New-York tribune., 1872-06-15
PUBLIC HEALTH IN DANGER


cities of Europe, namely, Vienna and Liverpool,
exceeded, by mere fractions that of New \ ork'
This year we are likely to attain unpleasant
prominence above them, and boast death
rate unparalleled in modern times. Two years
ago we lost 28.8 persons out OF every thousand
of the population thus far, this year, the rate
has been 35.1 to the thousand. III we go on 10r
the rest of the year at the rate at which our cit
izens are now dying off, there will have been
in 1872 more than 5000 deaths in excess OF the
number reported in 1871. This is an unnatural
increase, but it is to be easily accountedfor This
excess thus far. as will be seen from the tabular
statements elsewhere, has been not from acel-
dental causes or constitutional ailments, but
from yirulent diseases which have come in
epidemical form. And it will furthermore be
observed by those who study the tables care
fully, that this increase has been chiefly in
the localities where filth and crOwding, which
energetic Health and Police Boards ought to
have prevented in some degree at least. tend to
nurse ard extend epdemics. The fact is that
though New-YOrk is surrounded by running
streams and the whole flow of large river
and several lakes is emptied daily into Its
reservoirs, it is one of the dirtiest cities III
the world Though half its area is unoccu-
pied, and great proportion OF Its surplus
population has poured over into Jersey and
Long Island, certain of its localities are
more crowded than London or Bombay, and,
indeed, than any city of the Old World except
Vienna. And the unGrring statistics which
we publish in other columns, and have sum
married in this, prove that in spite of all the
no otmnRnlprp
salubriOus climate 1t possesses, we have by far
the most unhealthy city of the universe.
This is no exaggerated statement made Tor
sensational effect. It's truth is demonstrable
by facts and figures, and the causes which
lead to the terrifying result are easily ex-
planned. The prevailing diseases are gene
rated by the dirt in which we live, and our
filthy condition is the consequence of Sanitary
misrule. The Health Board is not wholly re-
sponsible for this mismanagement We have
very fair Board, as Health Boards goa su-
periOr one as far as professional training is con-
cerned-but like all such commissions, it is intlu-
enced altogether too much in its appointments,
organization, and operations by political con-
sideratiOns; and Of late much of its work and
responsibility has been assumed by the Board
of Police. We cannot, of course, expect to
have a better Board as long as politics control
us, or until We reach that deSiderGtdtm in
Sanitary rule, an absolute despotism.
We all acknowledge the physician as
the family dictator in time of trouble,
but how many recognize the need of making
the Health Officer absolute when the general
health is invOlvedl The restriction of its
powers is a chief cause of the ineflectiveness
of the New-YOrk Health Board, but not the
only cause, for its members, no less than our
selves, recognize that much of the misrule
which is charged, and which they cannot deny
results from violation of the policy that pre-
vention is better and far less costly than the
cure itself.
There is 10 city where this rule issO constantly
and hagrantly violated as with us. We cleanse
the streets only after the accumulations have
made them well nigh impossible, never recog-
nizing the truer economy which prevents the
accommodations in unmanagable heaps. We per-
nit many of the streets to be made the recep-
tacIe for garbage and ashes, instead of COM
pelling the collection of all waste in boxes
which can be removed bodily Manure is the
only article of waste which is collected with
regard either to economy or security of health;
and in total disregard of the latter consideration,
it is dumped, after having been collected, in the
very heart of the city, to give forth pestilen-
tial vapors which are most dangerous as well
as noxious. There is hardly practical, COM
pulsory order existing in all the many city
ordinances which prohibits householders from
accumulating for weeks at a time the refuse
of their houses and none whatever compelling
IL bolo rlaoo
the harmless ashes. The admixture of the
two renders both valueless yet the garbage is
largely productive of valuable fertilizers, and
the ashes when unmixed are useful for filing
in sunken lots. To compel householders by
law or induce them through their own inter-
ests to collect separately these two articles
would not only add to the value of the arti-
cles themselves, and cOnduce to the comfort
and health of each house, but it would lessen
the cost OF street cleaning one-quarter at the
very least. The dumping grounds where the
manure deposited pOisons the atmosphere
for miles around, are maintained in
defiance Of the opinion of the Health
Board, because of the political inhu-
ence of the contractors with certain members.
Citizens living in the vicinity of the rendering
boats at West Thirty y-eighth-st., have appealed
to the Board to remove these nuisances without
effect, and so long as the contractors retain
their political influence with the Board, citizens
will cry for relief in vain. We have now
some faint hope of having the streets sys-
tematically cleaned; why may we not also
have some common sense and discretion
displayed in these matters of collecting and
disposing of the refuse of houses, stables, and
factoriesf
Possibly the overcrowding of tenement