The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1902-03-23
SMOKE PREVENTION
PLAN NOT FAVORED

of all legislation such as that proposed by
TINS Dill by requiring merely the appli-
cation of some smoke preventing or
understanding appliance
DR.. Woodward then refers to a letter
written by the officials of the Washington
| Traction and Electric Company, in which
they seem to admit the general justice OF
! the law.
Objects to Parts.
! To this portion of the report Gen.
/ George II. Harries, vice president or the
company objects. and he has written a
! letter to the Health Officer criticising the
! use made of letter written more than a
/ year ago. General Harries says:
In connection with your report upon
! II. Il bill 11S49-a legislative proposition
| which is not devoid of the human clement
I you quoted from letter written by me
to you as long ago as July 10, 1901.
Through what was doubtless an mad
vertence, the date of the letter in Ques-
ton was not given, and as result there
may easily be in circulation an impress
sion wholly erroneous.
when l said to you that we were
equipplnS our central power plant so as to
bring about a smokeless condition, | had
no idea that the authorities would insist
upon literal and impossible compliance
with the terms of statute that cannot
reasonably be enforced. NY belief was
that there would be rational exercise of
that discretionary power which is neces-
sarily lodged in those who are charged
with the responsibility for the applica-
tion of law to a condition of which the
community's executive officers may prop
erly take cogniZance.
Explains Few Points.
While l am writing TO you upon this
topic permit me to cal, attention to an
unintentional misstatement in your re-
port. You say that the rracticability Of Sc
curing heat and power without dense or
thick black or gray smoke as required by
the law now in force is demonstrated
daily at number of places, among them
being the District building an apartment
house and hotel. The fact is that have
in my possession ample and recent testi-
mony as to the frequent emission of law
breaking Smoke from the chimney of the
District building, and much more of
equally precise evidence against the L
Street pumping station and the work.
house buildings-all under the complete
control of the District Commissioners.
For the emission of black or dense |
gray smoke from the chimneys of either !
OF the warehouses; or the District build |
ing little excuse can be offered if your |
theories are correct and the law which |
you defend rs just. AS Il matter of fact, |
the complete elimination o:-smoke is al |
most impossible except under laboratory 1
conditions. The trouble with the law 10 |
that its enforcement is without any dis |
tinction between small steam plants |
evenly underloaded and large plants which |
nave TO meet varying conditions.
Smoke Must Issue.
There should be little difficulty in COM
plying with sensibly-rigid law where a
ffty-horse power boiler is only called
upon to furnish twenty-five or thirty
horse power, but when. in the course of
days business, the demands for light and
power call upon one of our stations for
load which fuetuates anywhere between
5000 and 10000 amperes, no device can
prevent the emission of small percentage
of the smoke which necessarily results
from the efforts of our firemen to keep
up steam.
I'VE have already diminished the smoke
emission at our main plant more than
fifty per cent, and when the work of in
stalling smoke preventing devices has
been completed, We expect to diminish the
volume of smoke emission fully ninety
five per cent. We have done and are doing
everything possible TO be in accord with
the law and with the sentiment which is
behind the law. We deem that to be our
duty. We are also engaged in the opera
ton OF quasi public functions under our
charters That also is our duty. To ex-
1ect of us this latter thing and at the
same time to insist upon it, that the
stacks of our 7.000-horse power plant
shall emit no more smoke than is created
by the operation of ffty-h horse power
plant is to expect the unreasonable ard
he imnOSSible'