El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-11-20

/ Of enforcing the law has been encOun-
! tered in Europe as in America-the un-
! willingness Of local magistrates and
! judges t. inflict the penalties. Eng
/ land got the earliest start in smoke
! legislation among the nations, begin
ming before the middle of the 18th cen
fury. In 1881 the use of coal was pro-
/ hibited in London by statute. IN 1907
a commission was appointed and ia
structed to inquire of all such who
burn sea coal in the city, or parts ad-
I joining. and to punish them for the
! first offence with great fines and ran
SONS, and upon the 5ecOnd offence 10
demolisb their furnaces" But Of course
this medieval reaction could not stop
smoke by stopping fires.
Public Health Act of 1875.
The modern movement for smoke
! repression may be said to date from
1919. when parliament named com
I mission - inquire how far it was
practicable to compel persons using
steam engines and furnaces in their
( different works to erect them in d
manner less prejudicial to public health
4 and public comfort" Another commits
I sion was appointed in 1913 and another
| two years later. At frequent inter-
walls later still other commissions were
appointed, but not much was done IN
I til the passage Of the public health act
I of 1875. But the magistrates usually
sided with the makers of smoke, and
! were little inclined to accept state
/ ments showing that the smoke com
/ planned of was dense enough to consU-
/ tute a violation of the law. In 1893
I the English Coal Smoke Abatement So
/ ciety was organized, and 1T employs an
{ inspector who reports ABOUT lOOU Flo4d-
Educational Campaign.
In 1905 the Smoke Abatement society,
/ IN conjunction with the Royal Sanitary
I position in London Similar expOslJiOns
| have since been held III Sheffield. Glas-
] gov and Manchester. In 1903 the
1 Smoke Abatement league of Great
, Britain was organized, and it has
| started a three-fOld crusade. 1t seeks
/ to secure better smoke laws than those
/ now in existence, to institute lectures
I Of its own and to spread newspaper
| information concerning smoke, and
also to enlist the aid of engineering
| schools in teaching the principles OF
/ com bustiOn, in the hope Of training en-
! gineers who can help the movement
along.
series of lectures were Instituted at
( Glasgow last year, one being for fire
men and the other for the general pub
( lie. These lectures were very popular,
and did much toward Fastening the
day when Glasgow will become
SmOkeless town
An international smoke abatement
exhibition and conference was held IN
London this year, and delegates from
ali parts of the world attended ana
delivered lectures upon the various
phases Of smoke pollution Ine prin-
cipal speaker was Herr Mes, me chleA
engineer of smoke abatement IN ham
bure where perhaps more progress
has been made than IN any oLhef D-6
CITY in the world. He announced that
the appeal Of the conference was hOs
90 much to the public, 1Or II was not
content to wait until the prOpaSanQa
could arouse public sentiment 70
1itcb necessary for OverthroW1ng the
smoke nuisance; its appear was -
technical men and upon tecIlllCd-
rrounds: its effort was to convince
the. furnace owner Of the econ0Ihy % q
srnOI5eIess chimney so strongly a. -
lead to the installation Of sInoAelSs
furnace -.,.,-
Tn 1902 a society was organlzeo IA
Hamburg known as the H5luo I-
Union for Stoking and SMOKE z ,.. -
zion It was launched by engineers
- ,,,sn77fac turers upon their own mi
tfative. in the belief that sclenll1lc IN
1-esfioation would show them now 70
get more steam and less smoke. -
Ynion has a staff consisting Oh q 90
e1giDeer and four assistant engineers,
-ffb three instructors, five IlreIhSH
81 one clerk The engineers MAX
REGULAR examinations OF the plaL.J,9
members Of the union and the nlelLlO 1-
OF working IneIllr anu ALi' -
lions for Improvements Wneh lHeS9 al
Tbe unions firemen teach the. IRE
mon of the individual plants JUS nUG
to handle their fires and furnaces W.
q lieu 10 the greatest ecOnoILlN' Gu
90 sssisted in this by the starr OF IN
s+-,,ctors In addition thereto tests OF
fuels and smoke devices are Iilaus II jill
time to time A.. ,,,io,,s
e-,e-ineers do not recommend the use OF
Mechanical stoI1ers or AUTOMATIC coal
feeding devices They recoilLls.I l
rather the addition of simple ueN-C9
Tor the regulation of the supply OF sec
oT5sry- air in the furnace. This arises
mainly from the fact that the coz
1Ised is Of such a character as not 10
need other than hand stocking.
stringent Laws in England.
The laws in force in England Tor
the prevention OF smoke are faIn amer
stringent In Bolton any person VINO
leeps a furnace which produces Dlach
su7OIxe is fined not more than SOU Wiz
an additional penalty Of $40 for each
day the nuisance is maintained alIeI
notice requiring abatement IS serNtc- !
80 days being allowed for setting me
premises in order after serving the
notice Fdinburgh's law is similar, I
provision being made, however, that /
where undue smoke is made as re
suit of excessive. careless, or lneIIlclehl
firing conviction may be mad, WllhouI
being violated and giving time TO
change hereunder.
The Glasgow law rather shifts the
burden of proof upon the violatOr. Il
SAYS that every person who uses, /
causes. permits, or suffers to be used J
any furnace or fire within the city
(household fires excepted) so that |
smoke issues therefrOm. unless he
proves that he has used the best prac-
teal means for preventing smoke. shall
be fined not exceeding 40 shillings for
the first offence. and five pounds for
each subsequent offence.
Leeds has a strong law with cumu-
lative penalties. Every furnace must
be constructed or reconstructed to pre-
vent the occurrence of smoke. ANY
person may prosecute an offender and
each successive offence leads to
heavier penalty. When n furnace own
er is given notice to AFTER his furnace
and fails to do so he is fined SO q
day until he sets his premises in or
der.
Cities Enforce Laws.
The European NATIONS as Il rule do
not have general laws upon the smoke I
nuisance most of them leaving the l
matter entirely in the hands of the !
several cities for action. England is |
the notable exception to this rule. |
Whenever such ordinances have been |
passed by European cities they have |