The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-07
POLLUTION OF
 OUR STREAMS Governor Conner Urged
 to Interfere. LEGISLATION ASKED OF HIM Appeal Made by Committee of \. Y. Merchants Association. Can fer seis~siae Trestment of sew- erase Disposal Instead of Pol-
 iuting Driakins Water suppiy--son,e Facts. H

Governor Conner has just been in- vited to cooperate in national move mont to stop the pollution of rivers. lakes and streams by sewerage and manufacturing waste. The Merchants Association of New York City, through the chairman of It's Water Pollution Committes, Edward Hatch. IT,. has written him a letter urging in the strongest terms the need of legisla- tion to abate the evils of a contam- mated water supply, which costs the country 35,O00s lives annually by req son of typhoid fever alone, and mon ey loss, reckoning that from the death roll alone, of more than $212,0O0,000 a year. If the expense attendant upon the illness of the 100000 or more pa tIents who have the disease, but re- cover from 1t, is included, the total Is swollen to a vastly greater sum.
 '.Sanitary science,' says Mir. Hatch in his letter. "prescribes definite and offective metods Of sewerage disposal which would stop this fearful mortsF- ity, and as a simple business proposi- tion, save many millions. of dollars an- nuaIly. All that Is needed is the awakening of the public to the huge economic crime of which 1t is guilty ifi postponing the adoption of such methods. It is in hope that you and other executives of the country may act as leaders in this movement that address this appeal to you. Individual states can accomplish much within their own borders, but there should be cooperation between States to assure the proper protection of the interstate waters from pollution by sewerage and manufacturing waste--which latter has ruined many beautiful streams; exter- minating hsh and eadangering human life.
 'Governor Hughes of New York has expressed his interest in the move rnent for the purifcation of the waters of the State and has pledged the State axithorities to an exhaustive investiga- tion of the subject. and the Attorney General of New York has instituted suits. at the instance of the organlza- tion represent. against the State Of New Jersey, to prevent the pollution Of the harbor of New York by the discharge of its untreated sewerage. On behalf of my committee and In the interest of the health and general well fare of the country, respectfully urge that you give this subject careful con- sideration in your next. message to the Legislature.
 The letter calls particular attention tos the recent Investigations showing that typho old fever germs and those of other intestinal diseases are largely disseminated through the agency Of the common house fly.
 The committee which is conducting this country wide campaign of educa- ton has already done a great deal to arouse public sentiment against wa ter pollution particularly in regard to that Of the Hudson River and New York Bay. ,,
 The letter to tue Governor follows:
 New York, Dec. ?, '0s. .sf1on. Braxton B. Conner.
 MOntWOmery. Ala. 4 -s'.Dear Sir-AmonE the important subjects which are engaging the At-- tention of executives and Legislatures, few, if any, can be so important as that of the pollution of rivers. lakes and dreams with the enormous loss of life and property which it entails.
 The most pressing of this country's santtary problems Is that of the prop CT xegulation of sewerage disposal. By reason of the prevailing barbarous custom of disch arging raw sewerage Into lakes and streams, the United States suffers an annual loss of more than 3S,O0O lives (35,379, according to the. census of 4e00) from, typhoid fever; and a money loss of (estinating each of thes lives as worth $6,000,, to the community more than $212,OOO,O0O. At least three quarters of these deaths could have been prevented by the adoptson of proper sanitary methods by the communities in which they oc- cured. The 350,000 cases of the dis ease Ctypboid) which are reported an- nrally, though perhaps nine-tenths of the patients recover, entail vast money loss in wages, care and nursing which can only be vaguely approxi- mated.
 Sanitary science prescribes definite and .efeective methods of sewerage dis posal which would stop this fearful mortality, and as a simple business proposition, save many millions Of dollars' annually. All that is needed is the awakening of the public to the huge economic crime of which 1t is guilty In postponing the adoption of such methods. It is in hope that you and other executives of the country may act as leaders in this movement that address this appeal to you. In- diyiduaI States can accomplish much