The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-01-06
THE PERFECT CITY.
On the Management of Great municipalities.

dittons 10 this, there being no river availa-
Die into which sewers might discharge.
Accordingly the Government decided to
purchase large tracts of land several miles
outside the extreme city limits ana at
tempt, with certain notifications, the plan
of sewage farming so ably advocated by
Victor Hugo, and so generally practced
In japan. To accomplish this the city was
divided into twelve districts. each contain
ing radial center, to which were made
to converge the arteries and veins of the
local sewage system.
At each of these radial centers build
ings were erected with powerful pumping
apparatus capable of forcing the sewage
through long tunnels leading underground
to the sewage. farms. These great sewer
tunnels discharge into huge receiving
tanks. there being series of these on each
one of the farms. The discharge from the
pipes is treated with Stacked lime, iron
and other chemicals, and is then passed by
endless chains of buckets through a series
of watts until there has been complete pre-
cipItstion of the solid part or sludge.
The liquid portion, now brought 10 the
state of impure water, Is allowed to flow
from the watts into irrigeting bitches dug
in the ground. The sludge is discharged
from the watts into tr0ughs built on stills,
sometimes half mile in length, with
steady decline sufficient to allow the mud
like product 10 slide easily to the bottom.
There it is received in parallel trenches
two or three feet deep and perhaps hun
dred yards in length. As soon as one of
these trenches is filled TO within about
six inches of the surface a corps of
woTkmen spade it full of fresh earth.
while the lroughs are shifted to allow
the Sudge 10 discharge IN the second
trench formed by the earth taken to fill
81 f.1f Il b. # nj l,l
trenches flied to a considerable dep b
single acre Of land is made to receive an
enormous amount of sludge. the thickness
OF the earth covering preventing any un-
pleasant odnr from affecting people in the
vicinity. When field has been treated in
this way it is allowed to lie idle for year,
al the end of which time com pete absorp-
ton into the soil has taken place, and the
ground can be plowed UP with no unpleas-
ant results.
This system Of sewage of farms has now
been on trial in Berlin long enough to
demonstrate its unQueStiOned superiority
over aGy other system. To begin with the
financial results are most satisfactory. A
tax on each householder for the removal
OF sewage, together with sums received for
crops raised on the farms, has made the
department more than self-supporting :;
indeed, there Is reason to believe that
In few years, when the extensive orchards
have reached their maximum of fruit
production, this department will become a
source of substantial in cOme to the Gov
ernment Already for several years the
tax levied has been growing steadily less
and lesN, and may ultimately be done
away with altogether. Elaborate statistics
show that the workmen engaged On the
farms emily excellent health, and alto
gether the advantages of the Sc wage farms
have become so apparent that the Berlin
farms are being initiated in many parts of
Europe, notably IN Paris, where the dread
full old system OF cesSpOOiS that used to be
pumped out in the night will soon be
abandoned.
Another lesson American municipalities
may learn from Germany is in regard 10
their bureaus of statistics. With charac-
terisiic patience and a highly perfected
system, the German authorities haxe gath
cred together and classified the most
diverse material with facts of every con-
ceivable nature. tending to show the rela-
tive advantages of different conditions OF
city life. For instance, the German cities
have statistics showing the relative fire.
Quency of deaths when people live on the
sunny or shady side of the streets,
when they live on the third or fourth
floor Of the house, when they are more or
less crowded together in a few rooms.
1t has been shown. for instance. that
the death rate among families which
live together In one room Is not two or
three times but seven times greater than
the ordinary death rate. From a careful
consideration of these statistics by experts
interesting conclusions have been drawn,
the results being shown In elaborate regu-
latlons for new buildings. Cellars and
garrets are prohibited, the ceilings must
be of certain height, there must be suffl-
Gent spaces for courtyards, and a certain
ratio must exist between the width of the
streets and the height of the houses.
DR.. Shaw regards the matter of new
building regulations as one of the most i'm
portant in modern cities, ana thinks that
great relief fro oveTcrowdng in tie
tenement sections will be furnished ult-
mately by constructing the houses of a
block around one extensive courtyard,
pleasant with trees, flowers, grass and
fountain, like public park. He would
have city ordinances prohibiting the un-
slightly clothes lines, the washing to be done
in separate laundTies, maintained either
by the city or by charitable institutions. A
marked change 10 the present aspect of a
city block is thus destined. he thinks, to
be wrought by the building of houses,
whose roofs shall be not only uniform in
height. but so constructed as to be pleasant
places for recreation and for the enjoy
ment of pure air. The present difficulty in
the way of such roof arrangements is the
be done away with by the gradual intro
duction of gas as fuel among the poor as
well as the rich.
Already many rites in Great Britain.
Glasgow, Birmingham. Sheffield. Leeds
aud Manchester. have made the manufac-
ture OF gas municipal monopoly, and in
several Of these cities. notably in Glasgow,
the municipality is renting gas stoves to
roor people at merely nominal rates. This
DR. Suaw regards as most needed reform
in American cities, since the municipality
can supply cheaper and better gas than
any company, there being no desire TO
carry on the manufacture at a profit.
Glasgow has in this respect taken a step
further in the right direction than any
other city 10 the world. It's municipal or
dinances provide for the illumination of
tho entire tenement-house region with
abundant GasjAts. which are placed not
only in the narrow streets and courtyards,
but in all he private stairways. The ex-
pense of this illumination is borne by the
city. special tax for this requirement be-
ing levied upon the owners of tenement
house property. 1t is conceded, however,
by the residents OF Glasgow that so far
from being an added burden this system
of public lighting in the dangerous and
vicious quarters has resulted in decrease
in crime and in the necessity of guarding
against it. One gas lamp in a tenement
NAV hQ amoat said IN pr,al "A N O