The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-08-30

Editors Journal: a
[ wish TO call the attention Of your
readers to the action of the City
Council In reference to abolishiug
the Board Of Health, and with it the
City Physicians; for It IS a matter
that concerns not only the honor Of
the city, but what is Of some import
an cetO the pockets OF the taxpayer,
and consequently all should under
stand this unjust aud backward mo-
ton, which IS certainly penny-wise
and pound foolish. It is unjust and
cruel TO the poor Of the city, for such
re have al&ays with rs who barely
earn enough to live upon while ia
health. saving nothing for an emert
gency, and so cannot Zee q, physlt
elan or buy medicines, and must
suffer and die for want Of atten
tion at the proper time, which It was
the duty of the authorities to proYldes
That there are such poor every one
knows, both deserving aud undeserV1
ing, but 40 one does know the num-
Der or amount Of Wretehedness IN
this city Of ours, unless In the line Of
duty or beneYolenoe, he IS brought IN
immediate contact with It. The two
City Physicians the past eight months
have seen 27S patients ald made 500
visits, and this for tho sum of So 80
month each. This SUM seems
ridiculous amount 10 get into a spasm
Of economy over, when IN Cincinnati
each ward has its physician at a sala-
ry Of $500 a year and drugs iuTnisheds
and this IN addition 10 the. magnihs
cent City Hospital, al honor to any
city.
10 abolish the Board Of Health
would be q backward move, inconsist-
ent with this age Of progress, when
the tendency is TO amcliorate the cir
cumstaaees OF, and elevate oil classes
and conditions of society. Such
boards are a necessity not ouly of
populous cities like New York, Gin
cinaati and Louisville, but places of
FIVE or Ten thousand inhabitants have
them in tine Eastern States, upon the
principle that prevention is better
than cure. What would have been
the condition OF Nov York city IN
1866, when the cholera threatened 1t
so imminently, if there bad not been
a Board Of Health in good working
order and prepared TO meet it, and so
confined it by proper sanitary precau-
tiOns, almost exclusively within
the precincts Of quarantine? Ii
would doubtless have ragged as
feariully there as1t did in Cincinnati
the following year, Staying its thou
saad5, aud Frustrating Tor the time,
the business Of the eiyy. Then, while
the cholera was doing its dire work,
Cincinnati organized its Board of
Health, which went to work cleaning
and disinfccting. and finally eradi-
Gated it. II Cincinnati had been pre-
pared as New York was, her business
men ECuld not have complained Of
dull times, nor Cincinnati tSade have
been diverted to Evansville. And, to
come nearer home, how would Evans
vile have suffered this Spring and
Summer from smallpox If the Board
of Health had not ordered a general
vaccination, and so cut il short IN its
career.
These Boards are composed OF sci
entiic men who understand how to
apply the proper remedy at the rig hit
time, and if they cannot crush cpl
denies ia their inception they can at
least control and make their vista
tions lighter That this cannot be
done by Council Boards, whose mem
bers have not the proper knowledge,
Is evident, when We know that even
Doctor Of many years practice IN this
city, last Spring, used as dlslnfeCtant
IN small poZ, an article which has no
disInfecUng qualities whatever; he
ordered assatoetida. thus Disgusting
one horrid OdOr with one more dis
gustiDg still, instead Of using some
article which would not only hide but
Z, = 49, Il.
loatbsome disease.
A city Of the rank Of Evansville
cannot afford to be without 2 Board
of Health. The poor need its care,
and the tax payer needs It to see that
these same poor are properly cared
for and prevented from becoming a
greater burden, when with their faml-
lies they are sent to the Poor Farm.
Most diseases, if they are cared for in
time, are curable. but the Poor House
being of course the last resort, by that
time they are beyond the reach of
medical skill, and the county burles
them. And although a county box
costs the taxpayers but So so, yet the
city physician will cure him cheaper
than you can bury him. The business
men need it to keep their business
from being Interrupted and stopped,
and the whole community need it to
preserve their health and lives from
the thousand ills that flesh is heir to,
III the Council choose to lay aside all
ideas Of beneY0lence and duty, / hope
at lsast they viii look at the matter
as business men ana tax payers, and
not show themselves SO far behind
the age IS TO. abolish the Board o
Health f- II. ri.
$500 - = -(17,,4rp