The morning call., 1892-12-05

The drafts upon the city treasury 10 re-
pair the damage inflicted by the recent
storm will be considerable A very large
number of sewers have caved in and at all
such places the pavements are broken up.
In nine cases out of ten the damage results
from bad engineering. bad contractors
work, and in general the usual gamut of
municipal swindling. In California street
alone there are about a dozen very bad
sewer breaks. II is rich mans street
with many elegant houses all the way out
20 Laurel Hill Cemetery, but these vile
adaptations in the sewerage system show
that the street is positively unhea lthy for
family residence. All may be fair to the
eye In the house, but cesspoois and sewer
gases beneath the foundations are skeletons
In the closet that appear at times when the
doctor OF undertaken is summoned In
other parts OF the city the sewers have also
gone TO wreck. No wonder. There is no
care exercised 10 make them sound and dur
able and sufficient in volume. The cennec-
tons are buDgied and scamped. The arch
ing is without mortar. The levels are not
adhered To. Down comes a piash Of rain
and then the sewer breaks up Who is to
blame for this chaos? The Supervisors and
Street Superintendent or the people who
elect them2 Ii is plain enough that the
people have to pay the piper and they will
know something about the cost of this
storm.
1t is clear that something will have TO be
done TO provide drainage way through the
Preside Reservation for number of streets
lying higher than portions of that extensive
tract. 1t is only matter of arrangement,
and need not endapger the value of the reser.
walton for defensive purposes. In fact, a
neglect Of precautions weakens the road
ways for the affairs of war. Some serious
washouts have occurred along TIE Preside
roads, because there Is no continuity of
drainage through the reservation. Graded
streets which abut upon the line of the
Government property have had deep ruts
eroded across or alongside them. and II e
transferred sand and gravel have been de-
posted across the main Preside road west
OF Pacific street. A tolerabiy wide channel
has also been plewed through the reserya-
ton northwa oftbis road. Its only neces-
sary TO have an understanding about these
contiguous Jurisdictions to make the drain
age of the Western Addition excellent. If
Inc WORK Is honestly done ne city compares
with San francisco in the ease With which
all Its drainage can be carried out.
The proposal to suspend sleerage immi-
grafton from Europe next year on account
OF the Columbian exhibition at Chicago
may not be wise proposal. but it will have
its share in keeping out cholera. We are
almost certain 10 have cholera next year In
some form along numbers of routes. Can
ada Will gala by the uspension of immigra-
tion TO the United States. and when the i'm
migrant lands ia Canada IL Is difficult 10
keep him out of the United States. But the
restriction is at least in the right direeti on.
The country does not stand in need of an
increased labor force. We can well dis
pense with the outflow Of population from
Europe, at least for time.
The death at the age OF LOG years of one
who claimed to be son of Napoleon Bona
parte stirs passing comment. What world
IL was 100 years ago. when Napoleon was
knocking the crowns off the heads of the
monarchs of Europe and rearranging gov
eminent in his own way. 1t might have
been better for The governed had he sue
ceeded permanently in stamping down the
dyDasties,. but he did not. After fifteen
years OF glory, down be went himself, and
all who depended upon him went down
also. That remnant of his name, Napoleon
the Third. has also disappeared. Only his
Empress remains. o shattered wreck in