The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-25


/ ciEnaloFy was rendered inadequate 10 the
task o. burning garbage. and became such
nuisance that the people living in the
I net5nborhOod clamorel for It's removal
! Efforts were made By the sanitary assoc
! citation ard others 10 have another and
| larger crema tory built iu a central loca-
| ton in ord1r 10 shorten the haul and
! thereby diminish the expense and at the
I same time Increase the efficiency Of that
| department: but in this. also, they were
! unsuccessf H. In Consequence Of this Sti-
| ure more than one-haE Of the garbage
| must be hauled by city wagons at least
| one mile beyond the city limits, and there
| dumped in large heaps 10 rot The fav-
| ored owner then uses 10 to fertilize his
| lands. spreading IL over large areas, re-
/ gardless OF the peruicious effect the
/ efhuvia must have upon the health Of the
inhabitants OF that side Of the city. The
| prlVy vaults, Of which there are nearly
| SIX thousand inside OF our extended limits,
! are the same abomination that they were
/ a hundred years ago. Time and again
| city councils have been urged to use the
/ pail system, but 20 no avail The con-
/ tents might soE). removed in the same
| sloVenly, unsgihtly way Of times gone
! BY are put in barrels and caTted through
| the streets, in the day time, summer and
! winter alike. On account Of the filthy
| condition OF the brick sewers
] underlying the city, the more
! intelligent part OF the community. ap-
| pretending some serious epidemic,
/ have for years urged upon those in au-
! thority, the necessity for a separate sys-
TEN Of sewers for house drainage. but while
| each successive board. appreciating the
| popularity rather than the necessity of
/ this most important sanitary measure, has
/ promised to establish il. we are still using
/ the same storm water drains for sewers;
/ and rather than spend a few thousand
dollars, out of the treasury for the drain
/ age Of the newly incorporated suburbs.
! the Inhabitants are forced to use dry
/ wells and ceespools 10 receive the dis
| charges from water closets and kitchen
/ sinks This revival Of an abOmination,
! condemned as dangerous years ago, has
| already borne its fruit. Typhoid fever,
! diphtheria and other filth diseases, have in
| vaded these newly built localities. But
! while some of our city fathers were so
averse to spending two or three hundred
| thousand dollars, for a separate system of
| house drainage that would promote the
| health of every man. woman and child,
| protect the city from dangerous epidemics,
| and thus render Savannah one Of the most
! healthful cities in the world, others have
| not scrUpled to make her 5000 inhabitants
| pay half million dollars for new water
| works, long before there was a necessity
| for them. The discarded water works
! had capacity of 100000 gallons per day,
] derived from an ineXhaustable source, the
! river and also from artesian wells; a guam
| tity amply sufficient to supply a city OF
| 100000 inhabitants with water, not only
for all ordinary purposes but also for
| cleansing every pipe in a system of house
/ drainage and for flushing the storm water
| drains every day The only thing neces-
| sary, TO accomplish all this was to replace
| the worn-out and leaky mains, laid in 1858,
| BY new ones, large enough to secure an
| equal pressure in every part of the city
| and suburbs-a change which was found
| necessary upon the completion Of the new
! works-to enable the fire department to
| put out fires in the business sections of
! the city. Were the 100000 gallons sup
ply we now enjoy permanent, and the
/ surplus water judiciously applied for san
/ itary purposes, the half million outlay
would be a mere trihe in comparison with
! the benefits in health and comfort it would
| give to our people But the entire supply,
! derived from artesian wells, being liable
to be cut off by an earthquake, no connec-
ton with the river having been provided,
we are at all times threatened with a wat
er famine. What will the venerable ed
itor of the Sanitarian say when told that
| not a gallon Of the surplus five or six mill
ions of water is used to flush our filthy
| sewers, and that we are not likely to have
a separate system Of house drainage un-
| til, like Brunswick, some serious epidemic
! Will force the authorities to act?
In the matter Of pavements, he says:
Even in the selection of materials for
paving the streets we find the same dis
| regard paid to the sanitary requirements
of the city All propositions offered by
| medical men or sanitarians, who have de-
| voted their lives to the study OF proven
! tive medicine, or appeals to facts deduced
from scientific experiments made in other
cities, seem not to have the slightest pos
sible weight in influencing the actions of
our city councils. Should, perchance, one
of them take into consideration the health
| fulness as we'll as the Improvement of the
city, and select the best quality of asphalt
tum because it is impervious to filth and
foul gases and is at the same time smooth,
noiseless, durable and an ornament to any
city, others will insist upon oyster shells
or other cheap material, which, If not
| containing the germs OF disease, is ever
| liable to become a indus for them and well
| calculated to promote sickness. OF all
| pavements, that made Of shells is, per-
haps, the most Objectionable. Neverthe-
less, shell pavements appear to be the
! beau ideal of Savannah councilmen. Hun
dreds of thousands of bushels, in all stages
Of decomposition, are brought from differ
! ent places and discharged upon our
wharves. They are then spread nine or ten
inches thick upon the streets, Smoothed
over with a heavy roller, covered with
! cinders and ashes, and again rolled, that
is all. On account of the spaces between
! the shells, there is perhaps no other pave
ment as we'll adapted as this for the alb
sorption and retention of filth. This is
why it always emits sickening odor
when damp, or disturbed 1t becomes
bed of sticky malodorus slush in rainy
! weather; while in dry weather 1t is COM
mingled with the horsedroppings, ashes
and cinders, and transformed into a blind
ing dust, blown in every direction by the
| wind, permeating every part of the houses
| and covering our trees sidewalks and
gardens. This caustic disease dust pene-
trates the air passages of every inhab-
liant, irritating the mucous membrane of
nose, throat and bronchial tubes; infiames
the eyes as we'll as the air passages, it
gives constant work to the doctor and spec
ialist but to other people it is a very dear
pavement in a two-fold sense.
The Belgian blocks, which on account
of durability, were selected by one of our
boards, would make healthful and inval-
liable pavement for heavy traffic If the
blocks were imbedded in asphaltum or
other substance impervious to water. but
as they are laid in sand, they are too
. I efp rbs n dltbxy fo,~ ~.