The San Francisco call., 1910-04-03
By M. Garnett

''CIoacins. goddess of the tide
Whose sable streams beneath the city glide
@ sang the poet Gay of the guardian
deity who in the old Roman myth
oiogy presided over the city's
sewers. At the first blush it would
seem that the bard flung this little
flower Of poesy at the muses. feet
either in a self-defensive spirit or else
in q playful attempt to justify his pat
ronymic. But the fancy was not with
out its basis in fact. Viewed in the
light Of the chief object to be attained
even a city's sewerage system may as
sumo a somewhat poetic aspect. The
transforming of squahd, noisome sec
tions of the town into attractive neigh
borhoods thereby bringing health and
possibly wealth and happiness to the
general resident and property owner,
is well as TO the real estate dealer, is
an aim not exclusively prosaic.
From this viewpoint the Importance
Of the comprehensive system of sewer
age projected for the new San Fran
cisco can hardly be exaggerated. The
execution OF the design now well un-
der way. viii conform. with slight
inodffca tions, to the plans of former
llfE Engineer l. T. AIEunShN anu Ills
associate. Marsden Manson. When
finished il will give san Francisco a
sewerage unsurpassed If not unequaled
bv any other American metropolis. 1t
will even 90 far TO justify, in one es-
sential al least, the application to our
own fair city of that somewhat Delphic
distinction, the Paris of America.
Yet comparatively few of the tax pay
ers who are footing the bills for this
fhn fafnfacF
ception either of the nature or of the
progress thereof
OF all the civic improvements to be
completed under the bond issue Of $1S,-
200 0O0 voted on May II. 1908, none
is more essential, nor more sorely
needed for the city's welfare. than
the contemplated sewer construction.
Before the scope Of the latter, the
$4,000 600 appropriated for the purpose
seemed TO fade into insignificance. But
with the competent supervision now in
force the sum viii probably suffice.
And a contrast of the new order Of
things with the old should edify the
general reader.
IN the matter of sewerage and sewage
disposal San Francisco has Jagged fur
ther behind European and other large
American cities than is generally real
lied. Though sewerage systems, as
now understood. date only from about
the middle OF the nineteenth y
even in London going back no further
than 1859, in Paris TO the completion
OF her system in 1893 and in Boston to
the municipal control in 1923, all i'm
portant cities in Europe and in the
United States have fer years mana ged
their sewage problems with something
like adequacy. In those municipalities
both the combined and separate sani-
tary systems are in general use. Puri-
dcation works, filter beds, or chemical
treatment, as adjuncts, 10 dilute the
sewage, have been adopted wherever
this could not be properly delivered
into river, bay or ocean. But San
Fran ncisco, with all her unrivaled ad-
Vantages OF drainage areas, sloping
lands. abundant points of outfall into
the deep, swift tides Of the bay and
ocean. has gone on her merry way ap-
parentiy Indifferent to the Importance
of thoroughly flushing the general
body civic-to say nothing of the body
polite And this is all the more re-
rnarkable in view Of the influence
sewerage improvements have been
found to have on the general death
rate Of cities. In some instances re-
duction Of 25 per cent in the rate of
death from pulmonary diseases alone
has followed the introduction OF mod
ern sanitary systems cf sewerage.
The defects OF the old system may be
said to have been felt, rather than
seen A stroll along the water front
on a warm day, or the necessity OF
waiting on a street corner near one
~ those numerous storm water inlets