El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-11-19

When the great Pennsylvania anthracite
cial strike was on, and many parts OF
the country We're forced to substitute
sort Tor hard coal, cases Of suspected
lung disease increased with the in
creased use of bituminOus coal, and
after the settlement Of the strike and
the return to anthracite, they decreased
again in proportion to the change from
bituminOus to hard coal
Cities where soft coal is burned in
large quantities, on both sides of the
Atlantic, bear witness to the harmful
effects Of smoke upon health by show
ing abnormal death rates from Jung
and bronchial diseases So often i'm
permeabIe TO the health-Siving ultra
VilOet rays of light which are natures
most efficient germ1cide, the smoke
pals not only destroy health by filling
n;yriads Of germs to flourish where
they might be killed could the sun
beams reach the earth.
FOgs Increase Death Rate.
For instance, it has been demons
trated that the germ of tuberculosis
dies much more quickly when the sun
gets fair chance at it than when il is
held IN check by smoke. London au-
thOrities attribute much of the famous
London fOgs to the heavy clouds of
black smoke that hang over the city,
and it always has been noticed that
when these great fOgs come the death
rate goes up During one famous fog
more than 5000 people were added to
the usual death list in three weeks, and
600 new cases of sickness.
A test was made by the English me-
THEOLOGICAL bureau with a series of
burning glasses and 1t was found that
nearly seTen-elghths Of the suns power
was shut out in the manufacturing dis
trict, and fiVe-eighths in Westminster.
The average distance that objects could
be seen from the summit of st. Pauls or
Westminster palace tower during the
winter months was reported by the
same bureau to be less than half a mile.
q nIar 81 "a OF her lie
lar disease increased heavily with the
rise Of Manchester as a factory city.
How smoke Causes Fog.
The method by which smoke causes
fog is an interesting natural phenOm-
enOn. The nucleus Of every tiny drop
let OF water is, Of course, a tiny speck
of dust. This little drOplet, in a smoky
region, floating along on the atmOs-
phere, gradually becomes coated with
a minute film Of sOOty tar. This coat
ing SERVES to retard evaporation, and
hence causes the fog much longer than
IL would If IL were simply a fog made
up CT uncOated particles Of moisture.
Because the heavy clouds of smoke
above the fog hold back the rays Of
the sun, they have a much more limit
ed power to attack and dispense the
fog. Careful tests have served to give
soma idea Of how much the suns power
of fog dispersion is weakened by the
presence o" a smoke pail.
A test was made at Leeds a few
years ago ln which it was demon
sJrct ted that uUIlng a calendar year
the sun Was SrIl-ns in the heart OF
;hr city for q total of 1857 hours Four
miles away, al Adel. another sunshine
recorder Wcs registering the hours of
sunshine, and they tOtaled 1902 In
other words, down town in Leeds there
was II percent less sunshine than only
four miles away.
Smoke Kills Vegetation.
The presence of smoke in large
quantities has been shown to kill vege-
Hu a LET he
cyanide fumes from a smelter. In
smaller quantities ii has a retarding
effect upon plant development 1t gets
in its deadly work in three different
ways. In the first place. the SCOT gets
into the pores Of the plant and stops
them up Ike 2 coat Of shellac would
stop the pores Of the human body The
SCOT ca-ries with it a deposit of tar
that win not let 80 its hold on the
leaves and stems Of plants even in
On CnChius rain. and If the majority of
{ plants pcrts we're not on the under
side of the leaves it would have small
chance Of Surviving the attack of SCOT
and tar.
This coating serves to obstruce
many of the rays of sunlight that come
to a plant and also to check the as
similation Of carbon dioxide. The
plant is thus forced actually to live in
a sort of twilight In the third place
SCOT affects the growth of plants
through the acid it contains This acid
not only exercises detrimental in
fluenCe upon the pant through its
leaves. but also through the reduced
fermentation of the soil humus. and at
the same time by reducing the activi-
ties Of the nitrifying and nitrogen
fixing organisms Of the plant In
other words. II cuts down the food
supply of the plant and at the same
time its ability to utilize it.
Extensive experiments by the Univer-
sity of Leeds show how harmful smoke
a.
deposited amounted to 147 pounds TO
the acre, and the weight Of lettuce on
a small place amounted TO 140 grams,
while at another place. with 1865
pounds Of SCOT and other. solids de-
posted per acre, the yield of lettuce
on an identical plat amounted to only
A grams. Experiments in other lOCali-
ties between these two extremes dem
onstrated a pronounced relation be-
tween smoke and crop yield, in every
instance the crop yield decreasing as
the amount Of smoke in the air in
creased. As the ground plats were
identical as TO SOIL time, care and all
other conditions except the quantity
Of smoke, the experiments prove an
unexpectedly heavy toll is levied by
smoke upon crop yields. The same re-
suits were shown with experimental
plots of radishes.
Affected Area is Large.
The area that may be affected by
city's smoke is large. 1t has been
SloMu LAeAA soul Is LIENl4 tAllN QELJOSlLeu
upon leaves 60 miles from a city's
center When we consider how many
of a city's truck farms are located
within that radius, and how destruc-
tive TO growing vegetables the Leeds
experiments prove smoke TO be- it will
be seen that here is another factor in
the high cost of living not to be over
looked. Rouo Russell, London's eS-
pert on smoke and fogs. declares that
the area OF smut from LOndon's smoke
reaches 40 miles in every direction He
declares that when the wind switches
to the southwest, by noting the velOc-
ity with which it blows. he can tell
just when to expect the London smoke
to arrive at Richmond He notes that
the moOrs Of Derbyshire are dirty to
sit down upon, and the sheep invar-
iably have smoke begrimed fleece. Mr..
Russell places LondOn's smoke tax at
upward of S25. 600. 600 a year. Of which
he assigns $4,000 to death, disease
and lowered working capacity.
1t has been found that smoke laden
air contains much sulphuric acid. An
analysis of Manchester air showed so
times as much OF this deadly poison as
was found in the air Of a country
place in SUrry. DR.. Rideal estimated
that over half million tons of sui
phuric acid is sent into the air by Lon
don furnaces every year.
Ten Millions for Laundry Bills.
has hnnu estimated thar 10 erf1nIra