Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1915-current, 1918-04-18
CONDITION
EXISTS IN ELKD
UnSpeakat!e Condition of
Filth in Southern Limits of
City is Responsible For
Part of Community Ills

Seeking for material to assuage the
public demand for news, ye scribe was
mooching about the streets this morn
ing looking for a scoop. A public
spirited gentleman stepped up and
said, Il want you to walk down here
little ways and see something with
your own eyes that you wouldn't be-
lieve existed if | told you." We
walked down through Chinatown to
stretch of river bottom land immedi.
ately in the rear of the Carville ware
house on Silver street and within one
block of the Western Pacific Rail
ways tracks. Ny companion was
right. If he had told me that such a
condition existed within the city lin
its | should have disbelievcd him.
truthful gentleman as l know him to
be. For a distance of 500 yards a
condition OF unspcakablc filth exist
ed. Thousands of tin cans, waste pa.
per. refuse from peoples kitchens,
dead dogs, dead cats. dead ducks.
dead chickens, were scattered pro
miscuously about all over the area.
In the center of this sinking mass
was stagnant sump of water six or
eight inches deep and scvcnty.fiye
feet in length. a vertablc malaria
swamp on a small scale. And all of
this Cancerous dumping ground was
within fifty feet of a residence. a
block from various business houses,
seyenty.fivc yards from other resi-
denccs, within two and one-half
blocks Of the main business street of
this city, and within three blocks of
one railway depot and four from an
other. Isn't this a condition for E'Ro
to be proud of? BY the Great Horn
Spoon. is it any wonder that we are
continually obsessed with scarlet few
er, measles, and other pernicious dis
eases that cripple our schools and
interfere with our industrial life. LET
alone the injury to our civic welfare
and our pride in the neatness of our
city?
Yesterday a heavy wind storm blew
clouds or dust northward over the
city. Imagine that same windstorm
picking up from this filthy garbage
ground germs from carcasses of ami.
mails, out of the refuse from peoples
Kitchens, hodgepodge, carrying from
that stagnant sump germs Of every
description and casting them irto the
very heart of the city. You think It
impossible, perhaps, but medical au
thoritics and people who know say
that dust is one of the potent germ
carriers. Here is fertile field for
wind and dust to work upon OFF
an area Of perhaps quarter of q
mile our gentle Elko zephyrs can reap
a harvest of disease. And they are
cast into your homes, into the air for
YOU to breaths, into the very food that
YOU eat. And we wonder why Elko Is
continually suffering from some sorI
of an epidemic.
This unspeakable mess must b,
cleaned up. For the sake OF the wei
fare of every family in the city j
should be oblitcratcd and dumpin,
! prohibited upon that section o
| ground There is city dumplni
| ground outside of the city limits
Make people use it. Take the thini
unto yourself. Would you maintain
on your premises an unprotected Pill
of miscellaneous garbage containin
not only your house refuse but tn
bodies Of dead animals in yarlou
stages of decay? Would you allo,
the stencil from such condition. Tn
dust from that heap, the germs froI
its waste matter to be blow
willy.nilly about your premises NJ
only the people who reside in the Y
Cinity of this place but the entire cit
} is endangered by that condition.
5 condition of nothing but absolut
8 filth.
0 This article is not intended as crit
0 cism Of any official or body Of off
cials at this particular time, How
could be well overlooked, hOweyc
0 must be conceded TO be a difficu
question. But those who have u
0 welfare Of the city upon their hant
0 tContioued on Page FOUR