Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/86

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��Popular Science Monthly

���sion that inhuman abuse and negli- gence which result in disability or death are not in accordance with sound business methods and common sense.

The mules represent an average expenditure of about one hundred and fifty dollars each. Consideration for their comfort and health is simply a conservation of capital, according to the more modern viewpoint. An employee who is caught abusing or maltreating one of the animals of a certain western mine, for instance, is instantly dismissed on the theory that if he does it once he will very probably do it again and again.

��A carload of scrap tin which is detinned at the mill and afterward melted and sold as steel

A Carload Featherbed of Scrap Tin

THE two men in the picture are not reposing on a carload of hay, or ex- celsior or shavings. They are taking a noon day siesta on scrap-tin loaded at one of the big sardine-canning factories at Eastport, Maine. Tin cans are not composed entirely of tin; they are cut from giant slabs of sheet steel covered with tin. After the cans have been cut from the metal the scrap is loaded into cars and delivered to a de- tinning factory where the tin is chemically removed from the sheet steel. The de- tinned scrap is sent to the steel mill where it is melted into steel billets.

��Getting the Most Out of the Mining Mules

THE reputation of the mule is un- enviable, to say the least, and to the unthinking there is no better way to make him work than by the unstinted use of the bale stick. In the mines, especially, where mules are used exclusively, humane methods of treat- ment are generally considered impracticable. The little ani- mals are usually at the mercy of brutal and ignorant drivers and are often forced to work from morning until night without food or drink during the day.

But scientific thought is reaching even the mining mule, and progressive firms are arriving at the conclu-

��Bungalow Fire Stations Are Popular in Residential Sections

IN residential sections the old type fire station is a blot on the landscape and a cause of annoyance to home-owners, to say_nothing of the scant comfort it affords the' firemen. Modern progressive cities are favoring buildings which conform with the character of the neighborhood where the fire station is located. In business sections brick and stone are used, and the buildings are as nearly like the average type of the locality as possible. In the residential districts the bungalow type is favored.

The illustration shows a station of this style in Portland, Ore., which might easily be mistaken for a picturesque residence if it were not for the inconspicuous sign above the entrance. The' firemen do their own housekeeping, and there are no cur- tains in the neighborhood more immacu- late, no windowpanes more glistening or grounds more neatly kept.

���A fire station in Portland, Ore., which vies with any house in the neighborhood for attractiveness of design

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