Evening star., 1915-12-05
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT Is DOING

problems are, and what steps that
government scientists and technical ex-
perts have taken to bring about their
proper solution, have just been dis
closed in the report through the fed
eral bureau of mines of the completed
work of the Selby smelter commission.
which made in California the most
comprehensive study of the effects of
smelter emanations on vegetable. ami
NAL and human life and health that
has been made in America
Largely as a result of the work of
the commission. which was headed by
the late chief of the bureau of mines,
DR.. Joseph A. Holmes, and which made
use of the services of numerous experts
of the bureau, conditions in the
smoke zone near the offending smell
ter have been practically reyolutionized
and much valuable data of wide appli-
ter, which at one time discharged
each day through its chimneys tons of
f1ue dust, mostly lead and arsenic. now
does not emit any of these substances
though 1t handles larger quantities of
ore. At the same time residents Of
the Smoke zone" who at the begin
ming of work feared to have their live
stock eat what they deemed "poisoned
grass and who were sure their crops
of all sorts were being injured by
smoke and gas. have realized that most
of their trouble even in the past came
from other causes than the smelter.
In bringing about these results the
commission attacked the problem from
almost 1nnumerable angles. One group
OF experts worked at the smelter. as
certalned the quantities of f1ue dust and
sulphuric acid fumes being discharged
and worked out methods for entrapping
them. Now by means of filtering bags
ana an ingenious electrical precipita- :
ton process invented previously by
DR.. Cothrell of the bureau. an Sefi-
clency OF almost 100 per cent in catch
ing the dust and fumes is maintained
other experts took up the problem of
the erect OF sulphur dioxide which
still escaped, on plant and animal life
small plots Of various plants were
grown and artificially fumigated with
the gas to determine the extent of
INJURY at varying strengths, and in
1ured leaves were compared with those
found in fields. Other groups of assist
ants subjected humans in cabinets to
varying strengths of gas and noted
results: others captured air samples
throughout the smoke zone" and by
means of an automobile laboratory
studied their composition, while still
others secured samples of plants and
SOIL from various locations, some of
them hundreds of miles from the smelt-
er, and carefully analyzed them for
lead and arsenic
This by no means exhausted the ac-
tiVities of the commission Agents were
set to work also to study the effects
Of the sulphur gas on wire fences and
window screens, survey of this area
was made for plant diseases and an
other for insect pests Veterinarians
were called in to report on live stock
as affected by smelter discharges and
to perform autopsies on dead animals
Finally. and wholly Independently Of
other workers. legal expert of the
bureau of mines was sent to interview
as many as possible of the heads of
families living in the Smoke zone" to
find exactly what they claimed the
facts about smelter damage to be and
what their beliefs were
When the great mass of data was
considered by the commission it found
an interesting existence of cross-pur-
poses The only smelter damage it
could find was to number of horses
that had eaten lead-incrusted grass in
the past, before the volume of fue
dust had been cut down or eliminated.
The sulphur gas, it was determined
worked no injury to animal life or to
vegetation; the unusual rusting of iron
was due to the saltwater fogs, while
a black substance found on plants.
which residents were firmly convinced
growth that occurs all over the world
often. thousands of miles from smell
ters. The unhealthful conditions of
plants. which the farmers, honestly
enough blamed on the smelter emana-
tons, were found in every case to be
due to plant diseases and insects The
conn mission reaches the conclusion that
if the visible portions of the smelter
smoke are caught the farmers need
fear no injury to their crops their
live stock or themselves