The morning news., 1889-03-10
THE pocToR EXPLAINS
The Dry Well Discovered on the Prem
ises of q Leading Eygienist

q .
Editor Morning Ne,os: Alderman Har-
ris might have stated that the dry well re-
ferred to was connected with nv premises
have no objection to the public knowing
all the facts. as they only show with all the
greater force how necessary it is to put
down good system Of house drainage in
this city at once. The premises" are
occupied by parties who are ten
ants Of mine, and the infer
ence the public were naturally led to draw
from DR.. Harris partial statement of the
facts was that did not practice what l
preached, when, in reality, | am not the
party responsible for the conditions. The
well referred to accommodated the occu-
pants of my house for forty years without
trouble, until the present tenants, letting
the water run constantly, overtlowed it.
During the recent heavy rains the surround
ing moisture of the soil prevented the usual
rapid percolation of this excessive water
outpour aud the well was said to have over
flowed. 1 sent for the plumber and asked
him to examine my pipes and see if they
were choKed anywhere with cloth, newspa-
pers, ashes, coal or anything else. He did
so examine them, and reported to me
that the pipes were not choked and that the
well was overlooked. | gave him an i'm
mediate order to put down sewer connec-
n.
for lack of pipe. Last week he made the
sewer connection, a distance of about 100
feet, at a considerable expense to me, which
would have been done at comparatively
small expense If a central lane pipe had
been put down the lane by the city, as
should have been done.
When the work from the sewer reached
my lot, it was discovered that there was
nothing the matter tCith the dry 1Cell, that
~ -. hat
still standing in the yard drain, ard there
fore the pipe leading from my yard was In
reality choked, and the dry well was all
right. And yet ! had been put to tire ex-
pense of laying down 160 feet Of piping! If
properly constructed lane drain hal ex-
isted and my house drain been connected
with it, the point of blockage would have
been easily detected at once, would have
been saved large unnecess ary OUTLAY of
money, and would have been ten times
safer gainst further blockage than l am
now with the 160-foot sewer connection.
As the dry well was ventilated in accord
ance with the sanitary regulations, it was
in no manner more dangerous than blocked
or cho&ed sewer connections. Indeed un-
less these sewer connections are thoroughly
flushed and not choked they are, in my
opinion, more dangerous to health
than the ventilated dry well or
old-fashioned privy vault. The
remedy, as at present provided, is as bad
as the disease The only gain make in the
sewer connection is that my tenants can
let as much water waste as they have a
mind to without flooding my yard, unless
they also choke the pipes by the material
careiesly thrown in them.
The antagonists of the house drainage
system began to chuckle when they heard
there was something wrong on my premises.
They chewed the cud of j " with as much
comfort as they chew their filthy tobacco
They can take the real facts, as l have
above related them, and chew them.
LOUIS A. FALLIGANT.