The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-08-08
sew ERA0E.
What Civil Engineer Wilson Has
TO Say About the Matter.

rhe ground anu make preliminary
report on the subject of sewerage. j
have made such an examination as Is
possible without surveys, and have
arrived at the opinion that n system
Of sewerage is perfectly practicable.
Before proceeding with my report
pardon me for introducing some re-
marks on the Importance, or rather
necessity OF sewerage. In the alb
sorbing pursuit OF business we have
not time to give much thought to
these matters, and often ignore or
underestimate the dangers which
surround us. by long association,
zoo, we become Injured to sights and
odors, which would be repulsive to a
stranger or to us III away from home.
Our own good health and strength,
too, often convinces us that there is
nothing dangerous or unsanitary in
our Surroundings, forgetting that
the victims are generally the weak,
the poor and the helpless, who have
not the means or the knowledge to
protect themselves against these un-
favorable conditions ar the strength
20 resist the attack Of disease. For
this very reason the responsibility
for tho public health rests all tho
more heavily upon us.
IL IL sometimes suggested that our
fathers got along we'll enough with
out these so-calied modern improve
ments, and that wha. was good
enough for them Is good enough for
us. But the conditions then were
quite different from those of to-day.
The population OF the towns was
small and scattered, and the pollu-
nf nd af h,h sne
begun, and was comparatively mild.
Ii is now concentrated far beyond
the limit Of safety. But as n matter
of fact our fathers were not so well
of In thisUespect after all. Where
ever statistics have been kept they
show u steady decline in the death
rate, rs progress has been made in
public sanitation. In the past forty
years the death rate i'm England has
been reduced 1875, saving 100000
lives, and upwards Of 1000, 600 cases
Of illness. The death rate of London
has been reduced 3796 In the same
time. Under the able administration
Of the Massachusetts State Board OF
Health for the past twenty years the
deaths from typhoid fever per 1OO, ,OOC
have been redcced from SO to 30, and
in the city OF Boston from 19i to 32.
We are inclined to take comfort In
the fact that our total death rate IL
little if any higher than that OF other
cities. But this argument involves q
serious fallacy, for perhaps three.
fourths OF oil the deaths are due tC
causes which arc still beyond oul
control, such as old age, violence
consumption. ETC., and do not gener.
al ty A. "a
so that the difference i'm the total
death rate Is rarely very striking
The true test OF the sanitary con.
dltlon of city Is in the prevalence
OF Nth diseases. The best known
type OF these diseases is typhoid
fever, and sanitarians have univers.
ally, adopted IL as the measure OF
comparison. Compared on this basis
most of our American cities have
little cause for congratulations; with
few exceptions the typhoid death
rate among them ranges from GO tC
26a per 100000. In Paris 1t is %
Glasgow 20, Hamburg Is, London IL
Amsterdam III, Berlin %, Vienna Z
Dresden ., Rotterdam ., The
Hague 2.
Taking Berlin as all attainable
standard, these figures mean tha,
Sumter shouldhave only one typhoid
death In two v ears.
The very low typhoid rate IN
European cities is OF course due tC
improved works In all branches OF
public sanitation, and cannot all be
attributed to sewerage. Just how
much Is due To that branch aud how
much to clean streets and pure water
1t Is impossible To say. Bnt certain
IL Is that sewerage plays an impor.
'ant part. Prof. Mason has com.
pared the death rate i'm fifteen un.
severed cities In all parts Of the
world with that of fifteen cities OF
the same class but severed, and
found 10 3I"6 higher in the former
than the latter.
The prime requisite of health, laid
down thousands of years ago, are
pure food, pure water, pure air, and
pure soil. With the first OF these the
Engineer as yet has little to- do. You
already have a pure public water
supply. But it is well To- remember
that only 1000 of your people are
drinking the city water; the other
6,VOO are drinking from shallow sur
race wells, which cannot fail To be
aho"uy largely contaminated from
the numerous cess and pools and
vaults.
There - popular impression that
the foul water flowing through the
ground from these filth deposits is
purified I'm short distance but that
tneory ~ now entirely exploded. Ii
10 true that solid matter Is TO some
extent strained out at first, but the
dissolved organic matter and bacteria
pass into tho drinking wells without
hindrance.. The only purifying pro.
cess u oxidation, and that does not
take place tn any apprcciable extent
IN the subsoil. That the two last
requisites OF health, pure air aud n
pure soil cannot he had without some
system ot Immediately and COM
pleteIy removing all filth tn "a safe
Ilstancn L. sell Nilnnt ILn lnn.ror