The Penn's Grove record., 1920-07-16

ard OIL Company has agreed to supply
the gas company at the current price
of 12H cents, double the amount pre-
viously paid. j. C.. Lightfoot Jr.,
treasurer of the gas company, also tes-
titled to the inability of the company
to make a more advantageous ar
rangement for the purchase. The
company was compelled, he said, to
buy oil at the market price and pay
cash in advance.
The declaration of counsel for the
company that it would be compelled
to suspend operations unless granted
an increase in rates was snot taken
seriously by Mr.. Hurd. He took the
view that the company should be will
ing to share the high cost of living
with the consumer and economize
wherever possible. The company has
been pleading for additional revenue
for years and its applications have
always been attended by the threat
Of suspension unless the desired III
creases were granted.
After taking the testimony the, Utili-
ty Commission took the application
under advisement.
Pollution Killing Fishing.
Are the waters of Sandy Hook bay,
Raritan bay and the Shrewsbury river
to be ruined by pollution?
This question is repeatedly asked by
thousands who have seen the Passaic
/ ,;rn. onI Narra-J- How +,1r,nI f,.OD1
beautiful bodies of water to mere cess
pools and who fear for the middle
Estate waters thatsafford fishing, craOe
bling, boating and bathing TO many
New Jersey people, as well as to
visitors from other states. Commuters
travelling daily on railroads, and boats
can see oil andy sludge on the waters
in sticky masses, and wen the clam,
buried as it is a foot in mud or sand,
is contaminated. The lobster, taken
from deep~water in Sandy Hook bay
and along the! shore line of Sandy
Hook, also has a taste of oil In it's
flesh.
If these sea foods are 10 be saved
something must be done Immediately
by the New Jersey Board of Health.
Summer resorts along the shore will
suffer considerable financial loss
within theA next few years If their
beaches are covered with OH and tar,
such as there is no difficulty in find.
ing there now. Only last week bathers
in Raritan , bay had to wash with
kerosene Oil In order to remove the
tar from their bodies after a few
minutes in the water. This pollution
may be Seen stretching a mile Ia
length ard hundreds Of feet In width
from Perth Amboy to Atlantic High
lands, and even the. beautiful Shrews-
bury river has been bletted with, 1t.
The outgoing tide from Staten Island
sound carries millions of gallons OF
acids, Oil and tar as far as Old Or
chard shoal light. - -
The tar eventually sinks to the bot
tom, which accounts for the absence
OF fish in those waters. Two weeks
ago the waters from Sewaren to Sandy
Hook, with their many tributaries,
were covered with small menhafen
gasping for air on the surface to re-
lease themselves of the poisoned wat
ers that had caused their stomachs
to contract, and cells by the thousands
were seer floating on their backs, as
If, dead. Diggers OF soft claims, a
wonderIil sea food, and empty shells
in their rakss instead of the s%tccuient
flesh that for years has been the, basis
Of shore dinners and clam bakes. Even
the humble kilfie is fast disappearing
from these waters and n has to pay
ethdrty cents a dozen for them to use
for fish bait.
Estimated Loss Is Hugo.
If,a compilation of figures were Of
fered showing the estimated loss In
food fish value as we'll as the loss to
bathing resorts that follows the >polfu-
t16n of the waters mentioned, they
would be astounding. Still a prece-
sdent has beer set in the same ehara-
ftec of losses along the Passaic and
Hackensack rivers and Newark bay
tand the Arthur XIII river all the way
to Perth Amboy. Like "a grim mon
ster, this pollution covered those wat
egs as years rolled on without an
official hand being raised to prevent
it, and now we are called upon. to pay
upwards of $4,000, 900 for a to
carry it off.
Every industrial plant along the
shore uses the rivers and bays as a
sewer. Steamers and barges pump
out their bilges on passing Sandy
Hook, emptying the of waste on tbs
waters. 1t is claimed by those who
know that waste from a gas plant
on the Shrewsbury river is pouring
tries that have been forced from New
York because of their persistent pollu-
ton of the waters there find a haven
in New Jersey. No better proof that