Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-02

conclusions gathered from the WORK Oh
the bureau in the last few years.
As to the reports of the cities. now
Joined in one universal crusade. il may
be said that Il whole the results at
tanned by them are more than encourage
ing. No locality can claim credit for spe-
cial energy i'm abating the plague. Rich
mond. Va wing with San Francisco
and Chicago with Atlanta in fighting the
sCoty fiend. An adjunct report OF the
Chicago smoke inspection department
shows the pitch 10 which public opinion
is raised there.
1t is filled with cartoons. culled from
the leading papers there. all vigorously
attacking the smoke plague. When u
against public nuisance. in formal
report. then folks may know that town
is in dead earnest.
Even Pittsburgh, lately so hopeless. has
taken heart. and is starting in with u
new law that will give her officers more
power over smoke makers; but the most
interesting thing to the public in these
facts set out in the bulletin of the bu-
reau is the concise analysis of the rue
remedies for the smoke plague These
are four. which. if rightly followed, will
in due time lead to the extinction of the
smoke plague inevitably the discoV-
cry of that stegyo-What was the name of
that mosquto?-lei to the practical eN-
tinction of yellow fever in the United
States. Here they are:
L. Education of all firemen so that they
will fire intellisenty.
=. The installment. wherever practical
BILE. of automatic stokers or appliances
such as blowers and steam jets for thor
oushly mixing a proper proportion of air
i'm the furnace.
:; Laws and ordinances. reasonable, but
sufficiently rigid To make offenders
ap9inG. he Law feel that they
cannot offend with impunity.
l. The creation OF an intense and VIDE
spread public sentiment. based on intelli-
gent knowledge OF the baLefuf effects of
compel men To respect public opinion in
that regard
This last. think the officials of the bu-
reau o. mines. Will ultimately he the mos,
powerful factor in making owners Of
plants do their utmost to prevent smoke
If the owner of plant whose out
pouring Of smoke injured the health of
the community We're looked upon by tiiat
community as Il murderer. said al
these officials. he would do everything
in his power 10 remedy the evil.
1t is seen from these four remedies
that the ground is pretty We'll covered.
AS To the first the education of iiremen.
that is something that could speedily be
put into practice. Ten years ago Prus-
STA, recognizing the smoke plague. sent
experts up and down her dominion. COM
pulsorily teaching iiremen, at govern
ment expense. how to fire their furnaces
intelligently-and woe betide the yokel
who didn't wouldn't learn.
The railroads are Eow educating their
liremen. and there is no reason that this
class Of skilled labor in stationary fur
naces should not perform their work as
inteiligently the engineer who runs
complicated engine: the days Of ind:s-
criminate shoveling-in of coal, with less
than an ounce of brains to the ton H..
mn AIRED This Will l,t:lta nearly half
the smoke plague.
Tie automatic stoker. OF which there.
are many the market. is a perfect
preventer of smoke These appliances
feed the fuel into the furnace with a
slow regularity that to a human being is
impossible. The only drawback is that
they are too expensive to be commercial
ly practicable for small plants. The
recommendation OF laws preventing the
installation of furnaces that are liable 20
smoke. together with strict regulations
against black smoke, well enforced. Will
thinks the bureau. be u valuable adjunct
to the crusade. But all these will amount
to nothing unless public opinion is
aroused to the necessity of universal
fight against the evil The man whc
loudly vociferates that 'he will tight II
to the Supreme Court OF the United
States will sing much smaller song
when he sees that by his championing
such an evil he has lost standing with
friends, both social and business. and
will cast about for tie best way to stop
that smoke of his
Public opinion. let us have then. says
orr Moses of an Uncle Sam, speaking
through his bureau Of mines. And proba-
bly, few small facts. no less coSent
than those greater facts set ont at the
beginning of this article. may show why
this powerful public opinion is rapidly
crystalliZing against the black plague.
The fact that smoke means waste of
fuel for the owner of the furnace may