CHAPTER XIV 



NEW YORK 



NEW YORK affords a good example of a city of the 

 largest class wherein the highest standards of sanitation 

 an- demanded, and where these standards are capable 

 of bring attained without undue cost. The population 

 is great : it is, in places highly concentrated, and in 

 race, habit, and social condition exceedingly diverse. 

 Practically all the conditions necessary to maintain life 

 in a wholesome way must be secured through a careful 

 observance of sanitary rules and principles. This re- 

 lates not only to the food, clothing, and habitations 

 of the people, but, in a peculiar degree, to the care of 

 their wastes. Upon the prompt and adequate disposal 

 of these wastes largely depends the security of the city 

 against disease. 



Fortunately the area covered by the city is divided 

 and subdivided by water courses for the most part, 

 broad and deep arms of the sea. The city has over 

 400 miles of water front. If a circle of twenty miles 

 radius be drawn on a map so as just to include the 

 extreme northern and southern limits of the city, it 

 will be found to contain nearly half as much water as 

 land. Throughout the history of New York the tidal 

 waters have played an important part in the disposal 

 of the city's wastes. The sewage of the entire popula- 

 tion has always been and is now discharged into the 

 rivers and other tidal waters in New York City and 

 vicinity without purification. Until very recent years 



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