me in April of this year, that the pipe which draws Hudson River 
water for drinking purposes at Catskill ends a little above the 
Catskill Creek. The creek water containing the town sewage is 
supposed to pass oflf down stream, but those who built this sewer 
apparently ignored the fact that the Hudson is a tidal fjord and 
not a river like the Ohio or Mississippi. Consequently the sewage 
from the creek declines to move on, but oscillates up and down 
across the intake of the alleged clean water pipe. 
Catskill is one of many Hudson River towns which are be¬ 
coming centers of pest for the community. With it must be 
bracketed Hudson, Albany, Troy, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, 
Kingston, every town on the river which either sewers into the 
river, drinks river water, or water from tainted streams; and 
Professor Mason, the eminent water expert of the Troy Poly¬ 
technic Institute, in a lecture given December 4, 1907, said that 
the water supply of Niagara Falls City was merely the sewage of 
Buffalo diluted to some extent. The State Board of Health, re¬ 
ferring to Buffalo, stated that it had a higher death rate from 
typhoid than any other city of the state, 135 per 100,000, whereas 
the average is 20, and whereas in parts of Europe it is as low 
as 4 per 100,000! 
THE INDICTMENT OF A NATION 
But New York is not the only nor the worst offender. If it 
were there would be no use citing it. It is not the unusual that 
proves anything; it is the usual, and New York City and State 
are perhaps better than the usual rUn of things in America. That 
is a terrible indictment of a nation, but let us see whether it is 
not justified. 
Some years ago in New England the United States Geologi¬ 
cal Survey reported that the Blackstone River was the most pol¬ 
luted river in New England; “its name has become synonymous 
with filth.” Even the headwaters were filthy from the start and 
it was filthy to its mouth. Worcester, Massachusetts, suffered 
for that. The Merrimac and its tributaries was polluted by many 
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