The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-02-25

waters. So foul was this pollution
that the public revolted and the gas
makers were compelled to take meas
ures to dispose otherwise of their
refuse than by running it into the
streams. At San Francisco the gas
companies have put in a plant which
takes care of its refuse, and to the
astonishment of the makers, they
have discovered a source of revenue
in lamp black and other products,
that add to their revenues in a way
that makes the makers wonder they
had never gathered that money be-
fore.
Such being the experience and
work of the men who handle coal 1t
should be a lesson that one who runs
may easily read, and it seems that
the pulp and paper maker ought to
ponder over this lesson as he looks
upon the tree which is to go into his
crucible. Why should he not evolve
some means to use every particle of
that tree, for every particle of it has
value.
Even the fibre that escapes and
pollutes the stream could be utilized
into making wood alcohol. Some
| body has defined dirt as being mat
ter out of place, and pollution is
merely only another name for mat
ter that ought to be turned into
something of value by being put in
its right place. Such being the case,
there is no reason that the paper and
pulp maker today should not so far
consult his own interests and a bene-
fit to the Commissioner of Fisheries
| by following the teachings of ma
ture, and the lessons taught by the
coke and gas man, and instead of
| polluting the streams with the waste
from his mill, turn that waste into
pecuniary profit.
! No State in the Union has lovlier
streams and lakes than the Keystone
State of Pennsylvania. The streams
meander through the valleys and
should be kept so pure that they
would not only be a Paradise for
! fish, but source of water supply
! for the inhabitants who people the
| banks and the stock that Craze upon
! the fields. The lakes of Pennsylva-
MIA lie like jewels nesting among
the hills and their pollution would
be crime. Speaking of the water
supply, this is one of the greatest
questions that the people of modern
|
alone is spending hundreds of mil
lions of dollars to secure an adequate
supply of pure water for the use of
its inhabitants and to clear up the
pollution of the harbor.
The child learns to read by be-
ginning with the letter A of the al
phabet, and the clarification of the
water supply should have it's first
step in stopping all pollution at its
source. You, gentlemen, have been
among the most fragrant violators in
the past, and yet it is to be hoped
that from your we'll known public
spirit, backed by the economics to
which l have alluded to above, you
will be among the first to take the
most stringent steps to bring about
the stoppage of pollution and CO.
operate in every way with the fishery
authorities in securing purer water in
which the fish can thrive and multi
ply. You need, as l said above, as
pure water to secure perfection OF
your mandatory product as the
Commissioner of Fisheries needs for
the growth of his special wards, and
this being the case, it is hoped that
from this time forward the co-opera-
ton between us both will be, as |
said in the beginning:
1.-TWO minds with but a single
thought,
Two hearts that beat as one."
Good examples are contagious,
and if the pulp and paper makers
follow the example of the makers of
coke and gas, it will make such a
profound impression upon other man
ufacturers that the day of pollution
will be banished to the caves of the
past and the era of pure wafer and
| good feeling be fully established.