Mr. Paterson. I do not think it has. We have a company in England, we call it the S. O. S.; not the call for help—it is quite accidentally called that—but it means Sewage Oil Syndicate.
Mr. Powell. I suppose the difficulty in drying is that if you use heat to expedite the drying you are apt to drive out the volatile constituents?
Mr. Paterson. Yes.
Mr. Powell. You must dry at a reduced heat?
Mr. Paterson. Yes; it dries at a very low temperature. Another difficulty with the drying is that this sewage cake is so extremely nonconductive. You could heat it up to a temperature in the retort of 2,000 F., a piece the size of your fist, and the center will come out exactly as you put it in the retort. It will retain the moisture still, almost in the same condition as it went in, after receiving that high temperature for six hours.
Mr. Tawney. Has the development of this system proceeded beyond the experimental stage, or has it yet reached the commercial stage?
Mr. Paterson. Yes, sir; it has reached the commercial stage. You have to take into consideration that the conditions in Canada and in the United States are considerably different from what they are in Great Britain. Great Britain is a smaller country, thickly populated, and I would want to point out that isolated towns would not have the same facility of working that we have here. Take a town like Rochester, and Buffalo, the next town, is 70 or 80 miles away. A town like Indianapolis, with a population of 300,000, has around it many towns of 20,000 or 25,000 people which radiate out from that center, and it would mean an absolutely sure profitable proposition. In other towns, like in Ontario, where they are isolated, you could not expect to make as large profits as in these well-situated towns.
Mr. Powell. What is the highest percentage of net profit on capital expenditure? Maybe you do not wish to disclose that.
Mr. Paterson. I do not think that would be wise at the present stage. Before answering that, I would like to know the conditions in this country better. One might make a statement as to that and then fall down lamentably on it after he understood the conditions.
Mr. Tawney. Do you think that a city of 25,000 inhabitants could install a plant of this kind for the disposal of sewage at a profit, or without a loss?