The Anaconda standard., 1899-01-05

these pipes should stand pressure of
$50 pounds. They have never been test
ed for more than rs pounds, and it is
probable that the higher pressure would
prove the pipes to be valueless and ne
cessitate new ones. However this may
be, much has already been done toward
getting ample and good water to this
city, and this matter is of first import
ance to the city's health.
If the undesirable first-floor negro is
to stay in town he must first be taught
how to live properly and then made to
do so. Ii is not sufficient to post in
structions on tenement house doors.
Sewers must be built. and until that
time all washing of clothes should be
done in proper public lavatories; there
must be ample and good water; proper
and hygienic living must be made pos
sible and then the people must be Sc
verely punished for each infraction OF
the rules; only thus can they be ham
died and effectively taught. 1t will be
useless and farcical to attempt to force
them to live properly without giving
them the means SO to do.
The situation can be summed up thus
shortly: The city to-day is overcrowd-
ed, there is not sufficient water, and
what there is is bad: the soil is i'm
pregnated and poisoned with the accu-
mutations of years and centuries, and
there are no sanitary arrangements,
such as sewers and drains The ques-
ton can be handled radically and
straight out from the shoulder, in which
case the population Of the tenements
will have to be thinned out. Or the
matter can be temporized
The cleaning of the city is now in the
hands Of the city council. Since the
American occupation they have been
attempting to do something in the mat
ter, but they clearly lack the ability
ha la tter
have no idea as to what a clean city.
according to our American ideas, should
be. None of them has ever been inti-
mately acquainted with one. AT re-
cent meeting of the council, when this
subject came up for discussion, one
member pompously remarked: Let US
show these Americans that we can keep
this city clean as well as they can"
1nsomuch as we have before us the re-
suit of several centuries of their effort
in this direction, the remark appears
ridiculous.
The matter of the sanitation of this
city needs American handling. 1t calls
for North American to run it. 1t is
the purpose of the present American
military authorities to allow the Porto
Ricans to administer, Within certain
limitations. their own affairs. Well and
good but this matter of. health which
affects every American resident in the
capital, SIlOutQ eneTSeIlcalfy dQnln-
istered by an American. 1t is manifest
that Porto Rican cannot do it as it
should be done.
On the northern ridge of the city of
San Juan is long line of old Spanish
fortifcations. There are walls many
feet thick broken by embrasures for
cannon and old sentry boxes. In pic
turesque irregularity they stretch Along
above the breakers from Moro castle
on the western end to the old fortress
of San Cristobal on the other. This
part of San Juan is the most attrac-
tive, it is exposed to the persistent trade
winds, and the ground is the highest
in town. 1t is clearly the best location
in the city, but unfortunately it is now
occupied by San Juan's worst and dirti-
est inhabitants.
The old walls and the broad street
behind them lend themselves to a most
attractive scheme of city improvement.
With grading and leveling there could
be built here the most attractive drive
Wayin the West Indies. The old walls
would hold it up from the sea. Morro
would mark one end, San Cristobal the
other, there would be the cool trades
to rattle the palm leaves planted to give
shade, lights would make it bright at
night, the waves would flash white over
the rough coral below, and sea and sky
would give one mass of brilliant blue
color. If such an enterprise We're start
ed by the municipality or the state,
private enterprise would seize upon the
tumbledown barracks that now face the
future driveway, and this property
would be improved and all would be in
keeping.