NA Tl T RE 



141 



THURSDAY , 1 >( rOBER 24, 1918. 



WASTE AXD WEALTH. 



Wealth from Waste: Elimination of Waste. 1 



bit m. By Prof. H . With 



eword by the Rt. Hon. Lord Leverhulme. 



Pp. w i 316. (London: G. Routledge and 



i, Ltd.. 1918. 1 Price js. 6d. net 



IN spin- oi its limitations, and notwithstanding 

 in faults of style and : . ste, this book is 

 ated si re a useful purpose, and it makes 

 ts appearance at an opportune time. Thrifl is 

 .1 national characteristii oi the southern ball 

 Great Britain, whatever it ma) be of the other 



author quotes a remark of Archdeacon 



made al an econom) meeting at Mitford 



, . .!il\ part of 1916 as e> iden< e oi a fact 



. unfortunately., cannot be controverted: "I 



travelled all over the world, and I have 



known any nation or people so wilfully 



Ful as the people oi our own country. In 



litr country do people so absolute!) fling 



God's goods as they do in England." In 



proof of this statement Prof. Spooner. in the 



some 300 pages, piles Ossa on Pelion. 



book is an attempi to show that in practically 



ery department of our national life and activity 



ril waste is occurring everywhere, far and 



: waste of money, waste of food, wash oi 



erials, labour, fuel, energy, and time, waste 



iman strength and thought, waste of health, 



.-!, ol life itself. " This is a sweeping 



sation, which, b) its over-emphasis, is 



ted to prejudice the main conclusion the 



ilish, w hich is thai ibis u ast< 



oidable, and ought, therefore, to be pre- 



■ '1. "If the argument were stated more tem- 



tel) it would carry greater conviction. Some 



as the whole scheme oi Nature testifies, 



1 >rd Leverhulme, is inevitable. The author 



implicid) admits this when he allows that there 



ustifiable wastes and dangerous economics. 



What he S e," due to Hir- 



er, is, in many cas.-s, unavoidable. 

 Exaggeration never strengtl 1 in the eyes 



of a well-informed reader, and it is tbe well- 

 informed reader that counts in the long run. Still, 

 ■ irerj allowance is made for the author's 

 what too zealous efforts to prove bis main 

 . enough remains to show that much 

 h lone in the direction ol corny 



in the reduction of wast lusion which 



dy will gains 

 In a series 

 enforce the lessons ol the v ar. He maki 

 urgent appeal for better municipal organisation; 

 he shows how time is ories and in 



■ ommercial matters ; h< iv thi 

 in Parliament and in jut 1 dine; he di 



on i ■ tin waste due to traditional and con- 

 servative methods in works ' 

 the mischievous policy of restricting output 

 2556 VOL. I02l 



shows how much waste is ,\ul- to human fatigue; 

 what wastage there is ol life, limb, and health, 

 and what is its econom'u effect; the waste due 

 ant mortality, child-lain >,t exploitation, and 

 preventable accidents; the > a e o1 food arising 

 from bad household manag id lack ol 



knowledge; waste due to adi . , the waste 



oal owing to our partial a id imperfect 

 attempts to treat the coal question scientifically; 

 bow indefensible is the sliding tract 



system, and what is its effect on "publii prices." 

 lie treats of fuel economies in tin house, the 

 smoke nuisance, electrical supply, and tin 



Ol central power stations. He deals wit] 



he styles the coming agricultural revolution, the 

 home-grown food question, the technical educa- 

 tion of the farmer, labour-saving machinery for 

 the increase of tillage, demobilisation and farm 

 work, the utilisation of waste land, intensive cul- 

 ture, reclamation schemes, waste due to the 

 neglect of afforestation, the timber problem, etc. 



In a special section of the work Prof. Spooner 

 shows what has been done in the past to utilise 

 waste substances, and bow the waste of perishable 

 things has been prevented. This portion, which 

 he entitles "The Romance of Waste," is put to- 

 gether pour encourage* les autres, and to prove 

 that there is the potentiality of wealth in waste, 

 as illustrated by the time-honoured examples of 

 alpaca, shoddy, mungo, imitation sealskin, pop- 

 lin, paraffin oil, linoleum, glycerin, etc. Another 

 section is devoted to household wastes and 

 economies, whilst a third deals with trade and 

 industrial wastes, daylight saving, the waste due 

 to derelict waterways, etc. 



It will be seen, therefore, that the book covers 

 i \ large amount of ground. The author is 

 certainly to be congratulated on the industry he 

 has employed in its compilation and for the 

 amount of information he has succeeded in com- 

 pressing into a limited space. Tbe work is simply 

 and unaffectedly written, and appeals rather to 

 the man in the street than to the expert. The 

 author's knowledge of scientific facts is occasion- 

 allv at fault, and his narratives of certain his- 

 torical matters are now and again open to correc- 

 tion. "E. C. Stafford" (p. 267) should read 

 "E. C. C. Stanford," and "carbon disulphite " 

 (p. 87) should be changed to "carbon disulphide." 

 The statement concerning dust in the vicinity 

 of a Bunsen flame (p. 5i) would seem to 

 imply thai the dust is a product of the 

 flame, and the account of reclaimed rubber 

 reads as if the process were something in 

 the nature of adulteration, which is surely con- 

 trary i" the lesson which it is the whole object of 



the book to enforce. Such a statement as "li 



ently adulterated with glucose, soluble 



-alls, and barytes, whilst treated tripe and com- 



< il paper are known to be used as poor and 



fraudulent substitutes for leather" (p. 116), 



calculated to convey an entirely false impression, 



is 1 gross exaggeration to sa) thai "a great 



n| the wines ni l-iaini and Germany has 



ti • be the juice of the grapi " (p. 11 2). 



I 



