The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-15
Frederick Haskin's Letter
UNCLE SANS JUNK BUSINESS

! Three old deStr0yerS. the Truxtor
the Worden. and the Whippls
which were retired sometime 5eo
/ have been rebuilt as mercbsr,
ships and now ply in the fruit traas
! between the United States and tro-
pical America. Many of the d..
! stroyers are fast, oll-burnin- shin.
and are easily susceptible OF con.
, version into passenger or Carpe
| ships
/ a modern battleship costs $50
/ 600 900 or more. as junk It bring,
not more than one one-hundredfA
part of that sum. The battlashir
! Maine was bid in as Junk for S4S.
000 There are not many person,
I or companies who are in the mar
/ ket for secondhand battleshfps ana.
I the buyer must regard as part mi
( the price he pays the enormous cost
of the wrecking While the seVe-I
/ of the secondhand fighting sbipsI
gets little in proportion 60 original
cost, the ultimate cost to the Junk
man is many times what he nav,I
| for the complete vessel Almost asI
many men are required to take a,
tship apart as to put one together
More than half a million toss al
| the American navy are being SCrapI
/ ped under the disarmament traat7I
and the junk is TO be handled MI
such a way that many people will
ride in automobiles, sail IN ships
use electrical appliances and usaI
tools which formerly constituted
parts of the great ships
+ Other Junkipg Enterprises.
1t is the greatest and most sner
tacular junking enterprise whta
has followed the war but there ara
many others. The government
bought a tremendous quantity ii
material of all sorts and huirI
many buildings especially for wa,I
use. Many OF these are all betncl
scrapped. In every big city in .tbei
country can be found important
evidences OF this vast industry
which was so much stimulated hvl
the war. Washington is a TYPICAL
example A business man pur-I
chased or leased a portion of CamBI
Meigs, the temporary army campl
where the war garrison OF Wash
ingtOn was Quartered. Using theI
camp site as junk yard. he pTo-l
ceeded to scrap the camp buildingsI
as we'll as many other temporary
buildings arected in Washington nj
the emergency OF war. In suchI
deals. the purchaser at second |
hand of a building takes everything I
in Humber, bricks, steel plumb
ing. lighting fixtures and all other
materials which go to make up Al
house. This results in the acCumu-
lation of stock for a sort of de /
partment store of the building
trade. Builders can find i'm suCiI
yards almost anything IN the wayl
of material for any sort of a buildI
ing.
This industry is thriving u mani
cities, especially those near which
great army camps were located
during the war The process Il
reducing to work bic material aucI
selling 10 the public for peaceful
purposes the ships. buildings and
many other objects used is going on
COILS tdLllN ElfT Will 'D3Atl la AE AH4 Il
some years before all the war ma
terial will be absorbed Many peo-I
pie will be using. unC0nsCI0usIy ilI
automobile. house, knife and f0T5I
at table, OF almost any other con
ceivable object, some souvenir
The process OF destruction md
junking goes on always. but is a.
centuated by war because then il |
is accelerated. John Stuart Mil
the eminent English eco aorlist 1
pointed out tRat every uvr years.
practically the whole rangblHI
wealth of d nation is dc rrayedl
More buildings are torn down eVeTI
month. IN peaceful processes OF i'm
provement, in many American citI
les. than were shelIed down al the
siege of Antwerp. Last year . whe1.
crop is totally destroyed NearTI
all of last years cotton is con
sumed or soon will be The del
stFHCJion of war is more spectaci
ular and therefore regarded as |
more disastrous, but in an eco-I
nomic sense, the loss is mot great
ly different from the ur5iDzTl
peace-time destruction deliberately
undertaken aS q measure VI pro-i
gress.