Few subjects of State legislation have been more important than the Bill which was recently passed by the Legislature of Illinois, popularly known as the " Drainage Bill," and which received the signature of the Governor on the 29th of last month. Its purpose is the building of a ship-canal, which, in connection with the Mississippi river, shall form a great inland water communication between the Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. Probably its importance to the Nation, and especially to the Mississippi Valley, in a commercial point of view, will hardly be over-estimated by its most sanguine promoters.
As a sanitary measure it has more than local interest and is worthy of a passing notice. Its special importance to the city of Chicago can hardly be over-estimated. With a population numbering nine hundred thousand people, it was becoming a very serious question how properly to dispose of its sewage. The