368 THE AIR OF TOWNS. 



not a municipal, smoke inspector, a scientific man of wide practical 

 experience, like our alkali inspectors — the offices in fact might be com- 

 bined. In the matter of smoke abatement, the local authority and 

 inspector are useless. I am not speaking specially of Leeds, for in 

 nearly every town where a strong desire has been shown to abate 

 smoke, the local authority, which had the power, has usually done 

 nothing. The ratepayers' representatives are either smoke maters or 

 have smokemaking friends, and the municipal smoke inspector is, as 

 a rule, not equal to the task. 



The relation of a municipal to a government smoke inspector might 

 be compared to that of a sympathetic friend and the family doctor. 

 You have a bad headache and feel ill and your good-hearted friend 

 calls in. Alter making inquiries, he suggests various remedies as 

 certain cures for your ailment. You say you have tried everything 

 under the sun, but you are no better. Then comes the family doc- 

 tor. "Hello!" says he; "I see what is wrong; we'll soon put you all 

 right." 



I will read you the deliberate utterance on this subject of Her Maj- 

 esty's ex-chief alkali inspector, Mr. A. E. Fletcher, which ought to 

 carry weight : 



"There are difficulties in making any change. Masters will not take 

 the trouble to alter their furnaces, nor will the men alter their method 

 of stoking the fires unless they are compelled. The numberless alter- 

 ations made in the construction and conduct of chemical works during 

 the last twenty years would never have been carried out but for the 

 pressure brought on the manufacturers by means of the alkali act. 

 So it will be with the smoke nuisance. Men are too idle or too much 

 occupied to move in such a matter until pressure from outside is applied. 

 The moral pressure must come from the public, and it should be made 

 some one's business to see that the law regarding it is put in force." 



This question is a workingman's question. He is or should be most 

 interested in it. His health, his home, and his surroundings are infected 

 by the smoke plague far more than those of his wealthier neighbors. 



I believe that if the employer were obliged to put in an efficient 

 smoke-preventing appliance, of which there are several in the market, 

 he would reap advantages in two ways. He would probably econo- 

 mize in fuel and the health of his workmen would be improved. But, 

 as the alkali inspector says, the manufacturer will not change his 

 method until he is obliged, and the moral pressure must come from the 

 public. 



May it before long be said of Leeds not only of the morning, but of 

 all and every day, 



"This city now doth like a garment wear 

 The beauty of the morning; silent, bare 

 Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples lie 

 Open unto the fields and to the sky 

 All bright and glittering in the smokeless air." 



