St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1905-10-11
To Filter or Not TO Filter.
By Vote OF l3l to 100 the Village Decides
Not to Spend $4,000 to Improve
the River Water.
A Three-Hours Meeting and Some Candid Statements

in other sections of country, and demon
strated by statistics the sanitary benefit
OF the system. He gave several instance
where the death rate from typhoid feve
had been marvelously reduced by the I'll
tration OF river water. Prof. Clarl
spoke from wide experience and careful
study, and answered number of ques
tions fired at him by different gentlemen
present. He confirmed DR.. Stiles idea o.
the expense OF installing a filtration
plant, and gave case where the cost oil
maintaining it stood at about 81 40 per
million gallons. He is not believer, as
yet, in the efficacy of the copper sulphate
method OF clearing up polluted water;
had seen it tried, but not successfully,
and was inclined to talk rather conser-
vatively regarding it. Mr.. Turner diff
tered with him here, having had success
in experiments with copper sulphate at
Stiles pond. Prof Clark explained the
construction and operation OF fltra-
ton plant and thought quarter-acre
area would meet the need of st. Johns
bury and supply say 100000 gallons a
day.
The chair having put the question, a
motion was made to adjourn, but this
was voted down, viva voce.
Whereupon Capt. John Macdonald
urged, in his characteristic way, the need
OF facing the question manfully and not
running away without taking action.
We would feel ashamed, when we got
home and were asked what we had done,
to say we did nothing. He wanted to
see a committee appointed, five "level-
headed. sensible business men," to get
together and fix this thing up in the
right way. 'We have three choices"
said Capt. john; 1--WE can drink the river
water, or we can drink Stiles pond
water, or we have 'one per cent as
last resort"
D. E. Porter said be didn't work for
Incorporation and didn't want to. If he
thought it was a detriment to the vii
lage he would certainly vote in favor of
turning it down. But he did not believe
it was, and spoke in support of the posi-.
ton taken by its management on this
water question. He paid his respects, in
fairly plain English, to the Passumpsic
river slime" and to Di. Stiles argu-
ment in favor OF fltering it, incidentally
saying several things which the Doctor
emphatically rebutted. Mr.. Porter said
he drank spring water, and Stiles pond
water, and sprlnkled his lawn with river
water. He did not favor, under present
circumstances, going to the expense of
filtration plant it would hit every tax
payer hard, whether he now paid much
or little. He spoke with sarcasm about
the sensational rumor that all the
lawyers had been retained by the corpora
ton, and ridiculed the idea.
The chair then put the question and a
ballot was called for. 1t looked as
though it would be ballot OF the "pass
the hat" stripe, till D. Y. Comstock called
for a check list to vote by. He suggested
that past experience had proved the peril
of giving everybody in the room chance
to vote, whether entitled to vote or not,
and urged the need of care in so i'm
portant matter as the one before the
house.
The chair ruled the point we'll taken,
ordered checklist ballot, and the lists
were sent for.
Immediately printed Eyes" and mo"
ballots appeared on the scene, showing
that somebody had been developing the
japanese idea of preparedness" Four
ballot clerks we're named, the legal
voters filed past while the would be-but.
couldn't-be voters filed out, and the
result was:
Whole number of votes, 231; Yes, 100;
No, 131. So the house refused to adopt
the resolution and put $4,000 into
filtration plant.
Next!
THE ANALYSES.
Here are the latest analyses of water
from the two sources, received by Health
Officer Noyes day or two ago and
posted up in substance at this meeting:
Village-Turbidity distinct; sediment
heavy; color, 38; odor, faint vegetable;
total solids 126 0; loss on ignition 40;
fixed solids 1890; free ammonia, $50;
albuminoid ammonia .140; chlorine 8;
nitrogen as nitrites 100; as nitrites
,002; bacteria per C. C. at room TEN.
perature, $50; at blood temperature,-;
ratio OF liquefying to non-liquetying colo
MES so per cent. colon bacilli, absent; re-
marks, suspicious water.
Stiles Pond-Turbidity slight; sedi-
ment, considerable; color 60; odor. dis
tinct grassy; total solids 700; loss or
ignition 24.0; fixed solids 46 O; free
ammonia .040; albuminoid ammonia
.22O; chlorine 1 2; nitrogen as nitrates
.120; as nitrates 900; microscopically
negative; bacteria per C. C. at room
temperature 100; at blood temperature
8; ratio of liquefying to non-liquefying
colonies 100 per cent; colon bacill absent;