The record-union., 1891-06-17

cOHulIlOn III regard TO 1CS sewage. lHTedl~
ened with suit at law for sending down
upon innocent people the accumulated
filth of its entire city, prohibited by law
from pouring this mass into the river,
thus polluting that. The clutch cf a
throttling monster tugging away at the
very vitals of the city, demanding with
Shylock punctuality its pound of flesh.
A beautiful city studded throughout its
length and breadth with unhealthy, foul,
Sinking privies and cesspools, danger
Gus in themselves and liable to become
more so. The question arises in the
minds of those honestly interested in the
well-being and good name, as well as the
future prosperity of Sacramento, What
shall we do?
'At the present moment there are two
salient points which stand prominently
out and demand solution. It is not a
theory which confronts us-it is an actu-
ality. Without seeming unnecessarily
proliX, / shall discuss the problem under
Two principal heads. First, the question
of our right to discharge the sewage of
Sacramento through the Y-street levee,
down the Riverside road, or on the land
beyond. Divest it, If you please, of all
question Of sentiment or its relation to
sickness, or the death rate of that local
ity, and look at the matter calmly from
standpoint of common law, which will
be the arbitrator before whom it will
eventually have to be settled if a suit is
brought against the city.
THE Law AS IT STANDS.
For this purpose | have compiled
several decisions of the higher courts that
seem to bear upon this present condition.
FirSt-No person has q right to use his
property i'll such manner as to iniure
another. Upon this principle is based
the law which protects persons and COM
munities against nuisances. Second
a ri tnl l-a of W. Of
nuisances affecting the public health, but
also Of that which interfeTes with the
physical comfort and well-being Of the
people. To constitute nuisance it is
not necessary that the offensive trade or
business or condition under consideration
should enGanger the health Of the people
Third-ln order to render Il person liable
for public nuisance by carrying on a
noXiouS trade or maintaining anything
that produces nOXiOuS smells it is not
necessary that the smells should be iniu-
rious to health. 1t is sufficient If they
are OF such q character as to be materially
offensive to the senses, and such as TO
impair the physical comfort of those vino
come within their sphere. Fourth-The
right Of all persons to pure air, unpoi-
lu,ed water and uncOntaminated soil is 4
natural inheritance. This right is pro-
tected and maintained by the law
''Fifth-The collection Of water in arti-
back OF water by means of dams or other
artificial devices, whereby the water
becomes Stagnant and emitS unpleasant
OdorS or unWholeSOme or injurious gases,
is Il great nuisance, and equally action
able or indictable as are furnaces for the
smelling of lead, copper or other sub
stances that send out destructive or in
furious vapors. SiXth-The right of a ri
parian owner, says Chancellor X ent, tothe
use and enjoyment of 4 stream of water
in its natural state is as sacred as the
right of the soil itself. 4 disturbance or
deprivation Of that right is an irreparable
injury, for which an in JUNCTION will issue.
SeVenth-Whent the nuisance operates 10
destroy health or to diminish the com
tort of dwelling, an action at law fur
nishcS no adequate remedy, and the party
injured is entitled to remedy by injunc-
ton. Eighth-Draining surface water
upon land Of another in any way differ
ent from the natural flow is a continued
nuisance, for which successive actions for
| damages may be maintained. Ninth-A
new action may be brought for continu-
ing nuisance while the first is pending
! Tenth-A municipal corporation had
so cut and left ditch alongside a resi-
dence that the stagnant water produced a
stencil, generating malaria and causing
sickness in family. II was held to be a
proper case for special damage as a
nuisance.
THE DOCTOR QUOTES:
"a prudent man foreseeth the evil
and hideth, but the simple pass on and
are punished Again quoted the doctor:
Coleridge, in writing concerning the city
Of Cologne, said: L counted two-and-
seventy stenches, all well-defined, and
several stinks.'
The second problem which seriously
confronts the city is the collection and
! disposal Of the sewage without offense to
our neighbor. What is the condition Of
the system, or lack Of system, of the city
| to-day? AS l said before, the city of Sac
ramento is studded with open privies and
cesspools, every one of which is more or
/ less menace. | make this statement
without fear OF contradiction by any SAN
/ itary authority or person of the least ideas
of modern sanitary knowledge or
thought. DIR. Winsor, in report of the
State Board Of Health of Massachusetts,
says: of all forms OF filth the most dan
| gerOus, as well as the most offensive and
most common, is fecal eXcrement 1t
lies in beneath privies, or in the cesspool
which receives the wash from water
closets, dissolving and oozing more or
! less rapidly into the surrounding soil.
from which it sometimes finds its way
into some neighboring well, sometimes
rises in gaseous form to poison the air,
sometimes lies stored and lurking to in
feet any dwelling whose cellar may be
dug into its ambush ground with myste-
rious Embellishments. The only proper
way to deal with eXcrement is to carry it
as fast and as far away from human
dwellings as possible; and without doubt
the best way to effect this is by COM
plete system of water carriage
Another prominent sanitarian says, in
report upon country homes: The
privy is detestible and dangerous ne
| cessity.' y committee of English ex-
perts under the auspices OF the Society of
Arts of London says, among many other
things: The old hidden or ''privy''
| system in populous districts should be
discontinued and prohibited by law. For
health's sake, without consideration of
commercial profit, sewage and excreta
must be got rid of at any cost Another
| prominent sanitary writer, William Old
right, in very voluminous article on
! disposal of Sewage says: 1T is hardly
necessary in an article of this kind to de-
/ scribe at length the evils of the privy pit
| the poisoning of wells; the pollution of
soil and air; the effects of the exposure
Of the nude person over large pit full of
cold and mephitic gases; the conveyance
of germs Of disease into air and water
DANGER OF IMPURE AIR.
"The general deterioration of health
| from taking into the body such air and
water, even when specific germs are not
present. All these evils the medical reader
should be able to comprehend and am
! plify himself. A newspaper i'll one of
our country towns, believing in telling
the plain truth, says: "A short time since
| in making an excavation for building
/ the worlmen struck q vein of polluted
| earth, the stencil of which was almost
unbearable. Being curious to see and
know the cause, we had the men follow
| the vein, and found that it had its origin
in a privy-pit and its outlet in well, the
distance to which was about l40 feet
| Similar soil pollution exists around and
| amid dwpl1inuS in, nit and tou.,, ox,1