St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-21

iiCH liOhl tllciT TcbpScllNG cities, alsI make
up q total of more than 40 gentlemen, many
OF them the leading physicians from their
| cltles. some OF The committees were from
| duluth. Mankato, Winona, Sioux City, Sioux
| Falls. Milwaukee, Des Moines st. Lonis Eau
Claire besides other places Of lesser size.
| All OF these committees. without IL
| singie exception, reported In favor
OF the system, and were highly
| pleased with 1t, and the system has been
adopted and put in all the places represented
| by the thirty-fiye or more visiting Committees,
| with two exceptions, and In these two places
they are thoroughly in. favor Of the system,
| but owing TO complications in these places
the adoption OF the system Is postponed.
! These gentlemen have visited nearly all of
| the schools OF St. Paul and found the system
! the best they had ever seen, and Il great
many of them have highly complimented The
| Board of Education of st. Paul for having
| sncn good sanitary system in their schools.
| The State Boards of Health of Pennsylvania
| and Ohio. and from some other states, rec
| commended the Smead Dry Closets as being the
| best closet system now known, and 1t is only
! necessary to compare the health statistics in
| the cities containing large number Of
| Smead closets with those places that are
| using water closets 70 show that the Smead
Dry Closets are the most heatthful of any
| now known.
About one year ago we wrote to a number
| OF leading physicians and sanitarians in
| places where the dry closets were in use, ask
| ing them to make careful examination of
| these closets and write us their opinion. We
iSCClhCQ IcplltS HUH OVER HIty Vi luBsc Beit-
! tlemen, recommending the dry closets III the
| very highest terms. We will gladly furnish
any one wanting them with copies of these
| replies. Tree of charge. These closets are in
| use In over forty.scnool buildings III Washing
| ton, D. c.; over thirty school buildings in
| Toledo, and more than twenty school build
| lngs in Detroit, and also Columbus and Cleve-
! land, o.; Rochester, n. Y; Chicago and Phil
| adelDhia: besides, they are in use in school
| buildings in the principal cities and towns in
| Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut,
| Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, New jersey. New
YORK, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois.
| wisconsin, Iowa. Minnesota. South Dakota,
| Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska; Canada and
London, England. The Smead closets are in
| use in not less than twenty-five hundred
school buildings throughout the above-named
states, put III since the fall of 1884, and none
abandoned after once put in.
After having shown that the dry closets
are in such general use and have caused no
cases of sickness, is il not the best evidence
wisely and well in adopting and putting in
this excellent closet system? Or, is ii posi-
BILE that all the gentlemen connected with
the Boards OF Education of the twenty-five
hundred schools containing this system, as
well as hundreds of others who indorse it.
are mistaken, and that few gentlemen in
ST. Paul are the only ones that are right? In
justice TO all wish TO say that / have never
heard the dry closets in the ST. Paul schools
criticized by only one man, and he is no
longer connected with the Board of Educa-
UlOn. ana 90 not DelloVG he tlOrOug1ly uIl-
derstood the matter.
IL has been demonstrated during the past
thee winters that Ruttan apparatus mas su3-
ceededin warming the school buildings of st.
Paul, and, as rule, cheaper than any system
now or formerly in use 1t has also been DEM
onstrated that the dry closets have performed
the work required of them satisfactorily in
every respect. The ventilation i'll these
rooms has been tested many times and found
to be nearly perfect. 1t only remains for the
board of health of ST. Paul TO make their re-
port of the tests they are now making in the
st. Paul schools to see if the statements above
made are true.
A great deal has been said about the cost Of
Ruttan apparatus i'll the st. Paul schools,
which is as unj just as it is untrue. One
statement was made that all or the goods
furnished by US for an eight room school in
st. Paul cost only siX-hundred dollars $4,000,
while we received twenty-siX hundred dol
lars (S2. 60O) for the same. Whoever made
that statement stated what he knew to be
untrue in every particular. In every eight
room school we furnish between 30, 900 and
35,uOJ pounds of manufactured goods. We
make all plans and specifications for heat
ing and ventilating the schools and for the
dry closet system. We have a supernten-
dent on the grounds during construction al
most constantly. We pay all freight and all
expenses incident to putting in the work.
We give the Board of Education the right to
use four valuable patents without royalty. and
all this for prices no greater than we get in
ether places and lower than we get in many
places.
The Board of Education of Minneapolis in
one season spent over 5000 trying to
make steam-heating plants ventilate school
buildings. but 1t was given up by them as
dismal failure. At the November meeting of
the Board of Education of Minneapolis
protest was made against the sanitary con-
dltiOn particularly the ventilation, of the
Sumner school. The matter was referred to
their Building Committee. Mr.. Ankeny. a
member of the Minneapolis Board of Educa-
ton. said they had dozen other school
buildings in Minneapolis in about the same
condition as the Sumner, and it would cost
S1OD,cOo to put taem in good condition.
Now, Mr.. Taxpayer, the Sumner school of
Minneapolis has the same kind of steam
heating plant as your schools where fans are
not used. We have shown clear saving in
your city of over $4,000 in put
steam plants without fan ventilation,
and an annual saving in running ex
penses of over $4,000 in each eight-room
building in favor of Ruttan. This shows
saving of 100000 per pear in the fuel in
those schools containing Ruttan apparatus
Does this not show that the Board of Eduea-
ton of St. Paul did look after the interests of
the taxpayers by putting in a system that
thoroughly warns and yentilates the build
lngs, and has the best closet system now
known, saving to the taxpayers over S40,-
10000 in first cost. aad 100000 per year
less to run. But the steam plants in your
schools are so unsatisfactory in ventilation
that the Board of Education Woulo not put
in any more steam plants without fans. and
it is altogether likely that the Board of Edu-
cation would have put in steam heating and
mechanical ventilation i'll most of their
buildings which would have cost the tax
payers at least Sl00,00o.O0 more than
Ruttan has cost. Instead of the Rut-
costing more than any other good sys-
tie that would give the same results.
it has saved the taxpayers enough TO Dulld
four good eight-room school buildings COM
nj Ptp Some that tho Hoard of E1u-
cation could have putin other furnaces cheap
er than steam or Ruttan. We have shown in
this statement that the cost of fuel in other
furnaces in use i'll the st. Paul schools prior
to 1856 was more than double what fuel for
Ruttan would cost. This, in itself, would be
good reason for the Board of Education
changing for Ruttan apparatus. 1t is also n
fact that excepting Ruttan furnaces, there
is no furnace large enough to warm large
enough volume OF air to secure good ventila-
ton.
Now. let us look at the cost OF furnaces
that were used in the st. Paul school build
lngs before any Ruttan furnaces were put in.
Right here let me say that if il had not been
for the Smead dry closet SYSTEM the Board
OF Education would have been compelled
to put in water closets that would average
$1,000 to put in any of the more modern
eight-room school buildings In looking
over the records of the Board of Education
/ see that they have paid not less than 81. 4u0
for four hard coal furnaces to warm an
elght-room school, and in some instances
they paid nearly 81, 800. NOW, suppose we
! take $1,000 as an average price for four of
the very best hard coal furnaces for an eight
room school. Add to this the cost of water
closet plant, 81, 200. and we find that had
the boar continued with the old system,
which would only heat and not ventilate. it
room school, which is $500 per building
more than the Ruttan plants have cost.
Suppose we take the item of 81 400, which
is the very cheapest the board has paid for
four hard coal furnaces for plplt-rOOm
school, and 1000 as the very lowest
that good water closet plant would cost in
one of these schools and we find the cost
would be S2.4J0. To this item add at least
500 per year for water to cleanse the water
closets, and as the fuel in the S1,4OO plant
would cost double what it costs in Ruttan
plant, it will be seen that Ruttan is still
cheaper. After showing these figures as we
y accuse the st. Paul Board of Education. or
any of its members. of eXtravaganee in plac-