The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1913-03-21

gressive man Is not the one who
shouts loudest in the convention but
the one who has done his individual
duty by the town in keeping his own
premises and the adjacent streets
and alleys in good condition and thus
accomplished what the political agi-
tator condemns the city administra-
ton for not doing for him. Street
takers have been giving abstract de-
fnitions of progressive but thought
full people find the definition in the
mans record and his work already
done before he went into caucus.
When the people reach their own con-
illusions in these things and realize
that the welfare of the town depends
far more upon concerted efforts of
Individuals than upon the official acts
of the council, the burdens of the
council are lifted and they can con-
centrate their energies upon purely
municipal things such as water sys-
TEN, sewer system and its connect
ions, street grading and street light
ing, the building of street crossings
and street drainage and whatever is
out of the range of the individual
without question.
When the sewer system was being
laid in Blackfoot, it was attacked at
times by people who could not sus-
tain their criticisms and charges.
The people had ordered it, it was
! being delivered under careful scrut-
my and the people manifested their
usual loyalty to those who do things.
Statements recently made indicating
that the sewer is not in good condi-
ton and Is likely to give trouble has
led citizens to make observations at
man-holes all over town to see what
is actually doing under the ground.
The only weakness of the system ap-
pears to be in the lack of population
to use it to it's minimum capacity. 1t
takes a certain amount of Discharge
into it to maintain movement draw
ing steadily toward the river, and on
the lines where fewest people live
il where the most care has to be used
in flushing it, On the lines where
population is greatest and on the
mains the movement is best. AS the
discharge into the sewer increases
it will require less water for flushing
and an increased amount for dom
este use, the waste from which con-
stitutes the natural means of con-
slant flushing. The present water
system drawn upon by greatly in
creased population would by this
means meet both demands except for
the irrigation of lawns by sprinkling,
and in this respect the public has in
hot weather squandered the water
out of sprinkling hours and by de-
pleting the reserve when the pumps
were not operating, has kept itself
at the mercy of the firebrand. A
united public spirit in obeying the
sprinkling ordinance would remove
the fire risk which is regarded as the
greatest menace to the town. The
worst menace affecting the health Of
the town is the unsanitary condition
of homes and premises and the uncon-
nected closets whose owners have
escaped prosecution for failure to
connect. Those that are beyond the
reach of the sewer constitute the
greatest menace to the persons
who ought to give them such atten-
ton as common sense suggests, and
to their neighbors who are closest.
The remedy for these ills is for the
individual to do his plain duty and
for the officers to compel action
where it is neglected.
Facing all these questions as they
are, brings the conviction that peo-
pie can not apply sweeping remedy
by voting for any particular set OF
officials. When they have cast their
ballots for what appears to be the
best official timber, they will have
done one public duty, but by far the
greater duty on the part of the in
dividual lies in doing those things
that are by common interest and by
law delegated to him and referred to
in the foregoing article.
The character of the Individual is
Enthusiastically recorded in the con.
dition of his premises, and the char
acter of a town is the sum total OF
the characters Of its citizens.
: MUCH BOOZE CONFTSCATED