Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-11-20
THE HASKIN LETTER
LAKE CITY SMOKE.

DO you dislike smoke? DO you re-
sent the intimate way in which 1t in
trudes into your eyes. ears, throat
and nose? IL so, you can help the
rest of suffering mankind, which
shares this antipathy. by adopting a
few simple precautions. You can see
that your household heating plant
is in good working condition, and
that the person who operates il has
some reason for thinking he can do
so.
Many and mysterious have been
The investigations made of smoke.
Numerous devices have been recon-
mended for combating 1t. But 1t re-
manned for Salt Lake City to prove
that the cause of most smoke is
mere carelessness, due to inefficient
heating plants and ignorant opera
tors. II came to pass like this:
Salt Lake City has always had a
peculiarly irritating smoke problem
For six or seven months in the year
the Utah capital is an ideal place
residence. 1t is over four thous-
and feet high: its climate is dry and
balmy, and 1t has some of the most
attractive home sites to be found
in this country. But in the late fall
and winter when the air becomes
chilly and artificial heat necessary
the city sheds a good deal of its
charm. For then it is enveloped IN
a dense smoke. which blots on.
whole portions of the landscape,
the disposition of industrious
and almost obscures the
bright Utah sun.
Yet Salt Lake is not a great in
.ustrial city like Pittsburgh and
y see 49,
smoke. 1t manufactures various
of course, and it is the
smelling center of the west,
but neither the manufacturing nor
the smelling accounts for the smoke.
The cause lies in the beautiful, pro-
hills. These cut the city off
draft. so hat when the smoke
from its chimneys there is no
to blow 1t away.
Naturally, this state of affairs has
been a great worry to such an en-
terprising town as this, SO last fall
It called upon the government for
scientific assistance. The cover
ment sent Mr.. Osborn Monnette, fuel
engineer of the United States Blu
of Mines, to make an investi-
cation by a cooperative arrange
among that body, the Univer-
sity of Utah and the municipality.
Mr.. Monnett spent several months
In Salt Lake City, making all sorts
If tests and experiments,
times on the ground sometimes in
an aeroplane and often on the
threshold of local heating plants.
A MINDLESS City.
The results of this Investigation,
While peculiar to the special prob
EN- of Salt Lake City-namely, it's
lack of wind-should also be of
great interest to all other cities irrl-
by smoke problems. For the
c~onclusively as has been said,
hat smoke is largely due to care
essness and faulty equipment in the
operation of individual heating
Mr.. Monnett's first act was to test
local fuel supply, which many
in the city Indignantly as
was astonishingly inefficient.
dc was therefore surprised to find
t OF higher quality than that used
BY most western cities, and GER
.ainly not to blame for the smoke.
The next step was to analyze the
smoke itself and discover its va
ingredients.
The most harmful ingredients of
Imoke pollution" declared Mr.. Mon
lett, is SCOT which results from the
turning or coal in large industrial
rants, domestic stoves and furnaces.
{ is a mixture of carbon, tarry pro-
lucts- of coal distillation, sulphur
acids and ash. Taken in with the
lr We breathe, it lodges in the
hroat and nasal passages, and the
particles get into the lungs.
Ihe presence of tar and sulphur ac-
makes it an active irritant and
oredisposes the breather to throat
n pneumonia. 1t is this
DOT which also soils the clothing
Injuries vegetation"
Curiously enough Mr.. Monnett
found that the most harmful kind of
snake was caused not by the large
Industrial or high-pressure plants.
out by the smaller household stoves
md furnaces.
Smoke from high pressure
plants" he says, tends to be high in
and contains little larry matter.
smoke from low pressure plants and
domestic stoves is the harmful kind.
'eing higher in tarry acids and oily
PRODUCTS of combustion.
The study of the effect of smoke
health is still in the experimental
tage," he adds, but it is agreed
hat the long continued breathing
u smoke polluted air lowers ply
ical vitality.
1T has also been proved that veg
'tation Is injured by smoke-espe-
2iaiiy smoke fogs. In the west con-
iderable litigation has taken place
farmers and smelters as a
'esult of damage done to crops and
lVcstock by sulphur dioxide."
Danger of Smoke.
with the beginning of the heat
season In Salt Lake City. Mr..
went on to explain 1.-THE
mount OF coal smoke begins to in
crease until in December or January
he city is often hidden in a nall NJ
og and smoke SO dense that il is inn
possible to distinguish objects AZ Inn
ards distance. Some of this smoke
S undoubtedly of a harmful ma
ure." ia"
But it was not until the fuel en-
stneer came to an investigation of
Individual heating plants, that real
was shed on the problem
1t was at once apparent that
great deal of the smoke was due
to carelessness. In a surprising
number of instances the heating
plants were dilapidated and fauItv
he iremen ignorant and ineficient'
Large power and heating plants
in the past been installed In
salt Lake City," Mr.. Monnett ex-
without necessary super.
vision on the part of the city. some
'f these plants are in a rundown.
lot to say dangerous condition. and
mould be rebuilt or abandoned at
,nce.
The supervision of operating
plants on the part of the city is alb
solutely essential to the elimination
OF smoke. Smoke-prevention appa-