St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-12
The BONDS DON'T GO.
THE BOARD or TRiD: REPORTS AD-
vERSELY ON The PROJECT.
LOCK SCHEME is COMMENDED.

Funds t. Be Raised to Defray the
Expenses of tho Farmer Dele.
gates From England-The Gas
lighting Prrject-An Interests.
ing Paper on the Water sup
ply by DIR. j. w. Mcdonald.
A regular meeting OF the board of
trade was held yesterday. at which the
question Of issuing municipal bonds
was taken up. and F. N. Stacy, chair
man of the special committee. reported
adversely on the subject.
The report Of the committee was &C
cepted and this ended the matter, so far
as the board Is concerned.
Capt. John G. Reno. chairman OF the
COMMITTEES on waterways. called the at
tention of the board to the Importance
of sustaining Senator Washburn in
his efforts to secure, the beginning OF
work OH the locks aud dams immedi-
ately below Minneapolis. He proposed
resolution commenting Senator
Washburn's efforts IN the matter,
emphasizing the value of the i'm
provements and holding the construc-
ton of the lock and dam near the
Short Line bridge to be the
key to the situation. The resolution
was unanimously adopted and copies
ordered forwarded to Senator Wash
burn and Congressman Fletcher.
ii. b. Hudson, of the committee to
arrange for the transportation of the
armer delegates from England. reported
that most of the necessary funds had
been subscribed. and upon his recon-
mendation the board directed the prop
or officers to issue the necessary. invita-
tons.
J. l.. Nickel, of the committee on gas
aud lighting, reported progress, aud the
issues of the gas controversy, were dis
cussed again. after which Col. K. II.
Pugh. the spokesman of.-the new com
pany. addressed the meeting. He out.
lined the proposed plans of, the COM
pany, the details of which have already
been published.
THE WATER surPLY.
The board then listened To DR.. j. W.
Mcdonald. who presented paper on
the cIty's water supply DR.. Mcdonald
said lie first proposed to answer the
question. "Have We a Safe Drinking
Water?' "ThIs question. he said.
''has been considerably agitated OF late.
lcannOt help thinking that to scare pe0-
pie TO death by sensational descriptions
of poisoned water is misguided enthu
Siasm, If the water is not good let us
remedy the evil, but In order to do this
it is not necessary to herald to- the world
that we have large city whose inhabl-
tants are being poisoned by the city
water.
"ln medical investigations we often
experiment on lower animals. and as
regards poisonous bacteria. this is one
of the most satisfactory methods. We
have the benefit in this case of very
largo number of experiments upon hui
man beings; 100000 people have been
using the water for number of years,
and they are not all killed of. On the
contrary, our statistics prove that we
have death rate of only Is per 1000.
the lowest of anycitY of equal size ON
the face OF the globe.
"Chemical analysis of the water will
help,us to arrive at pretty fair conclu-
sion. Through the kindness of Health
Commissioner DIR. E. s. kelly. and Ald.
Gray. of the committee Oh health and
hospitals. have been put in possession
OF eighty.thtee analyses of river water,
from Aitkin. Brainerd and Minneap
oils, by DIR. Charles W. Drew. Prof Side
ner and others. 70 these | have added
those of Dean in 1893. find tllat'very
little change has taken place in tho
composition of the water in all these
years, and tho impurities .aHe. found to
almost as great degree IN the river
near its source AS they are at St Louis
DR.. Charles Smart, in 1856. found Gus
parts per 1O0.OJ0- of free ammonia at
Aitkin. and DIR. Dean found only O02 at
st. Louis in 1873. Dr. Smart found .0t4
of albnmineid amlnonia.at Aitkin; DIR.
Dean found .06S at ST. Louis. of Gig hty
three analyses which have taken from
Dr.. Drew's report. and which extend
over u period from 1871, find the aver
age to be az follows:
Total solids. ISL; free ammonia, .00y !;
aIbuminOid ammonia, .O29; chlorine, u.
"lIighest, free ammonia. .U26; album
inoid ammonia, 80; chlorine. IS.
Lowest, free ammonia. 900; album
inoid ammonia. .007; chlorine. Il.
Limit in pure water, solids. Z; free
ammonia. .O02; albuIuiuuid ammonia.
.005; chlorine, Ia.
'.Ihese analyses show that the water
contains a large amount of solids. 1t Is
about the amount in free ammonia. The
albumin0id ammonia is large in amount.
The chlorine is small. even below that
of rain water. These conditionsindicate
| water containing organic matter.
Such characteristics are often found In
peaty water. In the analyses that have
been commented upon think too little
| stress has been laid upon the signifi-
canoe of chlorine. According to Parks.
the purest waters contain small quaint
ties Of chlOrides-geneial' less that LA
parts per 100000
"AnOther means OF Judging the char.
| acter of the water is by an examination
of its bacteria. The bacteria are vege-
table organisms. and the number found
| in cubic centimeter of water need not
necessarily be indicative OF Its danger or
safety as potable water. If we speak
of 10000 plants on an acre of land, it
does not mean that these are all poison
| Gus plants; and when we say that GU
bic centimeter of drinking water con-
| tains 10000 bacteria it does not necessa-,
| rily mean that each one of this vast
| number Is source of danger to the per-
| son who drinks the water. Many of the
bacteria are harmless, just as many spe-
| cies of plants are non-pOisOnou5. Other
| forms of bacteria do not grow at the tenn
| perature OF the body. These must die as
soon as swallowed. Others, though
they can live in temperature as high
as that of the human body, do not null.
/ tiply when in the body. Again, the
| hydrochloric acid and other constituents
of the gastric juice act as powerful
| germiclds and destroy thousands of
| germs which we are constantly swallow
ing, not only in our drinking water, but
| IN the food we eat. Thus. we can readily
see that the germs which need alarm
| US are few i'll number"
| An exhaustive analysis of the causes
| leading 10 typhoid fever was then made
as traceable to the drinking water, and
also described with reference to their
purity.