Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-03-06
SANITARY MEASURES.
The Health Ordinanee-COBeerninS
the Report OF the Board of Health,
etc. etc.

n
u etc, etc.
= The Report Of the Board of Health to the
y CitylCouncil, published last week, conveyed,
IL perhaps, Internationally, a very erroneous
. impression, not only as 70 the principal
Il point at issue, but in relation to many col
lateral facts.
Nearly all persons who read that report
Il must have inferred from its statements and
deductions, that the Council had, " at one
n fell stroke" deprived the Board of all their
power to enforce the more important sani-
tary regulations by annulling or repeating
the Health ordinance under which they had
previously acted.
Ga the contrary, the CouIIeil have neither
repealed nor modified any existing ordi-
. nances on the subject and the Board of
Health, Notwithstanding their u~nfounded
i remarks, chat they have not been sustained
E by the City Council, and have, for this rea-
r son, had 10 discontinue their labors - and,
: also, " that q part of the ordinance is yet
5 left for them to enforce, but in their view,
the parts left are so insignificant, compared
WIN tub5t EbIlChtu Ouvs lldE II IS DuL a farce
to expend either time or money on what re-
mains OF the ordinance, "--stiu possess all
the authority under which their late we'll
advised, but prematurely terminated, sani-
tary measures, have been accomplished.
The Board further remark, as if it were 3
necessary sequence from some positive &C.
ton Of the Council, restricting their former
powers, that, "they wish to make the re-
cord, that if sickness and epidemic diseases
do prevail, the responsibility rests not with
them"
So, then, because certain ~favorits meas
ures recommended by the Board. are not
adopted unhesitatingly by the Council, they
coolly ~repudiats, if their Own language can
be construed to mean anyth ing, all respon-
Iibility for expected results
On whom, then, doe, the responsibility
rest2 The Board still re.g in, as has been
shown, all the powers originally delegated
to them by the Council; aud they are not
empowered, but expected 10 enforce all au-
thorized regulations aiie citing the health Of
the city.
Whence, then, this sudden conviction of
inherent weakness2 this abrogation Of all
the authority under which they have thus
far acted? Why have they, as they state.
with g remarkable facility for r~enodel:ng
facts, on the alleged consideration that
little or nothing remains for them to DO
i" discharged from further duty the eleven
officers appointed by them to enforce the
Health Ordinance in the various wards 2"
Where does the shoe pinch Is it, indeed,
possible, as in " Prince Johns" sudden SOM
ersault into the arms of the Free Soil part
in 1918, that dad Is under the load Of hay ?"
If so, it may yet become necessary, on some
future occasion to rake him out. and show =,
the hay seed in his hair Seriously, both
the logic and the consequent action Of this
quadrilateral Board must DO incomprehansi-
bic to an outsider. Perhaps they msysay with
Falstaff: "The reason , If reasons were as
plenty as blackberries, I would give no man
a reason on ~eompulsion %
In explanation Of that action of tb Coun-
eli, which appears TO be Objectionable to the
Board of Health, it may be stated that an
ordinance was lately pending in the Coun-
ell, confering upon the Board more extern
sive powers than those now possessed by
them under the existing ordinance. From
the discussions which ensued on the various
provisions Of the proposed ordinance, it
seemed that some Of those provisions were
considered too cumbersome, ard others too
expensive to meet the expected concurrence
of the Council; and hence ): failed OF their
approval.
1t would be an insult 10 the common sense
IS 49, -N IL. -.--.L--- p A. ---T 81
suppose that they are not as much inter
esled as any others in all measures looking
to the health Of the city, or that they would
not naturally adopt, in view Of the impend-
ing epidemic, such sanitary measures as
would seem most expedient and efficient in
reaching the desired end.
Under the terms of the contemplated or
dinance, a proposition was made to remove
the "swill, so called, twice a week in sum
mer and once in winter Tor the ensuing year,
from each house in the city, for s., 800; or
$500 for each of the eleven wards. The
Board of Health, presuming that the ordi-
nance as drafted by them, would be adopted
by the Council, recommended the accept
auee Of this proposal. The Council, how-
ever, considered the term as exorbitant.
Many member affirmed that the "porcine"
value OF the "swill" in the more denselv
settled wards, was nearly equal TO the cost
Of collecting it. Others objected that no
provision was made for removing the rest of
the ordinary house oiial, such as wash
water and Stops Of various kinds in many
respects fully as deleterious if left standing
or emptied in pools, &c, abOutthe premises,
as the ''swill' itself.
1t was further objected that the proposal
to move the .swill" twice a week only, dur
ing the warm weather, when the greatest
efluvium would arise from its accumula-
ton in the interval, would be Of little value
as e sanitary preeaution and that the pro-
posed cost might be better expended in
cleaning streets and alleys, and IN opening
cutters for carrying of most of this very
matter.
By order of the Council, a re-advertfse-
meut was made for new proposals. and an
offer was received to perform the same work
for $500; or for SI,SO0 less than the first
bid; thereby justifying the Council, even
had the ordinance been passed, in not &c
cepting the original recommendation Of tee
Board.
a very stringent Health bill has lately
been put ia force in the city Of New York.
But, that the citizens of this favored locali-
ty may fully appreciate the difference be-
tween the sanitary condition Of this city
and that Of New York, at the present time,
and know what intolerable "nuisances,'
whose fragrance smells 10 heaven" if not
elsewhere also, have existed for years in the
very heart Of some Of The most denselv
populated sections of that metropolis, and al
| whose root. even in the absence Of any i'm
pending epidemic, the ak Of reform should
long since have been laid,-some passages
from the late reports of the New York Board
of Health may be read with profit.
What would the citizens of Cleveland
think of such peStilenee,-breeding "nui-
sanees7 as those named. below,-manufac-
tories of death for the teeming thousands,
in whose very midst they are located
One hundred and s5venty-hve immense
slaughter houses" from which reeking
streams of blood and filth continually ema-
nate their natural adjuncts, filthy raw
hide depots poisoning the very air with
their uauseating odor; eighty-four fiat and
bene-boiling" establishments, over which
a mephitic cloud continually hangs; forty
four public places where thousands Of cart
loads Of manure are allowed to accumulate
and rot for an indefinite period; narrow
and crowded streets. which the accumu-
lated garbage and filth, sending up a thou
sand distinct sterches, render almost impas-
sable; sewers, whose outlet is several feet, 1
three feet, two inches in one easel higher
than the beginning, and whose stagnant