Arizona republican., 1909-07-21
THE DRINKING FOUNTAINS
To the Editor of The Republican:

To the Editor of The Republican:
 Sir:-I agree wHh Dr. H. K Beauchamp, city health officer. that the condition of the sanitary drinking fountain in the city hall plaza is un- sanitary and carries out the tests of unsanitariness as stated. It is not however. the fault of the fountain or of the installation of the fountain. If by making the stopped up" test, Dr. Beauchamp could have easily located the cause and eliminated it by calling the janitors attention to it. A small stick, or the finger inserted in the outlet of the larger bowl of the foun- tain would have removed the stop ped-up mess" and allowed the foun- tain to perform it's duty regularly. Every home has some plumbing con- nected with it. such as sinks, lavato- ries and drainage pipes. which often become stopped up." If such a con- dition is let run, there is more than likely to be an unsanitary environ ment, and itS scannet be laid att the door of the plumber who put in the plumbing either. Generally it is laid to the door of laziness or lack of de- sire to keep things in ship shape. When such condition is found it is rarely the case that the house wife has the fact published, she generally believes that the fault is her own, and her pride forbids her spreading the fact broadcast.
 When Dr. Beauchamp found that the sanitary fountain in the city hall park was stopped up. he should have spoken to the janitor, or who ever has charge of the grounds, regarding the matter, instead of giving myself and 'Dr. Beauchamp's self publicity in the press, which has been more than embarrassing.
 Every citizen of Phoenix knows that I instigated the installation of the sanitary fountains this spring by having two tag days, and that the expenses of putting them in was stood for by myself. Now of course if it be necessary will also furnish q man to keep the fountain cleaned out
 Hoping that the matter has been cleared up satisfactorily,
 l am to the citizens of Phoenix. your plumber,
 bEO. I1FAJEhAN.
 The article to which Mir Hageman refers was the following in an even- ing paper last night:
 ''Dr. H. K. Beauchamp, city health officer, claims that the sanitary foun- tain on the city hall plaza is not sanitary and has requested George Hageman, the plumber, to make cer- tain changes in the installation.
 "'The fountain is all right if prop erly installed, but at present 1 con slider that it is a source of infec- tion,' said the doctor today It might be an excellent distributor of typhoid germs or, in fact, the germs of any disease
 Within the larger bowl of the fountain is a smaller bowl. Mir. Hageman placed the small bowl that its upper edge is an inch or so under the water lever of the larger. Dr. Beauchamp says that the small bowl should be above water level
 He discovered that the water in the fountain was contaminated by placing a small piece of tobacco in the comparatively calm water of the large bowl. In a moment the piece was thrown up to the top of the little stream of water which bubbles up from the middle. Then he placed a blue solution in the water and the stream immediately turned blue This proved to the satisfaction of the doc tor that the water drunk from the fountain was more or less laden with