St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-06

WHICH III is given. Respectfully,
The ASSOCIATION OF MASTER STEAM
FILTERS AND MASTER PLUMBERS OF
ST. PAUL.
To the Association of Master Steam
Filters and Master Plumbers of st.
Paul.
GENTLEMEN: Your committee, ap-
pointed at the joint meeting of both as
sociations to investigate the sanitary
condition of the public schools, respect
fully submit the following as their re-
port:
On Friday morning, Dec. 70, 1890. we
visited the Sibley school building. The
Smead system of dry closets and the
Ruttan heating and ventilating system
are USED here, but the closets were not in
use, nor had they been used during the
present school term, except for few
weeks: the reason for their abandon
ment and the use of outdoor privieS
being given that the construction of
new addition to the building in some
way interfered with their successful
operation. Upon Investigation it was
found that the new part, So far as the
closets were concerned, had no connec-
ton whatever with them. The receiv-
ing pit had not been cleaned since the
term commenced, and the passage of
tinued, just as though the closets were
being used. Notwithstanding this, we
found the eXcrement, in some places,
soft and emitting fearful stencil, and
the mortar OIL the floors where urine was
deposited was damp and fOul-Smelling.
The receiving room, which is really a
part of the space where the droppings
are deposited, we found connected to
school rooms both on the first and sec
ond floors. One could, by removing a
heavy perforated iron register or graf
ing in the school room, drop directly
down to the deposit vault" where the
eXcreta was deposited to undergo the
drying process. the gravity of this
situation may be clearly appreciated
when it taken into account that a re-
yerSal Is the air currents was all that
was necessary at any time to bring the
polluted air that passed over the eXcre-
ment heap into the school room, for the
pupils and teachers to breathe. We
cannot find words Strong enough to
characterize this condition of things.
If the inmates of this school escape an
epidemic of some sort, should the pres
ent system be continued here, then all
the Jaws of sanitation and the theories
of plumbers are at fault.
The Van Buren, school was next Wis
tied. Upon approaching the building
an offensive odor was apparent on the
side of the school towards which the
smoke was being carried from the
Smokestacks. On entering the base
ment pronounced OdOr of human eX-
creta was noticeable, while IN the i'm
mediate vicinity of the receiving pit
from the closets, but with a door. how
ever. between, the smell was very pro-
nounced. 1t might be proper to say
here that the engineer and ianitOr of
this building evidently try very con-
scientiously to keep the air of the
building pure. All the fires were going
in the heaters and stack furnaces with
wide open drafts when we examined
them. We found in the receiving pit
under the boys closets. at the further
est end from the entrance, and which is
not at all easy of access, the eXcreta in
large piles almost in the same condition
as when it was deposited. soft and Soggy.i
Where the urine passed through this
mass streakS were visible, and the bricks.
saturated with fluid matter. A floor of
mortar is under the brick receiver, and
this floor we found, for a space OF two
feet square, saturated with urine. The
general ventilation of this school we
consider defective. In one room the
base ventilation was imperative. At.
the time OF our Visit we were informed
by the principal that on several occa-
sionS it was found necessary to dismiss
school because of the defective venIiIa-
ton and foul odors.
The Humboldt school was the next
one visited. The condition Of
things in this building was the
worst encountered, for while in
the other schools visited an effort at eX-
ternal appearances was visible; here
the statement that certain results would
be ultimately arrived at seemed to be.
accepted without question. Upon en-
tering the receiving pit under the boys
closets a fearful stencil was encoun--
tered as one of the investigators put it,
''you could cut it with a knife" The
drOppingS were found heaped upon the
brick gridiron in all stages of decompo-
sition. The effect was intensified ten
fold by the urinal arrangement here.
The urine at one end was collected in
galvanized iron pan about feet long by
feet wide and inches deep. Under
this pan, at distances of about six inches
apart, were two other pans of like size
and construction. 1t was evidently the
intention that the urine received In the
first pan should pass through holes in
the bottom to the next and then to the
third, the drying process being assisted
by this ingenious system of percolation;
but if such was the intention the state
nf tho cOnfentS of the MINER nan yyns evil