The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1895-10-07
CREMATION THE METHOD !.
Reasons Advanced Why II Is
Best for Garbage Disposal.
TWO METHODS CoNTRASTHD
Use Of Garbage as Animal Food Coz
dem ned-CrematioD Safeguard
Against This Pract icc-COst ofOther
Met hods-Char OF Garbage
Changes With The seasons.


Grafton and utilization methods of gar
bagc disposal. the District Commissions
crs have chosen the latter system. and a
permit has been issued for the construction
of plant at the corner of South Capitol
and streets.
In coming To their conclusion the Com
missioners were aided by the Juugmcnt of
| the health officer, who personally in
spccted both processes. and recommended
the crematory as the preferable plan for
Washington. Whether or rot il shall prove
to be the better in the end remains 10 be
seen. bat the fact remains that cremation
will have Il test of nearly five years under
the existing contract, unless a change IS
effected by legislation.
Some of the reasons advanced in the sup,
Fort of the Incarceration process are given
below. as furnished by an advocate of the
system who has had the benefit of years
of experience and observation.
The arguments advanced are grouped as
twenty potent reasons why every city
and town should cremate ills own waste
He says:
CREMATION ONLY SAFEGUARD.
Cremation offers the only practically
sanitary safeguard 10 the people against
the dangers arising from the fifth re-
sultanis of the various conditions or their
daily lives.
The use of garbage as food for cows
and swine cannot be TOO strongly con-
demned, nor the danger arising from such
practice fully realized. Language eau
not he too forcible, nor municipal energy
too great 10 put down or blot out such
pernicious practice.
THE different sea sons have varying eff
fects on the general garbage. Putresccnt
matter and acids present in the saturated
vegetable matter That is sometimes FED To
the hungry mich COW is injurious TO the
animal itself, aud may carry disease germs.
This should not he treated lightly, for
milk pregnaled thus can and does cause
thousands of deaths. Such unclean vcge-
table matter should not enter the NAV or
any animal. to say nothing of food animals
''Swiil-fed COWS give off milk that is
conta minated. This is indisputable. and
conclusive proof eau be. and has been; ad-
duced that d large percentage OF zymotlc
diseases i'll cities aud towns is due To The
use of impure milk
That il is unwise to eat the flesh of
swill-fed animals is not denied. even ny
the most Ignorant or careless Yet thou
sands and thousands of animals raised on
garbage are killed and eaten by our People
The purchaser, happy in his blissful ienor-
ance. eats but knows not whereof he eats
THE adoption by communities, large ana
small, of Il first-ciass creniatory ana the
sanitary methods necessarily employed To
insure its success, will eliminate from such
communities the dang ers arising from
the above mentioned practices. Cremation
is the only positive method that lnsures
this protection.
Too much stress cannot be laid on the
dangers of dumping the garbage Within the
environments of cities or towns, and
too much condemnation cannot be gwen TO
practice. This needs no comment. Com
mon sense ana experience teach the results
that enlanate from such a practice.
The authorities of Washington recently
caused u careful Investigation to he made
into the causes of death in the District Tor
period of years. The cSamina ton was
faithfully and scientifically made i'll the
various locations in and about the city
and the health authorities We're startled 10
find that death by zymotc diseases has
been extremely high in houses built on
garbage and h-nliXed Killings: where, on
the contrary. the death rate from same dis
eases was exceedingly low III dwellings,
built ON terra firnia.
The mixing of animal and vegetable
matter i'll combination with coal ash for
the purpose OF filln. III ana retaining
lands is very strongly condemned by bac
teriologists Time and again has il been
proven that this combination is capable of
predicting at certain seasons of the year, and
rormany years, bavteriailire. Thedanger is
apparent. vet such work is done. and this re
claimed land used for building purposes.
CREMATE DEAD ANIMALS.
Dead animals OF every character, spoiled
meat oysters. and fish should DE crenated.
and in like manner should DE treated the
refuse and offal of commission houses.
Such waste products should not he dumped
III open lots, or carried 10 sea, or deposited
in running stream.
The bedding clothing and wall paper
contained in houses where infection or Conta-
wiouS diseases have been should b. burned.
This is the only safe protection to the com
munity against the spreading of disease.
a nd in this connection il should be Noted
that perhaps there is nothing more germ
beariiI-s tndn the house refuse tother than
that called swiIn, such as old rags, car
pets and Cast-off clothing. These should
also be Submitted TO the flames and totally
consumed. and not sold or bartered.
Research by archaeological st';dents
has revealed the fact that little care was
given TO sanitary methods in many or the
ancient cities 1t is even asserted that some
of these cities might be flourishing to-day
hadtuey thoroughly understood ana digested
the sanitary laws governing the proper
disposal OF the waste products of their daily
lives
"A century ago the largest city in our
country was urban and sanitation was
known only as term. with our com
mercial growth we have become an i'm
pToyiiCEt people in our daily lie. We
are careless in the application OF proper
sanitary methods. The statistics OF Eu-
rope show TOW much greater our prevent
able death rates arc than in European
cities. The reason for this is obvious.
Our wasteful method of living gives Ia
the resultant waste OF our daily lives a
character and dangerous quality which
European communities do not experience.
1t is OF grave Importance To us as a people
To thoroughly understand this problem.
COST OF OTHER METHODS.
Genius and wealth have = - taxed for
years TO solve the problem of-thc proper
disposal of these dangerous elements 10
our sanitary existence. Some. VINO Were
actuated by truly philantbropic motives.
and other sciences, to produce from the
waste matter of our daily lives Il material
have called in the resources OF chemistry
that would be OF financial value to the
municipal COMMUNITIES aud valuable to
the manufactured. Greases and oils have
been extracted from garbage, but at such
a great expense to the operator, Tor the
small quantity returned. rs to destroy
the first proposition and yltiate the sec
ond Efforts To reduce the common Swill,
or garbage, 10 commercial commodity
have proved Ibortive.
THE economic and sanitary disposal of
garbage can be accomplished in only one
way. that is by cremation. Many expert
mentors, honest in their purpose and firm