Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-07-11
OPEN CUTTERS.

OPEN CUTTERS.
The New Orleans Times advocates open
cutters for all drainage purposes in cities,
as less likely to be neglected and do less
harm than covered sewers. After noticing
the partially Of Northern cities for the lat
ter, il says:
SNOW we undertake to say that New Or
leans, save in epidemic seasons, is the health
lest city on this continent. Yet in New
Orleans such thing SIS underground drain
age is utterly unknown. All our cutters
are surface cutters, and all rains that visit
us rush through them in their own wild
way. But when the floods subside, what
is left can be far more easily removed than
if confined in an underground drain, with
openings at the street corners for the admis
sion Of water and the emission of such
mephitical gases are generated therein. Our
street arrangements may be less attractive,
so far as external appearances 60, than the
sewer system, but they have the rare virtue
of being honest-of showing their merits
and dement's on their face, and presenting
their own report of facts to all corners and
gCers, whether official or unofficial"
There can be no reasonable doubt that
open water courses have many advantages
in washing streets. Hiding much filth nn-
der ground, with now aud then a small sp-
erture for the escape of fetid cas- and the
germs OF pestilance, may look nice and tidy
on the outside of the municipal platter, but
within the condition of things is terrible
It is the supreme folly Of trying to live over
such hot-beds Of disease that kills half Of
the children born in cities before they
are five years old. Human exCrets
make cities the graveyards o. mankind.
There are some who believe that expensive
eWers will purify the atmosphere of city
perfectly. New York city has a large river
all around it, being on an island, washed
by the ebb and flow of the tide constantly.
Money has been used like water in the con-
struction of sewers there, yet the city is
very filthy. The Herald says:
awe construct our roads so that they
become receptaces of all the reeking and
decomposing filth which the combined
Waste aUO veal VI uAA4AA eAAlA blubO lAaO
deposit. That these disgusting and never
removed accumulatiOns may not fail to pro-
5uce their ;ul pestifaFOus effect upon the
atmosphere, We take special care that
through the heated days OF summer copi-
Gus sprinkliDg shall. keep them moist and
ready to respond to the fierce sun rays by
a constant ef1lux Of nsuseous vapors to en-
velop us as with a cloud of death.
Every person endowed with the sense of
smell must have perceived that the dry
dust heap might be passed unuoticed,
whereas If il ce moistened and subjected to
sun heat the chemical action Of fermenta-
ton, decomposition and evaporation at onc9
proclsims Itself in fumes that are not to be
ignored"
The same moistoniDg of filth in streets is
practicad in Nashville, in violation of the
laws of health and chemistry, unless the
purpose is to produce sickness. We dry
fruits and fresh meats to keep them from
rottng. Horse droppiugs in the streets
should be dried to prevent decomposition
not sp-inkled from 2 hose or tank to favor
decay. Ignorance is the progenitor that
rules in all cities, and pestilence
is its offspring. Mankind will
not reform lis vicious habits, nor
make a healthy home among thousan IS.
Between the organized substances that
firm q mans body, as food and his flesh,
there is very little difference; and if you
refuse to utilize the Tesiduum of human
food, then By all means treat deCaying hui
man eIcrdG precisely IS you do; decay
ing human bodies. Throw both into the
river if that is the best place for either.
Bat we contend that the Cumberland is no
place for dead men, dead cows, and horses,
hogs, dogs, and cats, nor for meat ercre-
raent8. What tia city Of Nashville needs
is one step in advance that will mark sub
stsntial progress.