bid in as junk for s4S,000. There
are not many persons or companies
who are in the market tor second
hand battleships and the buyer must
regard as part of the price he pays
the enormous cost of the wrecking.
While the seller of the second hand
fighting ships gets little in proper
ton to original cost, the ultimate
cost to the junkman is many times
what he pays for the complete ves-
sci. Almost as many men are re-
required to take a ship apart as to
put one together.
More than half a million tons of
the American navy are being scrap
ped under the disarmament treaty
and the junk is to be handled in such
a way that many people will ride
in automobiles. sail in ships, use
electrical appliances and use tools
which formerly constituted parts of
the great ships.
Other Junking Enterprises
1t is the greatest and most spec
tacular junking enterprise which
has followed the war but there are
many others. The government
bought a tremendous quantity of
material of all sorts and built many
buildings especially for war use.
Many of these are all being scrap
ped. In every big city in the coun-
try can be found important evil
dences of this vast industry which
was so much stimulated Ivy the war.
Washington is a typical example. A
business mar purchased or leased a
portion of Camp Meigs the tempo
rary army camp where the war gar
rlson of Washington was quartered.
Using the camp site as a junk yard,
he proceeded to scrap camp build
inSs as well as many other tempo
rary buildings erected in Washing
ton in the emergency of war. In
such deals, the purchaser at sec
ond hand of a building takes ev-
erything in it-lumber, bricks, steel,
plumbing. lighting fixtures and all
other materials which go to make
up a house. This results in the
accumulation of stock for a sort of
department store of the, building
trade. Builders can find in such
yards almost anything in the way
of material for any sort of a build
ing.
This industry is thriving in many
cities especially those near which
great army camps were located dur
ing the war. The process of reduce
ing TO workable material and SELL
ing to the public for special pur-
poses the ships. buildings and many
other objects used is going on con-
stantly and will. continue for some
years before all the war material
will be absorbed. Many people will
be using, unconsciously, in automo-
bile, house knife and fork at table,
or almost any other conceivable
object, some souvenir.
The process of destruction and
junking goes on always but is accent
uated by war because tnen it is
accelerated. John Stuart Mill the
eminent English economist, pointed
out that every five years practically
the whole tangible wealth of a ma
ton is destroyed. More buildings
are torn down every month. in
peaceful processes of improvement,
in many American cities, than were
shelled down at the siege of Ant
werp. Last years wheat crop is
totally destroyed. Nearly all of last
years cotton is consumed or soon
will be. The destruction OF war is
more spectacular and therefore re-
garded as more disastrous, but in an
economic sense. the loss is not great
ly different from the ordinary peace
time destruction deliberately UNDER
taken as a measure of progress.