Rocky Ford enterprise., 1914-07-17
Copyright. 1914. by A. S. Gray)
WATER,

thought whatever, and just because it
is free a very large number of per-
sons do not drink it in sufficient guam
| titles to maintain good degree of
physical health. No other article of
diet enters SO completely. into the con-
struction and support Of alf living
things both animal and vegetable us
water, and 1t is this very omnipres-
ence of water acting on that peculiar
twist of the human mind that leads
us to treat familiar things with reck-
less contempt that results in our Grim
inal indifference to water supplies.
AS a matter of fact, water is an ele-
ment of vast Significance in the main
tenance of human life and efficiency,
| and to secure and maintain health the
| individual citizen must know the truth
concerning this most important part
of our diet.
The scaly cells on the surface of our
skin, our hair and the tips of our
nails are the only parts of our bodies
that can live in air. About 80 per
cent of the cells that constitute our
bodies are still aquatic organisms and
can and do live and grow only when
swimming IN SAT- water.
Under favorable conditions we can
| live for 30 days or more without food.
bus not more than few minutes with
out air and only about three days with
out water. Were we to spend a mate
rial part of the money we squander
in food for good air and good water
no doubt we should be vastly more
| efficient, certainly we would be hap
pier. for there can be no real happi-
ness without good health.
Deprived of water for three days we
become delirious and die from poison.
ing by our own waste products. A
steady stream of water flowing
through our bodies is necessary to
wash out and carry away the toxins
resulting from cell activity or we
must inevitably succumb to disease;
and to keep this cleansing stream flow
ing in sufficient volume we should
drink about two quarts of fluid daily.
Absolutely pure water is not found
on earth. Even freshly fallen rain wa
ter contains some foreign matter. the
amount and character OF which de-
pends on the degre. of contamination
of the air through which 1t falls. From
the moment the vapor Is condensed
| into water in the clouds every drop
that falls begins to soak up something
out of everything 1t touches on its
| journey to the sea. SO that when we
use any of 1t from any source in our
diet we are really drinking the waste
water from natures laundry after she
has washed all out outdoors with it.
| -ta
ards, water is pure" and fit to drink
II II is more or less clear, does not
smell bad and does not quickly orig
mate some clearly defined disease in
the body OF the drinker. That it con-
tains pathogenic organisms or pto-
maines from the action of bacteria
upon decaying organic matter is dem
onstrated only by some unusually Sc
we're outbreak Of disease in commu-
nifty. and generally not until then is
1t even suspected that the water may
be impure" II you are in i'll health
have your. drinking water analysed
and the source of supply investi-
gated.
Delivery OF drinking water contain
ing elements deleterious to life is 60
ih6 oh III eNtiy StStioh VI thio Souh-
try, but because of our grossly made
quate vital statistics bookkeeping we
are unable to deduce the vastly valu-
able knowledge to be derived there
| from. However, the. concentration of
people in the cities has compelled at
tention to public health matters SO
that money and organizations are en-
ployed and rules and regulations en-
forced that have for their object the
protection of the inhabitants against
infection through water. milk and
waste products.
Taking typhoid fever as a gauge. let
us compare conditions in several. parts
of the world. Germany, with a popu-
Iation density of 3l09 per square mile
tmore than ten times greater density
than our OWN. had in the same pc
riod of time typhoid death rate of
Al, compared with our 23.5 per 100.-
900 Inhabitants; the Netherlands, with
45S.s density. a death rate of 5.4; Swift
zerland. with a density of 242.7. NOR
tality of 3.S, and England and Wales,
with a density of 372.6, death rate of
only six per 100000 inhabitants. COM
pared with the United States with a
density of only 800 and a mortality
OF 23.5.
The city OF Chicago in 1891 had a
typhoid rate Of 173.S per 100000 in
habitants. An investment of s62,000,-
900 Approximately s27 per capita for
the population of the year 1922 in
drainage canal and the adoption OF
other reasonable sanitary precautions
reduced the typhoid fever death rate
in 1912 to only 10 per 100000 inhabit-
ants. probably the lowest rate ever