8 Xew York: State 



one should be tempted to suggest that these conditions are the 

 unavoidable results of increase in population and in manufacturing, 

 that the old time natural conditions could only be maintained when 

 men were scattered and manufacturing activities simple in character 

 and limited in extent, and hence that they have disappeared for- 

 ever — a loss which one should regret, yet must acknowledge to 

 be inseparably connected with the development of a more effective 

 social organization. In Europe the population is generally much 

 denser than here, and there are many regions where manufacturing 

 has been carried on far longer and more intensively than here. 

 Those countries have had to meet the same problems in the disposal 

 of wastes which confront us here, and often in more acute form. 

 The careless, unsanitary centuries of the past had left an accumu- 

 lated burden of wastes in city and town and along river and lake 

 that made the solution of the question more difficult by far than it 

 is here. Prejudice and conservatism have been obstacles there of 

 real moment, and yet in numbers of such places the situation has 

 been well handled. One should not claim that all problems have 

 been solved or all waters restored to proper condition, but fishing is 

 better in streams of the Old World than in similar regions in New 

 York state, and the rivers of Europe are less polluted than corre- 

 sponding streams here. This is the result of active public interest 

 and definite work on the problem. The work which has been clone 

 there has demonstrated that satisfactory results can be achieved 

 and in many cases has furnished the specific methods for handling 

 our own problems. If our indifference and inattention can be trans- 

 formed into active concern, then even greater results can be attained 

 here. 



