From the point of view of the towns and cities called upon to handle the sewage, the Grossmann process holds out many inducements. It complies with the demands of sanitation because it precipitates no nuisance. It is the most hygienic process yet evolved for the disposal of sewage sludge. The revenue derived from the sale of the by-products—manure and grease—is such as to render the operation of the plant not only self-supporting but money-making. As a rule the sewage works of the average town represent a sink in more senses than one, more especially when it becomes incumbent to resort to the tipping, dumping or other disposal of the enormous accumulations of the sludge. But signs of awakening are apparent. The Oldham plant has been investigated by Corporations and other authorities, not only of this country but from other parts of the world, who have been satisfied as to its commercial practicability. With the restoration of normal trading conditions it is anticipated that the process will become more extensively adopted, especially as during the past five years ceaseless effort has been devoted to the perfection of details to assure the establishment of the process upon a firm commercial basis.
CHAPTER XIX
HOUSE-BUILDING WITH WASTES
Of the many problems of the day demanding prompt settlement, none, perhaps, is so vital to the welfare of the community as the provision of increased housing accommodation. The issue is by no means confined to Great Britain; it is incidental more or less to every country. Such a state of affairs is not surprising, seeing that building operations, at least in the domestic sense, have been reduced to a condition of comparative stagnation for five years. Even those countries which were not drawn into the actual fighting arena have been unable to carry out housing schemes to meet the needs of their growing populations owing, primarily, to the dearth of the necessary materials and the enhanced labour charges.
So far as Britain is concerned the outlook is decidedly disquieting. It is estimated that at least 1,000,000 houses are required to meet the needs of the population. As a first instalment it is proposed to complete forthwith 300,000 houses, but, here again, experience is proving it to be far easier to adumbrate such comprehensive schemes on paper than to carry them into expeditious effect. Questions of cost have arisen. This constitutes the vital factor, because obviously it is folly to build houses for people who cannot afford to live in them. And the limit in the upward tendency has by no means been attained.
The critical situation has been surveyed from every ostensible angle without any practical solution being found. But have we not been circumscribed in our attacks upon the problem? Have we not become so deeply rutted in our ideas concerning everything pertaining to housing as to be unable to regard the aspect from a totally new point of view? Similar crises have developed in, and are constantly assailing, other industries. Upon their occurrence they appear to be equally impossible of successful adjustment, but, finally, as a result of attacking a difficulty from quite a new angle and in a new way, it has been not only subjugated satisfactorily, but a distinct improvement upon the old method brought into operation at one and the same time. A new line of thought and development, possessing greater and more economic possibilities, has been opened up to the advantage of one and all. As a rule one need never hesitate to abandon the existing for something new, because the former is generally associated with some form of waste which has become so heavy as to act as a drag. Directly this retarding force is eliminated, or turned to account, a new era commences.
The contemporary situation in the building trade recalls the state of affairs which arose in American agricultural circles as a result of the outbreak of the Civil War. The drainage of man-power from the land precipitated an extremely depressing outlook. Farmers protested that the soil must run to seed from lack of labour to wield the tools. But thinking men held a contrary opinion. Farming had been conducted along lines which had been followed slavishly for centuries. Manual labour had attained undisputed sway and to decisive disadvantage. Why not dispense with hand labour and use machines? The suggestion that mechanism could displace brawn upon the land provoked a good deal of hostile criticism and humour. But the imaginative were not to be dismayed by conservatism, prejudice, or ridicule. They continued perseveringly along their particular lines of reasoning.
What was the result? McCormick introduced the self-binder which revolutionized harvesting methods, while other brilliant minds conceived equally striking time- and labour-saving appliances for other agricultural duties. They not only solved the immediate crisis but imparted quite a new prospect to agriculture the whole world over. It is safe to assert that, but for the introduction of the self-binder, one-half of the United States would still have remained as barren as the wilderness from sheer lack of labour to cultivate it.
If such a complete revolution proved possible of attainment in such an ancient, rutted, and indispensable industry as agriculture, surely it is not hopeless to anticipate the fulfilment of a similar complete transformation in the craft of house-building? So far as farming is concerned there is every excuse for hesitating to depart from the proved and trusty. A false step may wreak untold harm, but so far as house-building is concerned no such calamity need be apprehended. A mistake can speedily be rectified. It is safe to assert that there is no other line of activity, especially in Great Britain, so closely identified with the effete and wasteful as house-building. In so far as constructional methods are concerned we have scarcely changed our ways since bricks were first brought into use.
We must ruthlessly scrap the old, which has obtained for so long, in favour of the new. Science is forcing the pace, and she will no more be arrested by obsolete theories and arguments than the tides will be held up by a child’s spade. Already she is asserting her power. Contemporary methods are wickedly extravagant, and it is this absurd wastage which is primarily responsible for enhanced costs. The ways of science are inscrutable, but they are sure none the less: the first indications of chafing at delay always assert themselves in the traditional becoming too expensive to maintain. The pocket is the positive road to reform; assail its contents, and the world commences to bestir itself. As the farmer, raised in the old school, had to give way to the engineer, so must our conceptions and ideas pertaining to providing houses for the community undergo a complete change. The architect, his numerous satellites, and the cumbrous rules and regulations which have been framed to protect their vested interests must be jettisoned without a thought of regret. The day has dawned when the engineer must assume the responsibility for providing the people with residential accommodation, and he will be assisted by a new force, including the chemist, which will play a far more prominent part in this problem than many may be disposed to imagine.
This is a utilitarian age. People desire houses to live in—not to look at, although every one will readily agree that a certain regard must be paid to external æsthetic considerations. The average house-owner troubles his head very little over the outside appearance of his domicile or the materials of which it is built, so long as the interior offers him all he desires in regard to comfort and health. Too long have we clung tenaciously to specific theories which are no more adapted to this age than is the slave-oared galley to mercantile traffic. They are destructive rather than constructive. For a time such clock-arresting dogma and precepts hold sway, but sooner or later the pendulum of progress gives such a vicious kick as to break down the whole of the obstructions disputing advance, to assume rhythmic running in a new channel to the advantage of one and all.