Travers. — Fighting Pollution in Ohio 281 



tion of our streams by pollution, that we, as intelligent human 

 beings, are just as much responsible as are the manufacturers. 

 I find that the general public has a very wrong impression re- 

 garding the attitude the manufacturer holds towards stream 

 pollution. I find that he evinces more interest in this matter 

 than the average citizen does, and is very willing to make all 

 waste liquor harmless, if shown how it can be done. 



The effect of pollution in Ohio streams was first noticed 

 about eight years ago. Our attention was first called to it in 

 the twenty-two large coal producing counties of the state. 

 Copperas water from the mines was killing fish by the whole- 

 sale. At that time and continuing for seven years, we followed 

 the time-worn and out-of-date system of collecting samples of 

 polluted water from infected districts, and submitting them 

 to the proper state boards for relief. This system resulted in 

 our department accumulating a vast amount of long, learned 

 reports on the subject. Those reports gave us, in a very techni- 

 cal manner, just what the water contained in the way of sul- 

 phates, acids, and organic solids; also the amount of oxygen 

 this foreign matter would consume. But this was not what we 

 washed to know. We wanted to know how this poison could 

 be removed from the water, so that fish could live, without 

 hampering the industries in any way. This is what we had a 

 perfect right to expect from state boards that had made a 

 special study of this question. However, they were all silent 

 on recommending a remedy. In the meantime there was a 

 tremendous increase in stream pollution all over the state. 



A little over a year ago Mr. A. C. Baxter, Chief of the 

 Fish and Game Department, realizing that we had not made one 

 step forward in this matter in seven years, detailed me to un- 

 dertake a special study of the question. At that time I found 

 hundreds of miles of streams so terribly polluted that no living 

 thing could exist in them. Steel mills and coal mines were 

 dumping into the streams millions of gallons of an acid pollu- 

 tion, destroying everything with which it came in contact, not 

 only depleting the streams of all fish life, but making the 



