The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1910-06-23
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ARTHUR D. MOE, Publisher.
Subscription, S1.50 Per Year.
BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.

Three weeks ago a communication
was published in the Glacier from DIR.
j. Edgington, lefty health officer, sug
gesting that users of the city water
should take the preeaution Of boiling
the liquid through the summer and
avoid a repetition of the typhoid
epidemic which visited Hood River
last year. DIR. Edgington has been
taking samples of the city water fire.
quently and sending them to the state
authorities for analysis, since the
warm weather began. So far only one
sample has shown the presence of the
colon bacillus. This is gratifying and
we trust hopefully that the water
will not reach the state Of impurity
this year that it did last.
However, the location of the source
of supply for the lower town within
the city limits and the fact that the
supply for the upper town is mainly
irrigation water drained from under a
farm near town makes the water at all
times liable to contamination. No
man can tell just what day the water
will become absolutely bad and dan
gerous for domestic use. The present
management of the water company ac-
kn0wledges the existence Of the dan
ger and its inability to prevent the
contamination whenever weather and
drainage conditions bring it about.
There is no reason to become fright
ened, as no cases of typhoid have been
reported in the city since last fall,
but there is every reason in the world
to take every precaution, Un'ortun-
ately, preventive remedies are of
little avail when put off until victims
are ill. We believe that DR.. Edging-
toms advice to boil the water is per-
fectly sound. If it results in saving
the life of one little child, it will be
more than worth the trouble. Many
families in Hood River have boiled all
water for domestic for more than a
year. They are wise.
Some persons including the witty
scribe of our contemporary, would
jolly thesmleves along and make be-
lieve that there is no possibility Of the
city water causing trouble for fear
that the knowledge of the conditions
might hurt business. Now the judi
cious use of the soft pedal during the
early part of the summer would pro-
badly result in an epidemic of typhoid
in the fall. The damage to the town
of severe epidemic would not be
outlived long after pure water might
have been Esecured, but no injury will
be done by the fact that the people
of Hood River have enough common
sense to take reasonable precautions
and avoid the dire results of neglected
conditions, thus refusing to commit
suicide merely because it can be done
80 easily. The delays in marketing of
the bonds, the responsibility for which
can in some measure be traced back to
meddling residents of this city, will
make it impossible in the time left
to build the municipal water plant
and get pure water into the city this
fall. The city authorities are doing
all in their power to hasten the bring
ing in of the city spring and they
should have the united support of the
citizens in their efforts. 1t is the part
of wisdom to face existing conditions
in order to avoid trouble and the part
of folly to pooh-pooh the idea of dan
ger and suffer the punishment for
being "a coward. Little danger exists
if proper precautionary measures are
taken. We believe it is right to know
the existing facts and we will make
an effort to give the public the results
of the water analysis from time to
time. However, if the water does
become bad it may be too late for
some who fail to heed warnings if
they wait until they can see the colon
bacillus with their own eyes.