Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-03-17
Board Of Health-ChOlera-The Council.

Board Of Health holera-The Council
The Council has adopted "An ordinance tC
organize a Board of Health and establish
regulations for the health Of the city," IPro-
vides for the appointment, annually, in the
month of May, Of three Physicians, one from
each ward, to constitute this Board, and fixes
their condensation at one hundred dollars each
annually. They are required to inspect Their
wards twice q month, from April to September
and once a month for the remainder of the
wear. They are invested with sanitary and
police powers in the examination of premises
and the removal of deleteriOus matter, sc.
Is this designed as an old fogy institution to
pursue its slow and melancholy routine in or
binary times, or is it designed as preparation
for the ehOlerai Is it the Medical Board that
is to meet the approaching crisis and grapPle
with the choleral As a permanent Board, to
deal only with ordinary subjects it will be slow,
respectable, and harmless enough. Its earnings
will be small labors will be smaller If tits
designed, however, that this Board shall be the
body, and only body, that is to stand between
this community and the Asiatic Cholera, then
il is simply ridiculous. If this Is the best that
the Council can do for the protection of the
city, we may as well give up all hope, make
our wills and surrender Internationally to the
Implying monster that is slowly but surely on
the march for Richmond. Three Doctors, with
an annual compensation of one hundred dollars
each, to inspect their wards tlrice month
during the cholera months! P-r-o-d-i-g-i-o-u-s-
as DONNIE SAMPSON was wont to exclaim.-
If only three Doctors are to be appointed,
only one hundred dollars to be paid them sew
orally, and only semi-monthly inspections re-
quired,. what is the use of appointing any
We had better have no Board than such pitiful
apology for Board. 1t makes some show
empty enough it is true-of preparation, and
as such would operate as a check upon indi-
vidual efforts. Without such sham every
citizen would go to work himself and take all
possible sanitary measures. We cannot sup
pose that the Council intends this Board as the
only means of defence against cholera.
Instead of one physician for each ward,
there should be at least three, and they should
be men of skill, ability and energy. These
physicians should be empowered to organize a
Medical Police, whose duty it should be to visit
every house in the city, and search for and re-
move all filth, garbage and pestilential mat
ter; to inspect cellars, sewers and privieS, and
have them thoroughly cleansed; to see that
disinfectants are freely used where necessary,
and to do all that may be advisable to place
the city in a proper sanitary condition. The
physicians for each ward should meet and
consult every day, and the whole number for
the different wards should assemble at least
once week.
Every house in every ward should be visited
and inspected every second or third day. The
compensation paid to these physicians should
be liberal, such as would secure the active, 'un-
RENTING, faithful and efficient discharge OF
their duties, and power should be given them
to compel compliance with their orders. One
hundred dollars annually may be economy of
money, but it would be waste of what is far
more valuable-human life. Economy is a
great virtue; especially is it so in those who
act in a fduciary character, either towards in
diyiduals or communities, but a niggardly
economy, when such trustees are called upon
to provide against threatening calamities or
scOurges, is simply crime. At such times,
money, no matter how scarce and how difficult
to procure, is not to be considered. Its chief
value lies in its capacity to defend US from evil
and to procure us blessings. Ordinarily, money
does not contribute to the prevention Of dis
ease. This is one of the few instances in which
it does. The money expended in cleansing the
streets, alleys and residences of the city, in
supplying disinfectants, in maintaining yigilant
medicalpOlice, andin compensatingthe skill and
fidelity of physicians, is expended to protect the
community from the most dreadful calamity that
could befall 1.-THE cholera. For no better pur-
pose could it be expended. Cost what it may,
the city should and must be placed in proper
sanitary condition. Nor should the Common
Council hesitate a moment as to the response
buity. There is no rational man who would
not willingly purchase bis exemption from
cholera, and that Of his wife and children, by
the payment of increased taxes.
We are thus earnest because the subject is
important and demands earnestness. We can
not stand by, silent and uncOncerned, when we
see the lives of thousands of our citizens put
IN jeopardy by the parsimOny, timidity or in
efficiency of those at whose hands we have a
right to demand prompt, vigorous and liberal
measures.
Let the Council take prompt and adequate
measures, or stand confessed an incompetent,
feeble and unreliable body. Nov is the time
for such action very soon it will be too late.