Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-11-28
goodness, for no man who Is dirty can
approach God or man acceptably.
Water and Health

tiO' W 'ii Sooi uyEieIllC IdWS. III Il
I the one great means by which the
boards OF public health are fehtlnl
back and Graduating the plaques which
In olden times used to decimate who'll,
regions. 1t Is the one great means by
which the longevity of the human race
is being increased. This fact was now
erfully exempllfied in our Cuban and
Porto Rican experiences. For centuries
cuba and Porto Rico had been the hot
beds of the yellow fever plague. Thou.
sands upon thousands have died of this
awful scourge. The plague once start.
cd has leaped across the strait of Flor.
ida and fastened itself upon the people
of our own land. But when the Span
ish American war was ended Major
General Leonard Wood, better known
by his truer title as DR.. Leonard Wood
the private physician of President Me.
Knley, invaded Cuba and Porto Rico
with cleansing water The miasmatic
swamps, where were Matched the dead
~ moquitocs which carried the fatal
germs, were drained off. The streets
were cleansed and the awful plague Of
yellow fever was stamped out. The
tropics were made inhabltabe for
white men. Water, cleansing water. Is
the greatest enemy OF disease of all
sorts. Thank God for the water with
which we wash. Thank him for the
water with which we are making man
healthy animal able to overcome all
diseases except the fatal disease of old
age.
Water and the Farms.
We must also thank God for the wa
ter which gives drink to our corn and
wheat and barley and oats and gives
drink to our potatoes and peas and to-
matoes and gives drink to our orchards
and trees of all sorts. The vegetables.
like man. are dependent upon wafer
for their existence. Without water II
Is an absolute impossibllity to run n
farm. If two or three dry years" fol
low each other, whole valleys and re-
Si0ns are depopulated. remember in
the summer Of 1896 camping in long
valley which was once filled with
farms and schoolhouses and churches.
The buildings were there, but the
houses were vacant There were
churches there. but no ministers. There
were schoohouses. but neither scholars
nor teachers. There were farmhouses.
but no families dwelling within. There
were farms, but no crops What was
the matter? The wheat and the grain
and the oats and the barley and the
fruit OF the orchards in vain had cried
Drink, drink, give us drink The
drought kept on and the land became
as hard and as dry as the bricks in the
potter's kiln. oh, today. when you
read the returns of our annual har
vests thank God not more for the soil
than for the water which has made the
earth Weld her increase. Thank God
for abundant water, the pure life Civ
ing water, for the water which has
made the farm a full larder for n pros
porous nation.
But we must also thank God for the
water turning the mlller's wheel which
grnds the grain into -four. We must
thank him for the factories upon the
Merrimac which weave the cotton into
cloth as well as for the cotton planta-
tons of Georgia and Louisiana and
Water is the motive pow
er OF the one and the producer of the
other. We must thank him for the wa
ter which produces the gigantic trees.
We must also thank him for the wafer
which makes the lumhcrman's saw
whirl round and round and cuts the
rough logs into smooth boards out of
which We build our homes and stores
and factories. When we think of n
factory town for the most part we nic-
tUrc the heavens blackened with smoke
from scores and hundreds of furnaces.
but there are thousands of factories
run by water alone. The water of
these streams not only irrigates the
soil IN which the crops are grown. but
supplies the power which changes the
raw materials into the finished prod
ucts Of the markets.
Our Water Highways.
But we have still another reason WHY
the American nation should he thank
Iul for Its water. II produces the grain
ana the cotton and turns the wheels of
The factory. 1t also furnishes The great
highways over which the commodities
Of one part of the country are trans
ported to other parts of the country,
ana this blessing is not confined to our
onS coast waterways which the Paua-
ma canal will soon connect, but it also
includes our vast network Of naYiga bic
river and lake systems which for
years offered the only practical means
VI INSTRUMENTATION between differ.
nnt parts Of our land
open your map and study in the first
place that vast water system which
starts from New York city and moves
up through the Hudson river. then on
Through the Erie canal and through
Lakes Ontario and Erie and Huron
md Michigan and Superior. Have YOU
aver stopped 10 think what such a svs-
lem of waterways means to our nation
from commercial standpoint? In or.
Ter to make this system complete De |
witt Clinton inaugurated the most stu
)endous engineering feat of that age.
The building Of the Erie canal The
state Of New York to complete this
canal obligated ltseu TO pay the vast
sum OF $J0,0oO000. When the canal
was finished there was national hol- |
lday OF thanksgi ring Yet the Erie ca