The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-09-18
TEST OF AQUA PURA.
Minnesota Water to Be Treated
BY the Farm Bureau.
CAN PURIFY THE BAD LIQUID
Campaisn Of Education 10 to Be In.
sSitutss at Once Among Fsrm-
ia srs: Object Set Forth.


Washington, Sept l4.-After having
successfully treated the water supplies
of about 200 cities, experts of the bu-
reau of plant industry, department of
agriculture, under the direction of DR..
Albert F. Woods assistant chief of the
bureau, are prepared to go out onto
the farms and give the American farm
er the benefit of their experience.
The first state to be visited is Mime
sofa. AS a matter of fact, the de-
partment of agriculture has nothing
whatever to do with cities, except as
its assistance may be sought by
local authorities in matters affecting
the health or general welfare of the
people. It's province is the farm. There
fore, it may be- said that the experts
of the department undertook to CO.
operate with city authorities in water
publication work for the purpose of
ultimately helping the farmer.
Make Is Successful.
The efforts to purify city water sup
plies have been uniformly successful.
Copper sulphate is the agent used in
purifying contaminated water The
work has covered several years and
much invaluable information has been
accumulated. One of the chief diff
culties with which experts of the gov
eminent have been confronted is the
natural aversion OF most people to the
use of copper or any other metal in
this way. However this difficulty is not
now so formidable since. many reassur
ing facts have been placed before the
reading public. This applies particular
ly to those localities where the water
has been treated with copper sulphate,
The expectation of DR.. Woods is that
many farmers will object to the treat
ment of their water supplies on the
same ground. A campaign of educa
ton among them will be necessary, as
it was among the residents of cities.
Indeed, the authorities of several cities
are very touchy about having the gen.
eral public know that their water sup
ply has been treated. Possibly this is
due as much to fear that the people
would be alarmed if they knew the
water had been treated at all as to
the chemical used in treating it.
e" Woods Is Enthusiastic.
Woods is enthusiastic over the out
look for this work. Already many farm
water supplies in Maryland and Vir-
ginia have been successfully treated.
The dairy farmers are especially inter-
ested in the matter of pure water sup
plies. Pure water is an absolute neces-
sity on such farms in these days when
so much attention is being paid to the
quality of milk sold in the cities.
Contaminated water on dairy farms
means bad milk, and bad milk is a
danger in any community. Most COM
munities are thoroughly alive to this
fact. Hence the vast Importance of the
proposed work of insuring pure water
on all farms.
The appropriation available for the
work this year is very small. In fact,
it is but few thousand dollars. Never
theless, nobody, need be discouraged
on this account, since the work is not
of an expensive character. The prin-
cipal drawback, aside from the unwil-
lingness of some farmers to have their
water supplies treated, is the fact that
so much more time is required to reach
the rural districts. In the cities every
thing is Immediately at hand, including
necessary machinery. So it will
take a long time to cover the entire
country on this line of work. But the
plan of DR.. Woods and his associates
is to cover every state ultimately and
to increase the force as more money
is made available for the work.
Minnesota Water First.
Minnesota has been selected as the
place for beginning. One of the prin-
cipal reasons for this selection is that
the Minnesota farmers and dairymen
are actively interested in the subject
and are urging that the work be un-
dertaken here. This is exactly the
spirit that the Washington authorities
want to see. When the atmosphere in
which their field experts work is one
of deep interest and cooperation the
results are Certain to be satisfactory
to all concerned The work win not
be undertaken in any state or locality
in the face of opposition. Uncle Sam
expects the farmers to go half way.
Injury to Travelling Man.