Show MR PIKE SPEAKS upon sewerage and kindre topics SALT CITY oct 15 editor deseret news since my last letter to you yon of the oth dinst the committee of ate city council on sewerage has baa made its report and it has been published so that all who wished to could learn what it had bad to say upon so important a matter A writer in the herald of thursday the alth I 1 presume after reading my letter of the fth aud and facts presented there that ire fre could not answer under the heading of one of those seen yesterday attempted to ridicule it thereby showing the absolute weakness ot of his side of the question for the newspaper men never resort to ridicule unless they find the arguments of their opponents unanswerable ridicule never was is not now and what is more never will be argument it is never a good policy to attempt to ball bulldoze doze toe tae people into accepting or rejecting any scheme in which ft the public are interested without first arat haying baying submitted it tor for public approval and tor for intelligent discussion if that writer wants to boom the proposed system of sewerage rather chaa the best system let him do so but never attempt to ridicule those who differ from him tile the writer of bf the article referred to a advised myself and all others to read the report of the committee commit iee on sewerage and acknowledge that we did not know what we have bave been talking about and forever after hold our peace now the first plat part of this advice I 1 acted on and read and reread re read the report but the he balance of it I 1 cannot adopt the tale truth is I 1 have not the digestive organs of an ostrich and therefore think it best not to swallow the report without dissecting it the first paragraph of 0 this report snows that in england the country of much rain and thi therefore belore plenty of water the questions of this kind were referred to the local government board in 1871 and that in 1876 they made an official report which yur our committee suggest must be regarded as the statement of english experience in the disposal orae orne waKe wage now it it took thi this commission to make a report with all the facilities at their command how bow can we with so few facilities make a report in so short a time the result of this government commission investigation so far as given to us is that scavenging se and cleansing towns are necessary for comfort and health we know kaow this much without the expense of a commission the other two points given to us are that it is not good to have cesspools ces spools to store the filth qt f the cities in and that sewerage of towns and draining of houses bouses mua be considered a prime necessity we will all ali admit that sewerage and drainage are necessities in places where the earth is wet and plenty of water to wash away the filth but will tile the same rule apply to us fiere where the ground is so dry and no water for a great po portion r tion of the people to use for domestic di p purposes ur poses certainly not the tae next information is on the sewer pipes and their location but the terminus of the main sewer is not very definite notwithstanding an estimate of the cost thereof is given now if the destination is uncertain bow can the estimate be certain there is one thing however that looks strange to me that the main sewer on fourth south to third west is 15 inches after that it is 24 inches perhaps this increase is intended to receive the sewage of the southwest and northwest parts of the city in the distant future though someer it pay may have to climb clim up hill to get there for disposal of the sewage they recommend irrigation on the alkadi alkali flats fiats over jordan and then give the ex per merleace peri leace ence of cities of ob in this country and the balance in england france and germany I 1 know of no reason why we should go so eo far fai away f from row hume home lor for information from cities situated under tar far different circumstances to what exist here why not get toe the experience of cities in this country W which are situated about the same as we are we find and the sewerage of european cities given in this report is used for irrigation at a distance of from yards to three miles from the different cities ituk no information is given as to whether the sewage is emptied into rivers or lato juto large cess pools and from there the liquid part pumped up upon the land and then used but the intention is iao BO doubt to convey to the mind of the reader that tt it is emptied frow from the open sewer on to the open land in ditches the sa ne as it is intended to be done here if this is the ease I 1 question any one of the five intelligent sufficient ea believes this report to have the sewage of this city emptied from the pipes upon the open open laud land not a block away from their the residences which they report is the c case so ale at doncaster england a city w with a tion of 23 and tha ath ere is no smell in summer but th a tj ere is ie in winter this seems seem s to me to be naturally impossible the city of berlin in germany with a population of carries the sewage only a quarter of a mile oust just two of our blocks and width of streets and use it for irrigation but the report is a silent as to in smells amis etc I 1 question question whether the city of 01 berlin uses the method of disposing of the sewage at so short a distance in the same manner as the committee recommend to be used over jordan it does doea not look reasonable the committee is in possession of a vast amount of other information in rt gard to the disposal of sewage by irrigation but the nature of their report will not permit of its insertion i here perhaps hot I 1 should think if it was smilar to part of that given we should need some cotton in our noses to even read about it in treating on the supply of water that will be needed tor for sewage they do not look the matter square in the tee face tor for they state that in ordinary seasons there is no lack at all for alt all the district lying below the canal but to that supply is to be added cafron creek an amount equal it if not exceeding the present R flaw w of city creek thus doubling the quantity now in use it may not be known to this committee but it is a fact nevertheless tb that at all of the water north and west ot of main street below the bench for nearly two months past that has been used tor for irrigating purposes has come from a pipe from the water works that drives the chopping machinery of the old grist hat mill and blacksmith shop at tb the le head ead ot of north temple tempi street and if there is any water from the canal that crosses main street west I 1 do not know it in addition to this for about the same length of time there has been but little water and sometimes none flowing down the ditches for two or three blocks east of main street to say nothing of the suffer for water ON in the alth 19 and wards wads we are also told that arrangements have been made by which the city will acquire another sixth of the jordan river and they think that nothing more need be said concerning water for flushing of course couri ae all this with the writer in the herald Is i conclusive but not so with me we are told in another part of the council proceedings of whom the city will pur purchase chaRe this one sixth interest viz ithe the hydraulic canal co w 1 I and the consideration was nearly and immediate action was necessary to secure it what seemed funny to me was that it was the first time I 1 had heard beard the name of the hydraulic canal co and its name being suggestive ge stive I 1 took it into my head to te find out a little about abolt it and ateo how bow it managed to to lift nearly ion thousand dollars out of the city treasury before it had bad lifted a gallon of water from the jordan river and I 1 have come to the conclusion that the company have no more legal right to trap transfer the one sixth of the jordan river than I 1 have and I 1 may ask the privilege of saying a something more about aphis his e another e in conclusion I 1 wish to refer to in another statement made by the herald writer that my communication caused no little amusement among some of the members of the city council to this I 1 will say that it any of the members of the city Counci lare amused at the truthful public recital of the sufferings of any portion of the community they welp wei elected to represent then they do not understand their du da ties there is yet another day for filing protests to this system of sewerage for those who own realty in the sewer dis brict and every one who does not favor it or isan is in doubt about its success should use the legal privilege given ol of pro protesting agaga against n a I 1 I 1 it be before fo re it may b be e too late the lw law 8 gives i v es tl the I 1 epro property perty owners ith this 1 right and no one b has a right to call all them I 1 in q question tor for usi using g it I 1 when we have water and out ot of the discussion of this question we have evolved the best system of sewerage that will be adapted to our condition and circumstances I 1 will be just as anxious for sewerage as any one but until that time I 1 shall alit dds what I 1 dan to oppose it for I 1 realize that the only parties who will be benefited by it will bo very lew few compared with the great bulk of the community who will be injured by being bated to pay for what they do not want and cannot get any berie benefit fit from by being beine deprived of the water that they have a good legal title to and which will be needed to flush the sewers if built yours respectfully JOHN N pike |