3. That the success which has attended the construction of filtration areas where the land is clayey, and the successful results which have been obtained from a combined straining of sewage and of subsequent filtration through small areas of artificial filters, point to the adoption of one or other of these systems in many cases where chemical treatment would previously have been advised.
4. That the injurious effects of passing untreated sewage into a river depend upon not merely the relative volumes of the sewage and the river, but chiefly upon the power of the river to oxidize the sewage, which power is in proportion to the extent of oxidation of the river itself.
NEW YORK CITY STREET CARS.
An article in the local news columns of the Tribune says:
The loud outcry made a few years ago against the old fashioned plush covered spring cushions, then used in street car for seats and backs, caused them to be removed and set car builders at work to make a car that would be light, healthy, and comfortable. The general plan of perforated wooden seats with plain backs has been adopted by all the companies. They are covered with a fine quality of heavy Axminster carpet during the winter, and in the summer nearly all the cars have only wooden seats and backs. Open cars are used on a number of routes during the summer, and this is conducive to the health of passengers. The only particular difference in the furniture of the cars is the mats used on the floor. Seven of the lines use sectional wooden mats of plain or ornamental design, while three retain cocoa mats. Wooden mats are the easiest to clean. Cocoa mats retain moisture on damp or rainy days, and emit a musty odor. There are four sets for each car, and they are changed every trip on rainy days.
The First and Second Avenue routes, under one management run 150 cars; the Third Avenue, 180; the Fourth, 75; the Sixth, 88; the Broadway and Seventh, 135; the Eighth and Ninth, 160; and the Tenth, 120. At the stables of each the same general arrangement for cleaning cars is used, while the details only are different, being regulated by the judgment and experience of superintendents. From six to fifteen men are employed for cleaning cars by the different companies.
After every round trip that a car makes, it is taken to the stable, the mats are taken off the floor, and two men with brooms and specially constructed brushes give it a thorough sweeping and brushing. After a car makes its last trip at night, it is run upon what is termed the washstand, which is a large turn table surrounded by hydrants. Everything movable is taken out of it, and water is played from a hose on the inside and outside, while four men with scrubbing brushes and stiff brooms remove whatever dirt has accumulated during the day. After this operation the car is run upon a side track, and two men dry the inside and polish the windows.
While passengers find fault with the untidiness of street cars, superintendents have a word also of complaint against passengers. If men would not convert a car into a spittoon for the reception of cigar stumps, tobacco spit, and quids, and a garbage box for nut-shells, fruit rinds, cores, and pits, the remnants of lunches and old papers, it would be much easier to keep up a cleanly appearance. Section 167 of the Sanitary Code, which provides that no soiled article of clothing or bedding shall be carried on street cars, except on the front platform, is strictly enforced by all the companies, and it is worth a conductor's position if he is proved derelict in this respect.
Nearly all the car companies build their own cars, and all have repair shops at their stables, and as soon as a car is damaged by a collision it is sent at once to the shop and repaired. Men are detailed to keep a strict watch over all the working parts of cars.