Millions from WasteTalbot, Frederick Arthur Ambrose
Philosophy
Millions from Waste
Talbot, Frederick Arthur Ambrose
Salvage (Waste, etc.); Waste products
As the scheme was brought into wider and wider application it was found
that the exploitation of the actual swill-tub might be conducted to
still greater advantage. Hitherto the task had been the redemption of
the bones and waste fat before it reached the actual garbage barrel.
But to turn the actual contents of the swill-tub properly so-called
to economic account it was seen that certain plant would have to be
installed, although investigation revealed that such appliances need
neither be elaborate nor expensive. The suggestion was thoroughly
ventilated, and as a result it was decided to approach the authorities
with a proposal which was decidedly novel and which was certainly
unprecedented.
Convincing facts and figures were obtained to indicate what the
probable yield from this latest endeavour to turn military waste to
profitable account would be. These estimates took into consideration
the expenditure incurred by the acquisition and operation of the plant
adopted. The proposed outlay was not heavy, but it was felt by those
who had elaborated this latest scheme that to request the authorities
to incorporate it as part and parcel of existing military routine would
defeat the primary principle underlying the idea. It was felt that, if
the enterprise could be rendered profitable under military conditions,
it might lead to its practical application by the civil community. The
impression obtained that the few thousand pounds capital expenditure
which would have to be incurred, together with the revenue, would be
lost among the maze of millions sterling incidental to current military
expenditure, even if it did not suffer actual inclusion, from its
comparative triviality, among “sundry expenses.” In this event all the
lessons to be derived therefrom would be lost. On the other hand if the
enterprise could be kept separate and could be conducted, as desired,
along accepted commercial lines, success would impress the civilian,
and might assist in persuading the municipal and other authorities to
do likewise with the similar raw materials available in plenty from
domestic sources of supply.
Thereupon it was suggested that the War Office should sanction the
formation of a limited liability company to handle this latest
exploitation of the actual swill along orthodox business lines. To
allay any suspicions of private interests profiteering at the expense
of the tax-payer it was recommended that the whole of the capital
should be subscribed, and held, by the authorities, who should also be
invested with the power to appoint the directors, and who should hold
office at the pleasure of the War Office.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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