Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-12-23
THE SEWERAGE QUESTION.

In considering the vital question of I'm.
proved drainage it will not do to begin
by setting aside this or tha. plan on the
ground that it is too costly. Eventually
this community will be forced to adopt
and to pay for whatever system is best
adapted to it's wants, and if the best sys.
tenn is taken first, no matter what its cost,
great deal of time, money and valuable
life will be saved. There il, We are afraid,
too general a disposition to rest content
with half measures in this connection, or
with make-shifts. There is one system
which is in all respects perfectly adapted
to the wants of Sacramento, and that is
the pneumatic plan invented by Captain
Liernur. Il has been said that this
would cost too much, but no system that
gives US immunity from disease and death
can cost too much. The pneumatic system,
moreover, is by no means an expensive one.
and it possesses signal advantages over
every other which has been thus far pro.
posed or mentioned. Any plan which
looks to pumping of the sewage into the
river is Objectionable on It's face. We
have no right to make sewer of the
river, in the fret place, and in
the second place it is very
questionable whether any pumping
plan would not produce as much disease as
it removed. The pneumatic system, OF
the other hand, deodorizes and disinfects
the sewerage from the outset, and ends by
converting the whole Of it into fertilizer
which has been given the name of pou-
drette, and which could in all probability be
disposed of at price which would go some
way towards meeting the expense of the
works. II must be realized that Sscrs-
mento never can have an ordinary system
of drainage. Our peculiarities of situa.
tion put that altogether cut of the ques-
ton. We must pump or we must have
the pneumatic system, and sipce it is al.
ways worth while to do well whatever it is
necessary to do at all, the best system ought
to be adopted first. As to any question of
expense, we ask the public to consider the
cost TO the community Of the prevalent sick.
ness Of the past three months. 1t is of
course impossible to estimate this outlay
with any precision, but any man can LOOK
around among his own friends and &C.
quaintances and form come idea of the
very great increase Of outlay which has
been necessitated. As to the most
irreparable losses of sli-the loss of
invaluable lives who is there un.
prepared to gay that any expenditure
short Of community bankruptcy would be
a cheap mode of guarding against such an
infiction 1t rests with the people to
take care Of themselves, however. They
know what they have suffered already,
and they do not know what they nav be
destined to suffer, from bad and imperfect
drainage. If they are wise and farsighted
enough to comprehend their own interests !:
if they do not think more of dollars and
cents than of their own lives and the lives
of those dear to th sm they will asguredly
take such action in the matter that when
next an epidemic wave passes over the
country it will find nothing to feed
upon in Sacramento. Aud it may further
be pointed out tina. an enlightened liber.
ality in this case is sure to be the best
paying policy for the city in the end, mas.
much as the mere announcement that Sac.
ramento had introduced. thorough and
scientific drainage system would at once
enhance the value of every foot of real
estate in the city, and operate as potent
attraction to intending immigrants.