Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-03-25
THE WASTE OF GREAT CugrEx.


what In Needed i'm WaShsngton.
In his annual report, about to be published,
Health Officer Townshend treats Of the subject
of manure a. follows:
Manure and its removal" is a subject which
has been discussed i'm two former reports. The
table gives evidence OF AL cases In which mis-
ances have arisen from this source. and doubt
less manure has contributed in greater or less
degree To many more.
The time has arrived whichdemanis the adop-
tioR of means FOR the transfer, Through chan
net. OF all offal from our cities The cou ntry
around the District of Columbia certainly gives
evidence OF the want OF all the susten anoe 10
her SOIL that the refuse of our cities can give t.
Much more Is taken from the farms aud market
Garden lands surrounding US than Is put hack.
Much more Is wasted here than would give
ample food to those lands. Victor Hugo in
Les Mlserahies. gives a striking picture of the
waste of great city. The earth, he says, is inn
poverished by the sea-
Paris The saSs casts twsntyh five milo n. of franco
phor How and in what way; By dTy na NV nsh;
without S nsns what 70 s N Ms h''
e what organs Its intetines What its nt,sisnes
rate of the sppsoximatye .mSu n,s given ~ esmsss
o. modem tim science, scence sftr gTogins ios
a m If IN nnr r. human Rnsu s The Snee
Chinese peasant Who goes to the city sa, brtnsr Al
either end Of his bamboo bucket what we oaii nth
still, yoSthfs as IN the days q asrsham .a and
G Chi mhoa! yields ,gst one hundred and twenty t
10 1e astrgs 81 sSsrts and large sy Is the mot
town in mennrinr the rsin would be certain success
Tor If god be drosr. on the other hand dross is
What is dene with this golden dunsy II swept into
eo T al the southern sShs at Gss Of ship s
rengnrs and cas into the the incalculsle element
the human and annfi manure which the world loses II
returnsd to the land instead Of being thr.wn into the
know what th@e Iiles Of orurs collected at the
night from thu ftrct the frirStfa barrels Of he nish
man. and the fet streams Of mud which the pavement
and thyme and N sas Il fs !. games N
evening: it perfumed hay il is golden wheat Il IL
bread 9n your table IT Is warm blood N veins
mysterious creation. which is trans ormation upon
erc nd or an nedSn Win IN, e, the
Tor the nutrition of the plains produces the ncurshme
and consider me ridiculous into the bargain This
would he the masterpiece of your Ignorance.
francs and this has two resus-the earth imroreT
fnrrow and disease from the Ser Tsse rro hne
i ba s a noa neM y Is 1S Initiate
tsies itse PARTICULARLY in this and insen
Leb aGsorfcd the entire Wssre 1f the R%%sn Tsss
SAINT When The Csmi,asna Of Rome was ruined by the
placed Italy in its cloaca poured sicily and then
Sardinia and then Africa The drains Of Rome swat
to the city and the world Orb Ct orb Eternal city.
Ot
other offal OF great cities well as to that car
ried off by its sewers and it applies to Washing
ton as well as Paris. The day is coming when
our sewage must be preserved and all that IL I'm
| it to nourish the land taken out and returned
| to our field.
Like the Roman cloaca which absorbed the
| richness Gifts own land and then guped down
Sicily, Sardinia and Africa, so have the sewers
in the older cities of this our new world absorbed
| the sustenance of many fields aud farms in the
older states without returning ANYTHING and
| then sent the sons of those who once titled
| rich fertile Soil. off to the great west to open
new veins for their vampire mouths II Is time
that We were learning something from China in
+ the preservation of our soil. IL il nothing new
to hear of ''played-out" farms i'm Maryland and
Virginia, and there is no reason why all the
wealth OF manure which is now wasted I'm the
capital should not be applied to those played
out" farms and set them to again putting
bread on our tables and warm blood In our
veins"
Perhaps the day Of irrigating farms for the
preservation and utilization of our sewage has
not yet arrived, but the day and hour is here
which speaks loudly the demand for utilization
OF all other offai from our cities. We should
have one point .or the receipt of all refuse and
the law should require that il be there taken
and deposited at regular stated periods from all
dwellings and places where 1t accumuiates.
The authorities themselves should take charge
of this material. which should include offai and
filth of all kinds. and they should put il in con-
ditOn to be again placed upon the fields and
| farms. Let us begin by purchasing farm OF
our own and enriching that. farm Of q few
hundred acres at some convenient point could
soon be made a source of profit to the District.
By all means let US have an offal depot and Q
city farm.