The establishment of a market price for all and every description of waste would act as the direct incentive to preserve anything and everything for further possible use. This was proved very conclusively during the war, when bones and paper were in such urgent request, the one for the reclamation of the fat, and the other for re-pulping. Under normal conditions both wastes had received indifferent consideration, and immense quantities of the two materials suffered complete useless destruction by fire. The premium placed upon the price of bones was only ½d., or 1 cent, a pound, the butcher being regarded as the collecting medium. That is to say the bones would be paid for at the above rate upon surrender to the butcher. The reward was not high, but it proved to be sufficient to induce people to husband their bones and to dispose of them in the recognized market. It was the same with paper. The average housewife devoted but little attention to the harvesting of this waste until she learned that the authorities were ready to pay 1d.--2 cents--at least per pound therefor through its accredited agents. Instantly she commenced to display thrift, and was somewhat surprised by the money which could be picked up in this manner. Yet it is safe to assert that had no financial value been placed upon these wastes barely 50 per cent. of what was actually secured would have been forthcoming. Unfortunately there is a large class of waste exploiters which is disposed to trade upon the ignorance or indifference of the community. In the knowledge that the average house, office and factory has no conception of the value of its refuse, or is ready to part with it for nothing because it is regarded as a nuisance, the waste merchant is disposed to become discriminatory and autocratic. He is perfectly ready to acquire what he knows full well possesses a distinct value so long as he can get it for nothing. The moment the owner sets a value upon the flotsam and jetsam the waste merchant will have nothing to do with it. He assumes an indifferent if not a dictatorial and impossible attitude to which the second party to the projected bargain takes immediate exception. The upshot is that sooner than part with the material for nothing, and in the knowledge that the acquirer is certain to sell out in turn at a profit, the material is withdrawn completely from possible circulation, and so suffers irretrievable loss. To barter is human, and this applies as forcibly to waste as to houses, commodities and produce in general.