Evening star., 1895-03-20
KENSINGTON'SSEWER
The General Protest Against the
Pollution of Rock Greek.
GENERAL B0YNTON TALKS VIGOROUSLY
Replies Called Out by Mr.. Benja
minis Statement.
Mr.. ER'S VIEW S

Mr.. b. H. Warner, who has just returned
to the city, after five weeks absence, and
VINO has summer home at kensington,
said to Star reporter today: Il do not
know the reason for the agitation of the
sewerage question in Kensington at the
present time. My summer home is there
and naturally am interested in any meas
Tre which will add to the health comfort
or attractiveness of the place, and 1t is
gratifying TO know there are so many peo-
pie living there who are determined TO
make the town a model in many respects,
but SO far as sewage is concerned, I am
utterly opposed to any system which
would employ Rock creek or any other
similar stream as a medium for trans
porting it to the Potomac. There are SO
many difficulties standing between such
project or Its consummation that 1t is al
most waste Of time to discuss it. In the
first place the right of way could not be
| obtained. and If 1t could the courts would
not permit such a plan to be carried into
effect
There are several systems which can be
| utilized, perhaps the most feasible being
the filtering system, used in many places.
am glad, however, to know The Star is
being perpetrated by the cities and towns
which lire the banks of the Potomac
and its tributaries, will also be brought TO
view, SO 'as to show the people of the ma
water of the Potomac, which flows into
our homes. and which is liable at any time
to communicate disease and death. 1t
should be generally known that We have
| only sieve protection, which protects the
pipes from being clogged with eeis and
fish, but which does not to any degree
cleanse the water itself or rid it of any
poison with which 1t may be tainted. Our
citizens had better wake up and take an
active interest i'll protecting their own fam
lilies before they are compelled to do SO
| by some awful epidemic
Statement by Gen. BoyntOn.
Mr.. Frederick Benjamir's statement in
The Star yesterday regarding the Ken
siderable comment. Gen. H. v. Boynton
| of the Rock Creek Park commission writes
to The Star as follows:
$50 far as Mr.. Frederick Benjamin of
kensington assists in keeping the subject
| of polluting Rock creek before the public
| he will surely be benefactor of WASH
iEgton. AS to the benefits which he may
| thus render Kensington as promoter of
| its proposed system of sewerage the case
| is not SO clear He gives the national
capital full and formal notice that in spite
| OF Its objections his town expects to
adopt sewage system which will pour
| Its concentrated pollutions into Rock creek;
that the valley of the stream is the nat
ural drainage for Kensington; that the
|
primal law for them. and they propose
| to observe it-that is, they propose to
pour their sewage through the center of
Rock Creek Park. This is the purpose of
IKensington. But before any of the moneyed
citizens of that suburban town invest their
spare funds in system of sewerage that
depends upon Rock creek for it's outlet, it
| Will be prudent, to put the case mildly, to
reflect upon what the purpose of Congress
was in appropriating 81 ,2O0, 600 for estab-
| shing the park of 1,6OO acres to which the
| tod Sfcfa hos ~l~1
Is 1t likely that such an expenditure con-
templated a park with an open sewer run
| ming for four miles through the center of
| it? If the plan did not embrace this lovely
and fragrant conception of Kensington-
| ians is it likely that Congress will find
| itself powerless to prevent its realization?
This question only involves a possibility of
the necessity of action by this court of
| final resort. The courts Of Maryland are
| open for proceedings which will. in the
opinion, of lawyers of high standing,
cerning which Mr.. Benjamin speaks so
coolly, and with all the assurance of utter
Ignorance as to the means which are at
command to prevent its consummation.
"As one of his reasons for supposing that
| his village will be able to carry out the
| plan it expects to adept to make itself a
| nuisance to Washington and the nation by
polluting Rock Creek Parls he sets FORTH
to begin with, that .kensington is an in
corporated town of Maryland Well, the
Louisiana lottery was incorporated by a
state, but neither the state nor the Con-
gress of the United States failed in finding
means to stop the flow of it's poison, though
| 1t had millions in ready cash with which to
defend itself.
He says that Rock Creek valley will re-
| ceive the drainage of Kensington, whether
any sewers are laid or not. Surface drain
age. as everybody except Mr.. Benjamin
must know, and he eXcepts himself, is a
very different thing, because of general and
liberal absorption, from concentrating all
| pollution in closed sewers and pouring it in
| solid stream into Rock creek.
He asserts that because the flow of this
| pollution from kensington to Rock creek is
| more than two miles, and because within
| that distance a number of springfield
| streams enter it, the sewage of his village
| will be purified before it enters the park
He would do well to examine the reports of
| the able parliamentary commission which
| Great Britain employs to constantly ex-
pertinent and report upon the pollution Of
it's streams. AS the result of elaborate OBJ
servations and experiments upon this Ques-
| ton of water courses purifying themselves
| by a prolonged and rapid flow, this COM
| mission reported that there was not a river
| in the United Kingdom long enough to thus
| cleanse itself from some of the impurities
| originating from cities
ITO further show his intelligent dealing
| with the subject, he sneers at what he is
| pleased to term the 'so-called Rock Creek
Park being clearly ignorant of the fact
| that these 1900 acres. for which the gov
ernment and the District of Columbia have
paid nearly IS Dy lar the uNeSt,
most attractive and striking area of park
| land in the vicinity of any great city of the
country. Rock creek is its central stream.
| Its pollution would be not only a local
nuisance but a national offense. Because
| the Geological Garden. empties impurities
| into Rock creek below-or down stream
( the park, Mr.. Benjamin infers that no Gle
should object to pouring them in the cur
| rent above the park; and because Wash
| ington empties it's sewage into the floods of
| the mile-wide Potomac, Kensington should
| be allowed to pollute and poison the springs
| which feed the small stream that beauties
| the most magnificent park tract Of the IA
| ton. He forgets, however, even at this
point of his weak reasoning, that the gov
ernment has expended millions, and Is still
spending millions, to fill the Potomac flats,
so that the sewage Of Washington should
| no longer accumulate upon them to poison
| the city.
"It would, perhaps be well for Mr.. BEN
| jamin and any others Of his fellow-citizens
as set as he in their purpose to do as they
please about their sewage, to reflect upon
| the possibility, at least, of this govern
ment being able to protect it's capital, if is
| citizens and the courts of Maryland cannot,
against Kensington and it's dire purpose to
| observe the primal law of self-preservation
| and turn its sewage through the National
| Park"