lions of fish are annually started into life along our waterways, 
but they are mostly poisoned by the sewage from the big towns, 
the waste from factories, or the sawdust that chokes the Adiron¬ 
dack streams, to say nothing of the pulp mill sludge. 
New York has a shell fish industry worth $10,000,000 a year, 
and now our Government has been forced by popular outcry to 
warn the public against our home-grown oysters and clams. Dr. 
Ernest Lederle, former President of the New York Board of 
Fiealth, was induced to undertake a scientific study of oysters 
gathered around Manhattan in December, 1907, and as a result 
it was demonstrated that fifty-five per cent, of those selected 
(oy.sters and clams in the New York market) were tainted 
But, you say, what is to become of the sewage if we don’t 
pour it into the rivers and harbors ? 
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? 
Nature has generously answered this question by placing 
within easy reach of New York, for example, large tracts of 
sandy soil sadly in need of fertilizing, both in New Jersey and 
on Long Island. We need therefore but to gather our sewage in 
tanks at different points on the outskirts of the borough and 
thence pump it out upon farms arranged with a view to this irri¬ 
gation and owned or controlled by the city. This is done else¬ 
where successfully. 
Berlin had to face this problem of sewage disposal in 1871, 
when she suddenly became capital of an empire. She permits no 
dirt to go into the river that flows through her walls, but carefully 
gathers it at convenient points and pumps it out upon farms in 
the suburbs. And now, after nearly 30 years of trial, she is satis¬ 
fied with the results. 
When the Berlin plan of sewage disposal was first inaugurat¬ 
ed there was much outcry from those who feared an epidemic, but 
now the people living in the neighborhood have assured them¬ 
selves not only that no harm arises to the general health, but on 
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