The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-04-18

mer. Above the gr0und-water level
the pores of the soil are full of air.
When the water rises, it acts as pis-
ton, diSplacing corresponding volume
of air. AS the water falls, air equal in.
bulk enters the soil. There is also a
slow lateral movement of air through
the soil, the grOund-current usually
| flowing toward the spots where the
surface is warm.
When sewage is poured into the soil,
as from teaching cesSpOols, the suSpen-
ded impurities are retained mechani-
cally by the surface strata and the
clarified liquid sinks away to join the
| ground-Water. The surface soil thus
becomes charged with filth, and the
decomposition OF this filth speedily ex-
hausts the oxygen of the ground-air,
substituting therefor the gaseous pro-
ducts of this decay. During the sum-
mer, while the ground-water level is
low and sinking, this accumulation
continues. In the winter, however,
/ the ground-Water rises. 1t makes no
difference how far below the surface
the water lies. Every foot of rise dis
places foot of air either actually foul
or else deficient in oxygen and super
laden with carbonic acid. So long as
this air can escape freely out Of doors,
danger is slight; but when the ground
is sealed by frost, the entire volume OF
air must escape through the few UNI
frozen spots, and these spots are usual
! ly the cellars of our houses. Even con-
crete floors are more permeable than
frozen ground, and capable only of
| hindering- not OF preventing this eS-
cape of ground-air. The suction in
duced by warmth guarantees the thor
ough distribution of this air through
out the living and sleeping rooms at
the very season of the year when ven
1 tilatiOn is restricted and usually de-
ticient. The result isn0t specific
diSease-but a weakening of the pow
ers of resistance, which makes the
body an easier prey when invaded by
pathogenic organisms. What man
sows that shall he also reap" Ii we
continue to pour sewage into the
ground, below the reach of the free
sweeping air and the sunshine, the
harvest will come in kind, though it
may be long maturing.
The installation of private sewerage
systems and disposal plants by certain
of our residents is distinctly reprOach
to the town rather than cause of self
congFatulatiOn; for it means that peO-
|
age or necessity of these adjunctS of
fertilization, and voices their despair of
receiving the needed service from the
municipality.
The existence of these systems does
not appreciably affect the health of
the town; for the homes of the intelli-
gent are rarely fOci of Infection. The
homes of the lower classes are the
danger spots. Ignorance Degets dirt,
and dirt breeds disease. Close prOx-
unity of houses, ablutionarY laxneSS
and absence of restraint in the social
intercourse of the children make the
attack and spread of disease in such
district less difficult than in other
parts of the town. The safety of the
community as whole depends largely
upon the cleanliness of its most hum
BILE quarters.
Fortunately there is little danger of
your towns constructing poor sewers
for advertising purposes. The state
has the interests of your citizens at
heart, even if your municipality has
not; and the state will judge concern
ng the efficiency and sutficiency of all
proposed sewerage works.
| admit that the trunk sewer prOpOS-
ition, especially since Madison has re-
| fused to join the scheme, is burden
too grievOus to be borne; but it is not
the only solution of the problem, nor
is it the best solution. Your sewage
can be easily collected and so treated
upon your own property that all its
potentiality for 0tfense and harm is
destroyed The usefulness of trunk
sewer is at an end when the pollution
at its outlet becomes unbearable to the
| littOral owners; but community that
destroys it's own filth and passes on to
its neighborS nothing but clean water
is in a position not only impregnable
but unaSsailable.
You say "we who live here know the
conditions" and you decry the opinion
of "others who do not. Has all the
truth evaporated from these lines
Oh wad some power the giftie
gle us
To see oursel' IS as others see us
1t wad frae monte blunder free us
And foolish notion"
Traverslng the state as / do from
end to end,-and even outside Of the
State,-I hear many things about Nor
ristown, and no one praises her wisdom
in continuing the custom of storing
filth at her doors or admireS her cOur-
age in refusing to wash her skirts.
The cost OF a sewerage system Nor
ristOwn is easily able tb bear; the cost
illness of neglect may be incalculable.
Yours truly,
e. EVERETT HILL.