Julius B. Cohen

“ The inspectors are among the very best trained chemists in the country, and chemical manufacturers readily acknowledge the value of their advice, and the undoubted benefit which has accrued through them to the industry.
I believe that properly trained scientific smoke inspectors, appointed through the Local Government Board, would be an equal boon to the manufacturer, who would soon be led to discover, as many have done already, that a material economy can be effected by abolishing smoke. ”

“ WHEN I mention the fact that the solid matter in Leeds air is, on the average, 1·2 milligrammes in 100 cubic feet, I cannot expect that it will convey a very definite idea. Milligrammes are quantities with which most of us are not in the habit of dealing, and even 100 cubic feet is a volume which cannot be realized in a moment. ”

“ If the conditions of life in towns are unhealthy, and if the air, the very fountain of health, is polluted, then we have to face this fact, that three-quarters of the whole population are living under these conditions, and that, in proportion as the rural population diminishes, the invigorating admixture of country labour will decrease. ”

“ Considering what an energetic and progressive community we are, I think we exhibit an unusual amount of deliberation in dealing with the delicate problem of the removal of these slums, which, it cannot be too often repeated, are a disgrace to our modern civilization. Our insanitary areas might be districts under the Sultan's sway, or at least under the protection of a European Concert, so tardy are we in introducing much needed reforms. ”

“ 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 alterations, 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."
The Leeds Smoke Abatement Committee has, I think, taken a wise course in adopting, in the above resolution, the suggestion of the former chief Alkali Inspector. ”

“ The Local Authority, he said, could do more than the Local Government Board, whose system he regarded as too rigid. The smoke nuisance might be removed by an appeal to local patriotism, and by impressing upon manufacturers the fact that it would be more profitable to consume their smoke.
Anyone acquainted with the work of the Smoke Abatement Societies in Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Glasgow, and elsewhere, must know that such appeals have been made ad nauseam, without producing the slightest effect. ”

“ We know from the Registrar-General's report, that three-quarters of the whole population of England and Wales has drifted into the towns. Over twenty millions of English people are dwellers in cities, and in those clusters of small daughter towns, which have grown up around them with all the harsh features, but with none of the elevating influences of the parent city. ”

“ The domestic hearth is therefore an important factor in the smoke nuisance. How far we can hope to solve successfully the problem of preventing house smoke by the use of gas or coke, it is difficult to say. ”

“ But the gloom of winter, followed by the severity of our summer weather, drives us, when work and physical exercise are over, within doors, where we strive to compensate for the ugliness and discomfort of outside, by the enhanced cheerfulness and attractiveness of our homes. ”

“ There is daily sent into the air of Leeds about 20 tons of soot, of which half-a-ton falls, and of that half-ton, 20 to 25 pounds sticks, i.e., is not removable by rain.
A Leeds Boiler Chimney.
I have estimated that, in Leeds, 4,000 tons of coal on the average are consumed every working day of the year. I don’t know what the ratio of house consumption is to factory consumption; but the amount of soot given off from factory chimneys is, at the lowest estimate, 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 per cent. of the coal. From house coal I have found, from a number of analyses, that the average is over five per cent. ”

“ They consume very little fuel and emit practically no smoke. Moreover, they cause no cold draught along the floor, from which we, with our wasteful open fire-places, invariably suffer. The absence of ventilation in the rooms is the only drawback that can be reasonably urged against the continental system—a defect which might easily be remedied. ↑ Soot deposit is certainly perceptible at a distance of 9 miles from Leeds, and seeing that salt particles are often carried to Leeds from the Irish Sea, the more attenuated smoke particles will travel a still greater distance before falling. ”

“ Finally, I must mention another effect of smoke, and that is the amount of light absorbed by the smoke-cloud hanging over the city. We are not blessed with too much light at any time, especially during the winter months, and yet the smoke in some parts of the city absorbs about one-quarter of the total daylight. ”

“ The photograph represents a holly leaf taken from the College grounds, from one-half of which the soot has been carefully removed, and the green colour has then been bleached, the soot remaining intact. Until we can abolish smoke there seems little prospect of inducing any but the hardiest plants to flourish near the centre of our big towns.
The very birds of the air are tarred with this universal tar brush. I am indebted to Professor Ransome for a Leeds magpie, shot near Stainbeck Lane, who bears evident signs of his town residence. ”

“ The thickly populated part of Leeds covers about four square miles, with the Parish Church as centre. We will call these four square miles the smoke infected area. That does not imply that the smoke does not extend beyond, [2] but it is most concentrated in that region. If there are 20 tons of soot delivered to the air in 12 hours, and if the air is renewed on the average 50 times in 12 hours, as there is reason to believe, then there is in the infected area, at any one moment, 8 cwt. ”

“ But we know, without the aid of mortality tables, that these things affect health, that they are therefore a source of danger to the community, and should not be permitted to exist longer than is needful for their removal. ”

“ The following photograph shows the appearance of two plates after a year’s exposure, one in the country and the other in town, and the difference is striking, the town plate being almost opaque, whereas the country plate appears nearly as clean as when first put out.
This black adhesive film represents a daily deposit weighing about 25 lbs., which covers the smoke-infected area with a permanent cloak of fast colour, which will stand washing. It is this adhesive deposit which discolours buildings and blackens vegetation. ”

“ The report confirms the conclusions of all, who have carefully studied the subject of smoke prevention from boiler chimneys, and contains the following statement:—"A manufacturing district might be free from manufacturing smoke, at least from the steam boilers." ”