Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-02-23

pubrlu mass 10 AOH Oh. 1hC hOuSO
g sewers were not properly trapped, and
81 the miasmatic gases arising were con-
= stantly being inhaled by the inmates,
''who, having become accustomed to
% breathing it, did not notice its presence,
SO although it was continually sapping their
" vitality and rendering them more vul-
Is nerable to disease. Again, many OF the
20 sewers were constructed of wood, and
g had became broken and cracked, allow
q ing the putrid, deadly fluids to be
" absorbed by the surrounding earth,
which gave forth the miasmatic gases,
thus increasing the danger to life." DR..
Meares further expressed the belief that
the increase in the rate of mortality,
amounting at present to between forty and
fifty deaths week, was caused by the con-
dition of the sewers, and that measles and
diphtheria were both present in the city In
an epidemic form. The Superintendent OF
Streets testified that the sewers south of
Market street "were filled to within foot
90 of their top with one mass of corruption,
" which had collected from the houses for
% years past" Dr.. Simpson said there
was no question but that the city could not
go on much longer as it is, but Z" how the
IS work was to be done he did not know.
When flushing the sewers was proposed
| it was doubted whether this process would
move the masses OF filth which had &C.
cumulated in many of the sewers, and it
was also questioned whether the sewers
would stand any considerable hydraulic
pressure without bursting. One medical
man said that he thought 6" a competent
Commission of engineers should investi-
"gate and recommend system of sewer
age to the city," Another concurred in
this idea, but members of the Board
gloomily observed that it would be impos.
sible to effect any radical reform without
large expenditure, and that this would in
volve an increase of taxation. The remark
was made that perhaps the community
an increase of the death.rate, but the ques-
ton of taxation seemed to have completely
upset the Supervisors. Finally they pro-
posed that the sewers should be fumigated,
but even this was not settled, and then an
adjournment was had. Fumigation under
the circumstances would probably be USE
less. So long as the sewers are half filed
with decomposed matter they will continue
to produce gases dangerous to life. Nothing
less than thorough cleansing, of the sew.
ers can make San Francisco safe from an
epidemic. But it is not easy to flush sew.
ers many of which are lower than the
mains into which they discharge, while
according to the testimony some of them
run uphill. And the fact that attempts
| have been made to flush them, and that
these attempts have failed to remove the
deposits which are now doing the mischief,
ought to convince the Supervisors that this
method cannot be relied upon.
Probably the only practical remedy
would be to dig out the choked sewers,
and even that is full of danger, for it in
wolves the transfer of this decomposed
matter to the surface, where, no matter
what precautions are taken, it must give
forth its poisonous gases even more freely
and to greater effect than at present. In
fact the situation of San Francisco is very
serious, and unless the Supervisors can
summon courage to risk the unpopularity
attendant upon an increase of taxes, it
seems by no means unlikely that they may
have to encounter the still more formidable
charge of having invited an epidemic by
their slothfulness. The condition of the
San Francisco sewers is one of the conse-
quences of popular government, as illus
trated in municipal administration. The
construction of the sewers has been based
upon no system. No engineering science
has been employed in the work. But
political jobbery has for the most part con-
trolled it, and the same influence has
caused bad work to be accepted and paid
for at exerbitant rates. There is nothing
new about the experience. 1t has been
that of all our large cities, nor can any
change for the better be expected SO long
as the political system continues to pro-
vide for the survival of the Unfttest in
office, and reverses the laws of Nature in
selecting the most incompetent for the
most important functions.
The people of Sacramento, however, need
not congratulate themselves in this connec-
ton For if San Francisco has bad sewers,
this city has no sewers at all. For quar-
ter of century this community has been
storing up the germs of disease in the soil
upon the surface Of which it dWells. The
refuse and excrementitious matter of
twenty thousand people is being thus laid
away in reserve, to permeate the soil, to
sap the health OF the people, and in the
fullness of time to bring upon them the
penalty which is certain to follow every
such sustained neglect of hygienic laws.
IL US dS W OaA GlduSlsSOy % pISsSulSu
the choice between a higher tax rate and
higher death-rate, and though during dry
winters we now fare tolerably well, we
have yet had sufficient warning, in the
rapid rise of disease when the flood waters
are draining off in the spring. during wet
seasons, that the evils we have ourselves
created will not much longer remain DOR
mant. A scientific system of sewerage is
in truth as necessary to the health of every
community as sufficient supply OF good
water, food and fuel. In matters of this
kind, however, the modern world is not
very far ahead of the ancient world, and
the popular asceptation of even funda-
mental hygienic truths is SO much less
earnest than the popular adherence of high
taxation, that communities often choose to
run the risk of disease and death, rather
than bear the expense which is necessary
to their safety. So far Sacramento has
failed in her duty to herself on this point,