The daily gazette., 1882-06-17
.IINN
THE CTTY's FILTH.
~ fE IA ---r--r ter Efg"f9 Il
How Can It be Disposed OF In a Practical
5t-@ ~ Manner?

4 =
4 iuy1Fa Manner2 ,
To THE EbtToR OF THE GAzETTE -
some months ago wrote communication
to the GAZETTE In relation TO the filth of our
city, and gave my views In regard to the dis
position Of It, the probable revenue to be
| derived from its sale, and the great advant
| age such manure is for the growth of vege-
tables and fruit in this State and Peninsula.
| Weare indeed wasting thousands of dollars
annually, and the land around us Is be-
| coming poor.s This should not be. and /
trust our people will, demand that some
measures be adopted soon, whereby the tax
payers Of this city, will reap the benefit of
wiae legislation and healthiul surroundings
IN support of my opinion send you the
following Views Of Victor Hugo on the waste
of agreat city "The earth )" he saws, ''is i'm
poverished by thesea. The city of Paris casts
twenty-five millions Of franks annually into
The yea, apd this we assert without meta
ph0r.s How So aud III what way2 BY day
and by night. TO what object For no OBJ
iect With what tlioughtg Without think
ing. What to dos Nothing. BY means of
what organ Z Its gintestines, What are. its
intestines. Its sewers. Twenty. Ave millions
are the most moderate Of the approximate
amounts given by estimates Of modern
science. Science, after cropping fora long
time, knows now that the most fertliging
and effective of manure is human manure.
The Chinese, let us say 1t TO our shame,
knew this before we did. Not Chinese
peasant who goes. to the city but brings at
either end of his bambOoa a bucket Of what
we call filth. Thanlis5 TO this manure. the
soil In China is still as youthful as in tile
days of Abraham, and Chinese wheat yields
Just one hundred and twenty fold the SOW
Ing. There is no guano comparable in fer
tility to the detritus Of a eapitat. To employ
the town in Tnanuring the plain would be
certain success, for if gold be dross, on the
other hand our dross Is gold. lf .s
What is done with this golden dross 1t
is swept into the gull. We send at great
expense fleets Of ships to collect at the
Southern Pole the droppings of petrcls and
penguins, and cast into the sea the incalcula-
BILE element of wealth which we have under
our hand. All the human and animal
manure which the world loses If returned to
the land instead of being thrown into the
sea would suffice to nourfsh the world Do
you know what those piles of dirt are that
are collected at the corners Of streets, those
carts of mud carried off at night from the
streets, the frightfll barrels of the night
man, and the fetid streams OF mud which
the paye5nent conccals from you All this
is Towering field ; it is green grass it is
mint and thyme and sage; it is game ; it Is
cattle It is the satisfied lowing of huge
oxen at evening; 1t is perfumed hay II is
golden wheat it is bread on your table it
warm blood in your veins it is health ; 1t is
jpyiit is hfe.A So desires that mysterious
creation, which is transformation upon
earth nnd transilguration in heaven. Restore
this to The great crueible, and your abund-
ance will issue from it, for the nutri-
tion of the plains produces the
the nourishment of men, you are at liberty
to lose this wealth and consider. me ridicu-
lous into the bargain. This would be the
masterpiece of your ignorance. Each eruc-
tation of your drains costs us one thousand
francs, and this has two results-the earth
Impoverished and the water poisoned
hunger issuing from the furrow and disease
from the river. These surprising follies are
not new it is no youthful nonsense. Imi-
tate Paris and you will ruin yourself-more
over, Paris initiates ITSELF particularly in
immemorial and insensate squandering.
"1he drains of Rome says I.iebig,
"absorbed the entire welfare of the Roman
peasant" When the Campagna OF Rome
was ruined by the Roman drains, Rome ex-
hausted Italy, aud when it had placed Italy
in Its coloaea itipoured into it Scicily, and
then Sardinia, and then Africa. The drains
of Rome swallowed up the world, and this
coloaca afforded its tunnels to the city and
the world. Eternal city,, uniathomable
sewer" u. B. FRAZER.