The Portland daily press., 1893-02-07

Wards l, 2 and to Ine DemoCrdtS, =,
and I to the Republicans, with the re-
manning ward, 4, to fight for: -,
Alderman Josselyn replied to Alder
man Guptilrs statement about the work
of the committee, bringing out again the
| fact that the majority had gotten up tn II
plan in secret, to spring 1T upon the he
publicans at the last moment.
Then. upon motion of Alderman Gala
CHER. the aldermen passed the order. :,
When the order came into the Council
| Councilman Prince objected to its pass.
age on the ground that the minority, OF
the committee had no voice in formulat-
| ing the plans.
Councilman Hicks explained that the
chairman of the committee thougnt IL
not best to call meeting OF the commit
tee till some one had some definite plan
to offer, and when the meeting was called
the present plan was the only one pre-
sented.
The order then received a passage by
strict party vote-11 yeas to nays.
Sanitary Condition of the High School
The following communication from
the Board of Health was received and
referred to committee on public
buildings:
To the Honorable Mayor and City Gov
erYsment of Portland:
Gentlemen-A short time since we re-
ceived from committee of ladies, rep
resentlng literary club, written request
that we would investigate the sanitary
condition of the High school building.
Accordingly we visited the building
and made a very rapid examination OF
the drainage and sewerage, the ventila-
ton, heating, general plan OF the build
ing, etc.
The basement or cellar seems perfectly
dry at this time, but the peppermint
test shows that the drain connected
with the closets in the wings is full of
leaks, few minutes only being necessa-
ry to fill the whole cellar with the odor
| Of peppermint, which was put in the up
per closet only OF each wing.
The ventilation, if such we may call
1t. we did not take time TO thoroughly
investigate; the plan of getting rid OF
the foul air seems only partial success.
A series of iron registers set in the walls
of the room communicate with 9 I'M
news built in the walls of the building,
originally for another purpose; through
some of these registers there was strong
upward draught, through others no APP
preeiable draught could be found,
while through others still there
was strong downward or in
ward draught into the room. Fresh air
is supposed to be supplied from wooden
conduits taking the air from the windows
of the basement. None of these have
sufficient capacity, most of them have
frequent angles, and none appear SO tight
that air from the cellar cannot easily be
drawn into them. Some seem to have
been partially torn away, and we found
it very difficult TO understand just what
connection there was between the base
ment and the rooms above. A some
what exhaustive account of the ventila-
ton and lighting of this building may be
found in the report of the State Board of
Health for 1887, on page 96l.
With these arrangements we do not
see how the entire building can be other
wise than filed with the gases from the
drain, If not from the street sewer. The
rooms all seemed sufficiently warm, but
the method of heating a large school
building by direct radiation is not up
with the times; there was also great
amount of noise or hammering in the
pipes. Possibly this might be remediedin
a measure by dlHerenI system Oh iun-
ming the coils.
AS to construction there are two old
!. vaults, or drop closets, that have been
partially removed, but a portion OF the
walls are standing, and adjoin the stair
WAYS. Parts of these walls are SO saturated
with ammonia and chlorides, that las we
are informed) the plastering has to be re-
newed at short intervals, the chemicals
attacking and destroying the lime
The use of these drop closets was aban.
doned several years ago, but the urinous
ordor is still parent.
With these facts before him, we think
that no one will deny that radical
changes should at once be considered in
relation to the housing of the high
school. We do not recommend any plan
for the reconstruction of the building, as
it might seem egotistical on our part, but
if asked so to do would be willing to
give careful thought and study to the
problem.
We do, however, suggest that an i'm
pervious connection be at once made be.
| twt en- the soil pipes from the closets ano
the drain outside the building, and that
during the February vacation old drains
in the cellar be removed and disinfecteC
as far as.possible, solely for the benefit
of the present classes, and that during
the present year the whole building bs
thoroughly remodelled.
Most respectfully,
A. K. P. MEsERvE,
HENRY P. MERRILL,
JOHN S. RUSSELL,