Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-03-27
SEWER GAS IN THE TREASURY.
Insanftary Condition Of the Building
Set Forth.

Insanitary Condition Of the Building
| Set Forth.
REPORT OF CHIEF CLERK YoUMANs on THE
| DEFECTIVE SEWER PIPES, ETC.-A SPEEDY
AND CERTAIN REMEDY NEEDED.
Inc Treasury department building has for
years been regarded as in q very insanitary
| condition, and the sickness OF the Secretaries
| OF the Treasury, from Gen. Dix down, at various
| tlmes Is attributed by many to that cause. The
present illness of Secretary Manning, while 1t
| cannot be traced, perhaps, directly to this
| cause, was, it is held, due, to some extent, to
the condition of the building in which he spent
great portion of his time. Various examina-
| tions and reports, with recommendations to
| remedy the defects in the building have been
| made, from time to time but no radical change
resulted.
CHIEF CLERK YoUMANs REPORTS THE RESULT
OF HIS INVESTIGATION.
Chief Clerk Youmans, by the direction of Sec
| rotary Manning, recently made an exhaustive
investigation of the subject and has just sub
mltted an extended report, which is OF particu-
lar Importance and significance. In il he saws
! and some speedy and certain remedy. The state
OF AFFAIR in the south and west wings of the
building Is deplorable and dangerous, and
should exist no longer. Sewer pipes run under
meath the corridors ian the Sub-basement of the
wings named, and, it is said, that the air ducts
above them have not been cleaned for at least
ten years. From the top of the sewer pines to
the air ducts, there is space of about ten
lnches mostly illled with earth, pieces of brick
ana otner debris, left there when pipes from the
boilers. or for other purposes, have been intro
duced. There are
BREAKS IN THESE SEWER PIPES
from which the gas is constantly escaping and
permeating the entire building. This is always
noticeable, but when the wind is in the south
or southwest 1t is offensive and dangerous 1t
is impossible to locate these breaks i'm the pipes
unless the pipes are entirely uncovered. as the
10 nj nfSf bro, nah,
the earth and debris for many feet from where
| they are.
"In my examination of this matter" the
chlel clerk says, there was one spot, and that
near q grated opening into the corridor itself
where the candle was using refused to burn
because Of the fOulness of the air / would rec
| ommend that the whole of these sewer pipes be
uncovered with as little delay as possible: that
the breaks be found and stopped; the pipes
| earth and rubbish"
| OFFENSIVE SEWER GAS IN THE WORK ROOMS
In the northeast corner of the building there
Is pipe connected with trap in the sewer for
Ventilating the sewer, which does not work.
| being imperfect and broken in a number Of
places The gas comes out from il into the
elevator stack, and is sometimes exceedingly
oppressive. The effect of these defective sewer
arrangements is observable all over the build
| Ing, put most especially in the sub-basement
Corridors In the south and west wings and in
the rooms leading from them. Workmen en-
gagged in all of these rooms complain of the
ioul ar and OF the injury to health from work
ny there. especially Is this so in the printing
ONCE, containing upwards of 100 men and
women In the morning, when the room is first
opened, the stencil in it is overpowering, and
| throughout the day it is absolutely not a hit
place Tor human beings to occupy.
DEATHS OF employees CLEARLY TRACED TO
| THE BAD CONDITION OF THE BUILDING.
An effort was made to procure some ventila.
ton in the room by means of apertures in the
windows, but it failed to work satisfactorily,
| and the deaths of two employees can be traced
| q VII Tn
| the press room there is an average of two a day
who are i'll from the effects OF the bad air. and
IN the composing room the proportion was
about the same until the introduction of electric
lights: One of the employees OF the composing
ing foul air, while WITHIN the last few years the
deaths OF thirteen employees in the composing
room are clearly traceable to the nox-
The foreman of the Office said shas in twenty %eS
years he had lost by death Ia per cent of his
tor &C. and he attributed this large proportion
In health from the same cause, and but for
being compelled by his duties to stir about
| MS death would have occurred years ago.
| NECESSITY OF SPEEDY ACTION
| These, Mr.. Youmans says are illustrations OF
some of the worst feature of the lack of venti-
lation in the building, but they alone are suf-
ficent to emphasize the demand that some
thing should be done to correct the present evil
| that more or less, shows its effects through
the building. Il cannot too earnestly or too
strongly recommend" the report says. ''that
| some steps be taken toward that end, and
| especially that, as speedily as possible, some
remedy should be applied TO correct the evils
| arising rom the defective and filthy sewer"
OTHER REPORTS.
| Mr.. Youmans calls attention to reports on the
! subject, copies enclosed made by Supervising
Architect Bell, dated April Sd, 1885, by Sur.
geon General Hamilton, dated April 1st, 1885,
| and of analyses OF air in the Treasury building
| made by DIR. NJ. u. Ellger, of the Medical Uni
| versity, of Georgetown, dated March Both
1885. Mr.. Bell says that the sub basement and
OF the ne enare nuiding, at times are
| and that almost the entire buildings
WITHOUT ANY SYSTEM OF VENTILATION,
Mr.. Youmans states that he has examined
plans prepared by Mr.. Levi r. Greene, for ven-
tilating the building, somewhat similar to those
| in the capitol at Albany, proposing that fresh
air be taken from the inner court by means of
fans placed at the four interior corners OF the sub
basement, that in winter this air be passed over
steam coils, and then forced up through fiues or
pipes into the various rooms: that registers or
| latticed openings be placed at the bottoms of
| the doors, by means of which the impure air.
driven out by the from the fiues, can be ex,
| PEELED from the apartments. Mr.. Youmans
takes up the plan proposed in detail, and rec
which he explains in full. The plan proposed
is estimated to cost about $4,000. In Mr..
foumans' Judgment practical and
SUCCESSFUL SYSTEM OF VENTILATION
| applied to the Treasury building would be
cheaply attained by the expenditure of such q
| sum, or by half that named added to ii.
Surgeon General Hamilton in his report above
referred TO- states that an analysis of the outside
air showed that it contained carbonic acid
| amounting to $40 volumes per 10000 while
| the carbonic acid in the air in the sub-base-
| ment amounted to II to 10 volumes. When it
| is remembered that carbonic acid is q deadly
| poison it can be seen how vitiated the air has
| become. Every foul room is In itself source
| of contamination of the air of the remainder Of
| the building.
SECRETARY MANNING DIRECTED THE INvEsTI-
CATION
|
| by Chief Clerk Youmans, at the request of Hon.
j. j. O'Neill, chairman Of the committee on
| labor. The report will be sent to Congress with
| the request that a sufficient appropriation be
made TO correct the evil.
Mr. Ellmunds I'm the Late Campaign.
HIS REPEATED REFUSALs OF REQUESTS To ADJ
DRESS REPUBLICAN, MEETINGS.
The New York Tribune of to-day, referring TO
| the statement made in the Boston Advertiser
| recently, that Senator Edmunds had not been
| invited to speak in the late Presidential cam
paign denies the truth Of this, and says that on
| the 10th Of July, 1884, Mr.. Jones. chairman
| of the national republican committee, wrote to
| Mr.. Edmunds, inviting him to address o re-
| publican meeting in Brooklyn. Five days later
Mr.. Edmunds sent the following reply to Mr.
Jones. The letter was not written by Senator