The Harrison times., 1911-08-12

They make an effort to clean this pump-well
Perhaps they succeed and perhaps they do
not. The point is that the expenditure Of a
little money would protect the pumping sta.
tion from inundation.
New York state has the same tale of polu-
tion to tell. Albany, Cohoes, Dunkirk Lock
port Niagara Falls, Ogdensburg Oswego.
Tonawanda, Watervet, and other cities drink
river water that is grossly polluted by the
sewage Of cities farther upstream And have
seen dozens of photographs or nlthy cow-sheds
and barns, the drainage from which polluted
the watershed for New York City.
In Illinois fifteen towns north Of Chicago
empty sewage into Lake Michigan, and nine
Of them draw their drinking water back from
the Lake And what is true of Pennsylvania,
and New York, and Illinois, Is also true Of
other states. Particularly is it true of the
south. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, from
the Gulf to the Lakes, our people are need
lessly drinking polluted water.
What is worse, water pollution Is on the in
crease, with the rapid growth of our popu-
lation," says Alec II, Seymour, Secretary Of
the New York State Board Of Health, in a re.
cent bulletin, "the deflement of our streams
also increases. Some Of our finest streams
and lakes are being rendered unavailable for
boating, bathing, fishing, and domestic use.
They are Of no value except as cesspools."
Typhoid fever one cannot contract without
taking into ones system germs that have been
voided by a typhoid patient, These germs
get into the body through the mouth, pass
through the stomach into the intestines, and
are carried through the body by the blood.
They leave the body through the bowels and
in the urine. Sometimes infection Is carried
by contact or through vegetables and milk;
but the common channel Of typhoid transmits
sion is through our water supply. "In order
that germs could find entrance into drinking
water" to quote Dr. Howe again, there must
have been carelessness in caring for the body
wastes of previous victims" And this care
lessness, as we have seen, consists for the
most part in allowing our water sources to be
polluted with sewage
In consequence, typhoid winter cholera, and
diarrhoea are most prevalent along water
courses used for both sewage disposal and
water supply Conversely the typhoid rate
Of any town continuously using a given water
supply fairly represents tho sanitory quality
Of that water supply,
The truth of this will be seen by a com.
parson of the typhoid rates of towns using
clean water with the rates Of towns using
polluted water In Michigan, for instance,
Allegan town of 2,795 population On l9OD
with pure water supply had, between 1889
and 1906, 80 cases of typhoid and deaths,
South Haven a town Of 2,767 inhabitants, with
water drawn from Lake Michigan within 100
feet OF a sewer outlet, had In the same period
245 cases and "a deaths. Manistee, with 1890
population and pure water from wells had
during these same years n typhoid rate OF 10
per l000 900 populations whereas Menomnee,
with 1866 population and polluted water from
Green Bay, had a typhoid rate per 100000 of
81, Hartford Mich, with 1,246 population and
impure well water had, between 1889 and
1906 "a typhoid cases and deaths; whereas
Montague, with 1,02l population and pure well
water, had In the same period only cases
and deaths. Again Benton Harbor, with
pure water from deep wells had n death rate
per 100000 Of IT'S; Grand Haven, with pure
we'll water, n rate Of 1885, and ST. Joseph,
with pure lake water n rate or 1913; whereas
the following New York toNns using polluted
river or lake water had for ten years-lS99
10 190S-those typhoid rates; Lockport, asa;
Oswego, 49i; Ogdensburg, SAC; Cohoes, S4S;
Niagara Falls, 1929; and Pittsburg, using
polluted river water, had a typhoid rate from
1900 to 1907, that averages 1877 per 100000
Before the typhoid rate OF cities that have
been scourged with epdemics the high ty.
phoId mortality Of such cities as Pittsburg
and Niagara Falls dwlndles into insgnincance.
In Watertown "A out of $50 cases were fatal;
In Ithaca so out Of 1850; In Pittsburg 432
out of 1895 In Plymouth ia out Of ,104 per-