Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 204, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1917 — TRACTORS ARE USED BY CITY [ARTICLE]

TRACTORS ARE USED BY CITY

Buffalo Declared to Have Best Garbage Collection System by Boston Investigating Committee. Buffalo has the best new garbage collection plan according to three engineers that Mayor Curley of Boston sent to other cities to find out which had the best one in operation. The engineer’s report describes the Buffalo system briefly as follows: “The city is divided into districts of such size, that four horse-drawn vehicles will handle the garbage, ashes or refuse, picking it up from the houses. These four vehicles after filling are pulled to a central point from which a tractor .takes them on the long haul to the reduction plant, or dump, as the case may be. In this way the short haul with frequent stops is taken care of by horses, while for the long haul the tractor is used taking several trailers. Care in routing vehicles would be necessary to get full advantage of the tractors and keep them constantly working. These tractors cost about $5,000 apiece and the trailers about $l;500. For a city of the size of Boston the first expense for this scheme might he $250,000,. and considerably study would be required to assure its economy.”