The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-12-01
and street wastes Is 70 throw them Into the

I 90; ger rId or what annOys him withou
o regard to how his neigbor will be affected
| After while, the stream becomes so mast,
n that the people who live upon 1t come to ,
e realizing sense of what they have brough
D upon themselves and set about . remedy
. The stream has become a sewer, with al
. the attendant denominations and physica
/ dangers.
natural watercOurse serves for the
1 drainage of the land all along liz course
|, Its banks cannot be made water tight with
out obstructing the natural progress of the
r water In the soil and backing II up and re,
talning Il where II ought not To be retained
A sewer, on the other hand, Is Intended 70
carry oil foul matters which must be gotten
rid of as quickly as possible, and the chan.
mel for conveying them must be absolutely
impervlous so that nothing can soak
through II To the soil, As the level Of the
water In the soil rises and falls with the
season and the amount Of rain, an open.
jointed or previous channel would some
times admit water from the soil and some.
times permit fluids flowing in the channel
above the level Of the ground water TO flow
out, and thus pollute the soil and the air
In the soil. This pollution of the soil /.
absolutely destructive OF public health, and
no amount Of "dilution" can prevent such
pollution of the soil, for no amount of "di-
luton" of the contents of sewer open or
closed, can destroy the poisons which nee
essariiy Ill sewers contain. This fact is
suEs!ansiated by the universal testimony of
sanitary engineers and authorities the
world Over-outsde Of the CITY Hall IF
Chicago Not only does the pollution of
the stream pollute the SOIL but 1t renders
the water of the stream unfit for man or
beast. Germs of disease remain In suspen
sion In the diluted" water; they enter the
system, causing disease in man directly;
they enter the stomachs Of animals to
poison their milk as we'll as their flesh,
which man uses as food, and thus, even
Indirectly, are causes of diseases so long as
the pollution exists The stream Is sewer
ana that Is all it Is or ever can be.
Chicago is under no necessity OF draining
Into Illinois river, and even If she were,
the people Of this valley must face the
problem: will the dilution which answers
for today, for Chicago's 100000 people, an
swer when Chicago shall have population
OF million or million and half. Car
ter Harrison two years ago promised Co.,
900 cubic feet Of water a minute; Roche
promises only 10000 for 100000 people,
and says it will be enough for ,25O, 900!
The cut contemplated by Mr. Roche may
answer when there are 100000 or |, 900, 600
people In Chicago; will 1t answer after.
ward How long will it be before a third
deep cut VIII be required-this one is the
second?
But Chicago Is under no necessity of
draining into Illinois river. A. early as
1884, ard before that time, English cities
recognized the fact that the sewage pollu-
ton of the rivers was menace 70 public
health, and began TO look about for other
systems of sewage disposal; and the evil
got to be so serious that In 1876 the Rivers
Pollution Act was passed by Parliament.
absolutely forbidding forever the use of
the streams of the United Kingdom as
sewers, after the sewerage system Of the
city of London had been totally changed
In order to keep the sewage out OF the
river and purify the Thames, Into which
large part of the sewage of the city had
been turned after 1S47. Since the rivers
pollution act was passed, many systems
have been tried, the most successful being
that Of applying the sewage 10 the land, as
Is now done at the city of Pullman near
Chicago, in mum berless cities of England
at Berlin and at Paris The system is not
an experiment Ii is a scientific solution
of the sewage problem, successfully &C,
complished ~ cities twice the size of Chi
cago,-a system inaugurated and carried
out after those cities had become larger
than is Chicago and the necessary changes
accompanied by as many and as great diff.
culties as Chicago would meet in doing
the same thing. II Is easier-probably
cheaper, also,-for Chicago TO drain into
Illinois river; but that is no reason why
she should be allowed to do so. She has
never exhibited SO great love for the Hi.
nois valley, that that part of the state should
feel under any necessity of giving up its
life for It's friend - and certainly the val.
ley is under no obligations to Mayor Roche
that it should aid him. Chicago can pur,
chase sand hills enough in Northern Indi
ana 10 take care of her sewage, and It is
more than likely that such way of dispos
ing of her filth could be made profitable
pecuniary investment
2. The harbor for the Illinois ship
canal is at Calumet, not Chicago. MOI
friend of that scheme has ever dreamed OF
making Chicago river the northern termi
nus because it is inadequate In both width !
and depth. Besides the National govern,
tx.t;n