Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-06-29
oOndenceof TIE EVENING srxn.

New York Ia said to be a healthful city, and
perhaps it Is more healthful than some, but
how 1t remains so must ever be q mystery to
the man who takes the trouble TO look about
him little in and around New York. For sew
er&fweeks, of and on, 1 have been a victim Of
what the doctors call civic malaria. II military
or naval malaria is any worse / don't want to
deal with it Perhaps because OF my malarial
attacks have been more than usually sensitive
to the nastiness of New York, but have dis
covered enough of its filth and neglected decay
In six weeks to make me anxious to move coun-
tryward. In the first place, haven't been
able to go from dwelling to Office since mid
winter without having my nostrlls assailed with
the fOulest possible stenehes from streets that
were torn up for some purpose or other. Sew
ers we're being repaired. gas mains laid. water
pipes renewed. telegraph and other wires were
being put underground. Some necessity has
always seemed to exist along 9th avenue for the
past six months for constantly keeping the
street torn up, and the odor arising, from what
ever source IL may have sprung, has been sick
ening. 1t has been 80 dense so palpable that
almost believe il could have been .'cut with
knife" The people who live in the cross
streets OF the immediate vicinity must inhale
these foul gases as they sleep, and the many
cases of diphtheria reported from that neigh
borhood are scarcely to be wondered at
GARBAGE NUIsAyCEs.
Walk through the portions of the city most
thiekly settled and you will be nauseated at
the open garbage barrels and boxes that stand
three and four abreast in front of each house.
The collectors Of garbage supposed to come
after II during every night, but in fact they
come IN the daytime or at any time in the
poorer districts, that the .'can" is always out
There Is no cover to the top of il, it leaks
through Its swollen sides and oyerfiows over its
TOP hoops. hlsehieyous samins give it a kick
"a they run by, and it, conte nts are half spilled
over the sidewalk. The next young vagabond
coming along will empty it entirely and roll it
along the street. OF course the garbage colIec-
Tor won't stop to gather up what is spilled in
the street, and there it will lie rotting a little
more every day. the hot sun raising deadly BAG
terra from 1t that pOliute the air for rods and
start many case OF malaria, civic or other
wise.
PERSONAL UyCLEANNEss.
don't believe now that uncleanness ia un-
heaIthful, at least personal uncleanness, for
recall some OF the dirtiest people / ever saw
who were also the most rugged and strong.
But mad an experience not long ago with a
kind of uncleanness that isn't healthful and it
Is prdetleed IN every foreign-settied portion of
New 1oik- The Last place L thought to dis
cover such thing was in upper Sd Avenue
between Slst and 9th streets, where there are
any quantity OF small shops occupied by for
eIgnSrs OF respectable appearance and fairly
lnteihgent manners. good many of these
shops are cigar factories where the retail trade
Is done IN the 'front.', the family lives in the
rear, and the manufacturing is done in little
room between OF course the whole is one
deep store, and the living room and manufac-
turing room are divided from the front by par
utohs mat only rise halfway to the ceiling. I
went INTO several of these shops one morning
recently in search of kind of tobacco /
wanted In the first one as soon as opened
the door the most fetid odors came from within
Win saeh intensity as to make me gasp. The
man who shambled in from the rear 10 wait
upon me had spent no time that morning fool
Ing with either water comb, and his dull
eyes and face the color of boiled dumping
iooAed Ike the features of a corpse. didn't
spend more time there than was actually nee
ess'lry, and when went out left the door
open, but he closed 10 with q growl before T
had gone ten yards. III had retraced INV
steps and bursted in his show-window il wouId
have been a hygienic act of mercy, but didn't-
In the next shop there was the same OVERFLOW
stihs odor OF fetld ar, breathed over and over
by men, women and children, and mixed with
smells from blood-pudding, sauerkraut and
nmourger cheese. And so 1t was in every place
Visited. 1 asked one proprietor why he didn't
lei little air in to temper the thick atmos-
Pnere OF MS store, and he wsxed wroth and
told NE 70 mind my own business and he ID take
care OF hls. Ii Is just the same in all the parts
OF New York that are settled by this class of
Foreigners. They are afraid of air and they
lose their blood, their energy and vitality in a
utiated atmosphere that breeds disease.
THE CITY WATER.
There Is no water to be had for drinking pur
poses IN the city Of New York but that which ia
brought In pipes from the great Croton vater-
shed and stored in the large reservoirs in csn-
trail park and at AID street This 49, =
always diseolOred, but the water author;,;as
Will tell You that the soil of the Croton 49,
shed Is yellow loan that gives the water a ne
cuIiar color. and that il is made more healtbfuI
Dy this Ioamy deposit than il il were colorless-
"eIi. WI excuse may go, butt have my reasons
iOr douDung II. There Is a state renort ,nada
by Civil Engineer Charles C. Brown vbicb ,aIIs
inherent tale Mr.. Brown tramped over All -
miles OF CrotOn watershed He counteJ "a oSo
domestic animals. cows. pigs. horses. sheer nd
80 itAo Hhich were chartered in pens or stables
the unSct drainage OF which flowed into streams
or ponds that contributed the oater No 49,
every day III New York No less than D go
c"eAhhS houses run OF their filthiest sewage
NO streams running directly into netropoIitan
oseI sO u = barhs and barnyards to the num-
Der OF 3,253 arc on the banks of these stresma
ana drain into them. The months ~ y;Iiaas
sewers empty directly into the rivers comnris-
ing Ne" FORKS water system while s.ahles a,d
Su.AOuses are Dnilt ON plling over the water a.
" hcws toward New York to be DRINK nv 80
GOthamites as are not satisfied ,y;,h So ~
NhisAy Besides the above there are sixtv-seven.
slaughter houses, mills tanneries an, eo
HeilSed mix factories which turn their refuse
Into ou- drinking water.
Is THERE NO REaEDY2
mere should be means Of preventing this
POAaton, but what steps are to be taken2 The
factories, dwellings and barnyards must he
Grained somehow AID somewhere. and their
only natural drainage is into the streaus 70
WARD which their refuse will grayitate Tba
cry eannoibay up the SOP square miles OF vat.
shed ana turn It into waste ground. There il !,
state law which preseribes a fine of sa00 far
pointing streams which supply cities with
drinking water, but there has been a sort %
NrahSie between the commissioners OF nnb,ic
WORKS oil New York city and the state board az
health as 10 which body was the proper one 70
law. As "noeh 'nis
fILrH II THE CITY REsERyora
Once when Was trying to find out for sports-
mans Journal If there were any fish in the Gen.
RAJ Park eroton water reservoirs 1 saw some
workmen gathering deposit from the bed q, the
western side OF the reservoir IL was A hlaeL
STICKY, composite substance. of most offensive
door, and was being carted away as fast AS taken
OUT, 70 DC used as a fertilizer. Surely smell de-
posts, the accumulation of years, the work
an -