GARAGE 



2381 



GARBAGE 



lives in the warm parts of the ocean, grows 

 about two feet long and feeds on smaller fishes. 

 It is often taken to the city markets, as it 

 has a good flavor, something like that of mack- 

 erel. The other gar lives in the rivers and 

 lakes of North America, grows to be about 

 five feet long, but is not good to eat. Like the 

 ocean garfish, it eats smaller fish and interferes 

 with fishing by destroying nets, so it is killed 

 freely. Many different species belong to this 

 family. 



GARAGE, garazh'. The word is French, 

 and it has been taken over without change of 

 form or pronunciation into the English lan- 

 guage; it means keeping under cover, or to 

 keep under cover, and has become limited in 

 its application to automobile storage rooms. 

 Since automobiles have so largely taken the 

 place of horses and carriages, the garage has 

 taken the place of the old livery-stable and 

 barn. It is a building where men clean, repair 

 and store automobiles. 



GARBAGE, gar'baj, is household refuse, 

 chiefly of animal and vegetable matter. The 

 problem of preventing refuse from becoming a 

 menace to public health has always been im- 

 portant, and in many instances, difficult of 

 solution. Garbage carelessly thrown out and 

 allowed to lie on the ground soon becomes a 

 prolific source of disease. Most cities have 

 until recent years expended large sums in con- 

 tracting for its disposal, but modern scientific 

 study proves that instead of being an expense, 

 garbage can be made an important source of 

 municipal revenue. As the refuse comes from 

 hotels, restaurants, private houses and other 

 buildings it consists of a mixture of meats, 

 fish, vegetables, bread, bones, bottles, paper, 

 tins and the like. That such a collection 

 should prove to be worth considerable money 

 appears strange, yet it is true. 



Cost of Removal. No matter how garbage 

 is finally disposed of, whether dumped into a 

 river or lake, used to fill in waste ground, 

 burned, or turned to profit by scientific treat- 

 ment, the most expensive item connected with 

 its removal has always been hauling. From 

 the nature of the garbage it is advisable that 

 the removal be done at night, unless the most 

 modern covered metal wagons are available. 

 This adds to the expense, as night work is 

 always more costly than day work. Each 

 house and building is supplied with garbage 

 cans of suitable size, into which refuse is 

 thrown. These cans are collected and emptied 

 into wagons, which are then hauled to the 



point of disposal. Contracts between munici- 

 palities and removers were formerly based on 

 the principle of paying a certain sum yearly 

 for the removal of the garbage. In many cities 

 firms now contract and pay for the right to 

 collect, remove and utilize the garbage, thus 

 actually reversing conditions. In large cities 

 the amount of garbage collected averages about 

 500 pounds per head of population per year. 

 In a city like Chicago, with a population of 

 2,500,000, the contractor or the employees of 

 the city itself must remove and dispose of 

 1,250,000,000 pounds, or 625,000 tons, of garbage 

 annually. That means that whoever under- 

 takes the work must be prepared to haul over 

 1,711 tons of garbage daily. 



Value of Garbage. It has been found that 

 not only can garbage be made to pay for its 

 own removal but that it can and does produce 

 handsome profits for those securing contracts 

 for its disposal. Until recently, a contractor 

 was paid $50,000 annually by the city of New 

 York for the removal of garbage. That same 

 contractor later offered to pay $130,000 for the 

 right to remove and dispose of the garbage for 

 a period of five years. 



European cities, especially those in France 

 and Germany, have been in advance of Amer- 

 ican communities in devising methods of ef- 

 fective utilization of garbage. In a typical 

 up-to-date European plant the pure garbage, 

 that is, the organic matter which remains after 

 tin cans and Similar objects have been re- 

 moved, is boiled for eight hours or more, then 

 subjected to high pressure to eject moisture, 

 after which it is dried, screened and ground. 

 Of the resulting substance, called tankage, from 

 three to four per cent is ammonia, five to ten 

 per cent bone phosphate, and one-half to 

 one-and-a-half per cent potash. These ele- 

 ments make the tankage a fertilizer; though 

 not a very valuable one, it has the advantage 

 of containing only a small amount of fat, which 

 is a drawback in such fertilizers ,s cotton seed. 

 The grease which is removed from the tankage 

 by pressure is valuable for soaps, glycerine, 

 nitroglycerine, dynamite and other fat-prod- 

 ucts. In some American plants, the grease is 

 extracted by treating the garbage with hot 

 naphtha. 



The garbage which is not fit for tankage con- 

 tains many substances, such as rubber, paper 

 and metal, which may be sold to dealers in 

 them. The residue may be burned as fuel 

 in electric light or steam plants. In America 

 it is a common practice to burn the entire 



