The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-11-19
Frederic Haskin's Letter
Salt Lake City Smoke.

Is injured by small.
tally smoke fogs. In the v..s
siderable litigation has taken h, IN
between farmers and smelter.. $50
result Of damage done to cro,.
livestock by sulphur dio1ids. saa
Danger Of Smoke.
With the beginning Of th..
ing season in Salt Lake Civ -
Monnett went on to explain -. ~
amount Of coal smoke begin. !. ~
crease until in December or 81. "
airy the city is often hidden IN . ,as
Of fog and smoke SO dense NJ. ~
is impossible to distinguish cA,.. =
at 100 yards distance. Som. ~ ~.
smoke is undoubtedly of a hs,.sS,
But it was not until the fue, ).
gineer came to an investigatic. J,
individual heating plants, th,t -. "
light was shed on the prOb,ss
Here it was at once apparent M.
great deal of the smoke was a. !.
carelessness. In a surprising nur
Der OF instances the heating pl,r,,
were dilapidated and faulty, the An
men ignorant and inefficient
Large power and heating p,.,,,
have in the past been ipsta,lsd h
Salt Lake City" Mr.. Monnett :,
planned, without necessary suns,
vision on the part of the city Son.
of these plants are in a rundor,
not to say dangerous condition ana
should be rebuilt or abandoped -
once.
"The supervision of oper,tinr
plants on the part of the city il Az
solutely essential to the elimination
OF smoke. Smoke-prevention an.
paratUs alone is not sufficient Mann
Of the plants Investigated were Al.
ready equipped with such appan.
tus but through faulty operation
were causing great deal Of
smoke" The following cases a,
! illustrative:
One plant investigated xu
equipped with one ideal sectional
heater. The boiler, however wa
found apparently full Of SCOT and
the check damper was out of adjust.
ment, SO that it could not DO prop.
erly operated. These defects vera
adjusted and the fireman was Eiyea
some much-needed advice q TO
how to start and care for his fire,
after which the smoke from this
particular plant ceased. There was
no\need for it to return, according
to the fuel expert, if the instruc.
tons were properly followed.
Another plant, causing q grea,
deal of smoke, was found to con.
tain much broken equipment, AMI
was attended only indifferently BY
fireman who also worked in . "a
rage some distance away.
Inefficient Firemen.
"In another plant" said Mr.. Mon
nett, I'VE found that the fireman
who also attended several othe
plants, piled the coal up to the Fir
door, SO that it was impossible
get air through the fire-bed. tn
fire lay there and smouldered 70
hours. The plant was ineficier
and it was almost impossible I
keep the Office warm. If this III
had been fired properly it voul
have given ample heat and .
smoke at the same time"
In his recommendations for cul
! ing the smoke nuisance in Sa
Lake City, Mr.. Monnett advocate
the creation of a municipal smoi
commission, consisting Of engineer
authorized to inspect the heatln
plants of the city. Plans for ne
heating plants. even in residence
should be passed upon by this con
, mission, he believes, and old plan
!. should be brought up to an ct
cheney basis by proper installation
F and supervisors. A law reQLirll
the operators of boilers to be
censed would also be a deSirao
, thing, he suggested, not only to
. duce the amount of smoke, but
: promote the safety of the pun
from boiler explosion. He a
urged the use of gas and electriel
for cooking in place of coal.
These recommendations ha
: been listened to with great attt
: ton and respect by Salt Lake u
No action has been taken concern
a them as yet, but the city autno
1 ties hope that the Legislature '
h put the recommendations fnto U
S before very long. 1t will COST
least $4,000 dollars to have
/ brand-new smoke commission,
d the expense to individual nov
g holders for the repair OF ID
e heating plants will also be cons
y cradle. :.
In the meantime the proposiu
Q is being held up by some exp
b ments which tend to show tnat
: use of oil shale with coal preis
e smoke. For oil shale in Utsn
e cheaper than artificial hess
y equipment.
= Other cities. including Plttsoul
and others of the middle wesI
q much interested in the resuiss
= Mr.. Monnett's Investigation y
d ever, and it Is believed oy ~
g fuel experts that it has snU
l. greater light on the smoke plos,
than any other smoke msc'V
: ti0n'