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AW rout I... known on application '0: on!" an“. PM ‘m anarchy morning at High m M 111.. ind Wllmeth. 111.. by the Sheridan Road Publishing Co. MutbePoI-Omce at m bland Put uncouth clu- nutter. R New!” lldln . 255 Central Av nue. Baumfnd Put. e We have" not cared especially to ventilate the arguments pro and con of the filter question in the Nzws~ Lanna. Personally it has seemed to us from the first like a very expen- sive make-shift which would have the effect of staying ofl’ the real solu- tion of the difiiculty. But be that as it may, if the public reallrwant the filter and are willing to pay for it, we see no reason why they should not say so, and doubtless they will. Filter Question vs. Saloon Question \' lathe mean time we have been told by life insurance companies (and we are not aware that anybody has ever accused them of doing bani- nose purely for the love of huuian- fly) that out of‘ 10,000 users of strong drink at the age of 20, the avarage subsequent agewill be only about 15 years, that is to say, they Will live only about 35 or 36 years (we omit fractions); while 10,000 total abstainers will average about 44 years, making an average life of about 64 or 05 years. Out of 10,000 users of strong drink at 30 years of age the average subsquent life will be only about 13 years making about 43-, while 10000 total abstainers at 30 years. 0' age average about 36 years. making an average age of about 66 years. Out of 10,- .A Callie! 0! Noah Shore Inwllhence. Tm No. 92, W Path. SATURDAY. MARCH 17. TERMS OI... PEI! YEAR. OFFICIS: THE SHERIDAN ROAD NEWS-LETTER. 000 users oftatrong drink at 40 years ofage the average subsequent life will he only about ll years, making only about 51; while 10,000 total ab- stainers at 40 years of age will reach an avenge age of about 68. Or in general terms, the average duration of life of a total abstainer is three times as long from the starting point as the drinker’s. If this is trueâ€" and nobody ought to know better than the men whose whole life busi. oasis in such investigations and to whom it is purely a matter of dol- lara and centsâ€" then it is vastly more important that we- close the 'saloons and the “blind pigs” than that we filter our drinking water. We can understand how a father would feel and might express deep anxiety about his children lest they should be taken from him by typhoid fever or some other disease, but we cannot understand why the same father will oftentimes destroy his own life inch by inch through the use of strong drink, and deprive [his children Of their proper protection. Why not close up the saloons? Have not any in Highland Park? Then close up the “blind pigs," if that is the proper ’name for them. Stop patron- izing them and they will close up for lack'of business. It is said that we have them running almost wide open in-our midst. It is certainly the duty of somebody to see that they are closed. Whose duty is it? The ’ofiicials’i We are, told the eificials won’t do it. Then we should have officials who will do. it The respd‘nsibility rests with the people. . It 19 no use to shirk that question and there is no denying the fearful responsibility for it Sidewalks. _ Some four years ago, if we re- member correctly; there was an ordinance passed by our city coun- cil mapping out a certain portion around the. center of Highland Park and ordering that so fast as any Sidewalk should» Be con- demned nothing but concrete or cement shtmld'be used as a sub- stitfi’te. .We were not wholly in sympathy with the ordinance when it was passed, and time has not decreased our ob' ctions to it. There. is no sideim k more pleas- ant to the eye perhaps than cement, but there are qualifica- tions in a sidewalk to be consid- ered other than the esthetie. It will be conceded by all that it is an expensive form. Secondly, either it is an unreliable form or else the cement sidewalksof High- land Park have not been put down by com tent mechanics In the third p ace, it can hardly have es- caped the observation of pedes- trians that after a rain the cement sidewalk is always much longerjn drying and much more likely to hold water on its surface than P even the common plank walk. This may seem like a trifling ob- jection, but it is nevertheless a 'valid one, and surely in the last few days wehave seen a serious objection to the cement sidewalks in the fact that they have so often been flooded with water by day and made dangerously slippery with ice by' night, whereas the plank sidewalks are very [rarely open to the same objection. It may therefore'be very seriously questioned whether it is advisable to insist upon the costly, uncer- tain, and withal unsatisfactory cement sidewalk. We seriously question whether the introduction of asphalt walks would not be bet- ter than either the plank or cement. ’ ~ Wilmette will ‘avoid a good deal of extravagance and cerruptinn in’the future if it makes a point of, fixing the water rate so low that the receipts will simply cover fixed charges and the cQst of operation. The village should learn from experience of Chi. cage .and Evanston that one thing ‘to be guarded against 18 a water fund surplus. The enterprising suburb of Wilâ€" mette,,which has, been buying water from Evanstonaat ails/oat of $5,000 per annum: has decided toconstruct and operate waterworks of its 0 n.. The new works will cost $1 0,000, will have a capacity of 30,000 gallons 0 day, and it” is said, can be conducted at an annual expense'ot $3.500. 0‘ If the water plant of Wilmette is not called upon to share the expenses of all other-departments of ‘the‘ village lgovernment.there is no reason Why the hopes of the promoters of the new enterprise should not. be realized.