Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 August 1884 — Utilizing Waste. [ARTICLE]

Utilizing Waste.

Dirt, it has been well said, is only "matter out of place.” The waste of large cities, which occasions so much disease, can be so manipulated as to add to the fertility of the soil and increase the well-being of mankind. The amazing growth of cities in the modern world is forcing upon ns the consideration of sanitary problems unheeded by onr fathers. It was considered in former generations a simple enough matter to convey sewage through pipes or oocduits to some neighboring river or bay; bat as the city grew and its sewage increased, the waters became poisoned, and the once healthful shores were made the seat of all manner of fonl diseases. The Biver Thames was at one time a nuisance dne to the filth of the English metropolis which was poured into it. The same was true of the Seine in Paris. In both great cities gigantic public works had to be constructed to oonvey the sewage to distant farm lands. Certain arid and strongly mineralized soils were rendered wonderfully fruitful by the sewage of London and Paris. The sewers of the latter city are among the wonders of the world. An army can he marched to any part of Pasis by making use of the underground passages. In this country we have paid far less attention to this important matter than it deserves. Cities with us have grown so rapidly that the requirements of sanitary science have been overlooked in our haste to profit by improvements. It is only recently that Boston has built a great sewer to discharge the foul accumulation of that growing city into the ocean, yet it is admitted that this is sheer waste, as the sewage might be utilized to render fertile great tracts of land west and north of tue city. New York City, although surrounded by water, with two swift rivers on either side of it, is most imperfectly sewered. The health maps of the metropolis show largo areas where fever and diphtheria claim a steady crop of victims due to dammedup streams, dishonest plumbing, and imperfect sewerage. The central government has had to interfere also to prevent the reckless citizens of New York from ruining their noble harbor by dumping their garbage and debris into the channels used by deeply laden steamships, whose coming and going enrich that city. Some of the younger communities realize the importance of this matter. Any one who visits the town of Pullman, near Chicago, will notice that the great Corliss engine, which attracted so much attention at the Philadelphia Centennial, is made use of in that artistically la d out city, to pump the sewage to farm lands three miles away. This example is worthy of following. The greatest of modern benefactors are those who are insisting upon the necessity of sanitary reform. He who puts dirt in its plaoe —who rids a neighborhood of a center of fever affection, who improves the plumbing of houses, and thus adds to the general health of the community—is the real philanthropist of our age, the true friend of humanity.—Demorest’s Monthly.