Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-06-21

this preUentdbLe malady would Lake to their
graves no less than thirteen thousand and
two hundred and seventy-fve of our
ci,izeLs in the next three hundred
days. In an editorial of tie UNION
AND AMERICAN Of Friday, under the
heading Of ssSewage and Sewerage" we
remarked that sthe real difficulty lies in
getting the people of a city TO abandon
bad habit for a better one.p In view OF
the present state OF our public affairs, with
all the unpleasant facts before US, is the
social reform wholly impracticable9 1t has
been truly said, athere are none so blind as
those that win not see." Consider calmly
what our city now suffers in loss of life, in
reputation, health, pro. erty and business;
what it lcstin 1866 and other cholera years,
and then say whether Nashville has notthe
good sense and moral courage required to
make any necessary reform? We feel con-
hdent that the area Of land covered by the
city corporation on the west bank of the
Cumberland river can be made quite as
salubrious as any equal surface on or
near the Cumberland Mountains.
Make this reform in our homes, our bust
ness houses, our now beTeavei and sorrow
Ing municipal family, and Ged will bless
the great moral improvement AS we have
on former occasions intimated, when man
In the plenitude of bis ignorance and folly,
develops malignant malsdy on board his
ship in tropical ses, or in his palace or
cabin in 8 city, in hot weather, the error
is his---the phenomenon is no mistake in
Providenes. Heaven greatly fsvo;s moral
reform and happy progress; but something
which may be named "the fesh," or the
evil one, is in rebellion. This rebellion is
strong enough to make the broad road to
cholera aud perditiop, as "facile' as Virgil
described it two thousand years ago. If
our enterprising business men would give
a little time to the study of the difference
between dung and sugar, which the Crea-
tor has made, these articles would not be SO
largely mixed to the injury of both. Pure
sugar being compound Of carbon and the
elements of water, has no value as q fertili-
ger. Peruvian gusno worth eighty dollars
ton, has little or no carbon or water.
The domestic socia! reform which is need |
ed in every family is to know just the best
way TO dispose of all human ercreta from |
dsy TO day, The year round. This is not |
known by one housekeeper in thousand,
aud sill may see the consequences in aug
mented sickness, and in the death of over |
half of all children before they are five |
years old. This is not an inviting subject |
for newspaper discussion; and nothing but |
sense of duty could lead us into it. A
false delicscy has cruelty put to death |
thousands of our relatives ard fellow-citi-
zens; and we oVer-estimate the intelligence |
of our readers, If under the circumstances,
they complain when we probe this munich
to heal, and for 10 other purpose. The re-
mains Of every loaf Of bread and pound Of
wheat eaten by man or woman should 60 |
back to the depleted soil that produced |
this food If mankind fail in tn is duty to |
feed the land that feeds them, in hot wealth
er like the present, poisonous microscopic |
plants grow on fecal matters, and are car
RED by air, breeze and wind, into the lungs |
and bowels of those that die of cholera. |
On the thin sandy soils of Cumberland |
mountain no such fecal matters exist, and |
no cholera, no chil,s and fever even, can be |
found there. An intelligent farmer is able |
by solution of bluestone to destroy tie |
smut germs on his seed wheat, and thereby |
counteract the conditions Of the growth of |
a black, fetid fungus on this important |
crop. His remedy is purely one of pre-
vention. Every malsrisl and cholera germ |
is a fungus, as much as rust, blight and |
mldew on wheat and grapes. The all
mentary substances in Nashville which |
make it perfect hot-bed to bred indefinite
millions of poisonous fungals in damp,
warm weather, should be deodorized |
promptly, dried perfectly, and used to feed
crops of growing corn, wheat, grass,
cotton and tobacco. There is
really no excess of fertilizers in any market
or rural district. The expectation of agri-
cultural staples from the South, and the
waste of manure in its cities and villages,
and on many farm and large plantation,
have given existence to one hundred million
acres of turned out old fields. These al
most boundless waste places, from New
Brunswick on the north to Mexico on the
south, will never be recuperated without
social reform from one side Of the republic
to the other. 1t is needed as much in Mas
sachusetts and Boston as in Tennessee and
as much rs in New York as in
California. Civilization must move in this
direction, or de iDgloriously by inhaling,
eating and drinking organisms that spring
from its excrements, and incuriable filth