Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-09-27

the world has just been brought
to the most successful efforts
~ that have been made to solve
S& 7 divers problems that arise boz
the health officers IN
whom is reposed the trust OF
getting the whole people to look
after the health of the whoe
A2zS community. 1t is generally con-
ceded that England leads the world in these matters
and eminent health officers told the just how
England goes details Of her central health
administration the county health departments and the
borough health departments carefully pictured
Denmark and Germany and japan were all heard from.
stated in previous article. Europe leads in the
matter of pure water for municipalities and white
some Of Americas progressive cities have come
to approximate the highest European standards in that
direction large majority of them have some distance
go before being ready to challenge comparison
with leading European municipalities. The sanitary
control watersheds is the favorite Ameri-
can methods protecting city supplies. Sons
cities buy large areas land it be bought
reasonable figures, while others acquire certain
rights which permit the protection Of the supply from
the invasion of dangerous other cities purify
their water by storage and filtration Washington
has the finest and filtration plants ia
the western hemisphere
In some European cities the problem is attacked
by serilizng water with Sterilization by
application invisible ultraviolet rays OF
light another method resorted to- and 1t is shown
disease germs coming in contact with these rays
of light which the cannot see and which possess
no attributes instantly killed It Is these
rays the sunlight that fatal to tuperculoss
germs and their kindred, and explains why sunASht
puts an end 10 them. chlorine compounds are also
used in some quarters with success
Colonial hygiene has always been more success
full than home hygiene since in the colonies the
eminent can tell the people just what must done
and then there is getting around it. This principle
hnds counterpart in the case OF the military and
,ne civilian The military man must obey orders.
while the civilian usually insists upon being lew
himself This explains why the death in the
rfrrl
life why colonial possessions usually enjoy better
health than do their home countries. We find chat
true relatively not only in Panama. but in Porto
Rico and the philippines as we'll There, when COM
pulsory vaccination is ordered. back talk axails.
Everybody is vaccinated and smallpox is promptly
wiped off the map There when all water containers
are ordered covered overturned and all garbage
receptacles covered inspectors around to that
it is done. There when the health authorities pull
the strings the people move and Of the brightest
pages In American history has been success In
saving tens of thousands Of lives annually through
the enforcement of sanitary principles in coonal
possessions The Canal Zone in particular stands ut
In this regard, just did work In Cuba Witr
Colonel W. c. Gorgas administrative officer all
though threefourths of the population OF the zone are
negroes less about sanitation than those of
New Orleans and Washington the death rate has been
forced down to perhaps fourth or even fifth OF
what it might have been but for scientific sanitation
Another line sanitary. activities Of cities has TO
do with the disposal of sewage and garbage. There
again European cities show better average than
sewerage
from Europe in attendance upon the sessions OF
the international Congress Of Hygiene and Demo-
graphy- to tell how many of the problems of waste
disposal have been solved by them In Birmingham
England there are extensive oxidation beds for the
publication sewage but they, like very great pro-
portion of the successful methods of dis
posal had beginning in the epochal experiments
made at the Lawrence, Mass, Experiment station 1t
is gratifying to American patriotism to hear Or.
Travis the British expert, declare that the
conception Of the hydrotc tank and the oHddizing
beds is the result study the
periments made at Lawrence by the Massachusetts
board of health. DR.. Karl Inhoff came over from
Germany tell of methods Of disposing Of sludse the
settings of sewage has i specially constructed
series Of tanks which this material is kept for
months and then forced out by sewage pressure Tor
spreading sewage beds and final disposal HIS lde@
is a modification of Travis idea. which frankly
Acknowledges its debt to Lawrence
one of the favorite ways Of dsposing OF the sew.
age OF cities is by discharging 1t in rivers tidal
waters The best experience has DEMONSTRATED that
where there is flow of forty-hve gallons of
per second for each thousand of population where
there is tidal current OF mile and half an hour
the conditions created in the rivers be unobjec
tionable. Where other disposition is necessary
sewage usually through big settling tanks where
most of the organic material is deposited. At the
time 1t is treated with chemicals to partially
purify it The liquid is then carried extensive
gravel beds where it is sprayed like from
a lawn sprayer and permitted filter through thu
prepared beds.
Another method Of sewage disposal is through sew
age farming. with Of land for each hundred
population the sewage deposited daily varying from
1000 to 10000 gallons per Land OF absorb
ing qualiteG must be secured and the sewage farm
must be laid off into sections Care must be taken
not to piece # ground, that binders oxi
dalton and causes the soil get sewage sick
must be well underdraineA that the purified
water from which the impurities that have sls
tered out escape. The sewage is turned 'nt( IL
burrows regular intervals, and the
Upon the ridges between these burrows 1t constitutes
sort of "fertiilzed water irrigation, and Berlin
as much five tons of hay to the has been
gathered Berlin paid s1S,O00,O00 for its sewage
plant but Notwithstanding the big interest charge.
receives profit $4,000 year operation.
II is Nv prison labor.