New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-12-09
THE corTycIL,s DUTY TO-DAY.


weather grows colder it will increase
10 strength and virulence. II it once a
quires a sure foothold it will reign s.
s preme and the list of its thousands
e victims will be in APPALLING contrast to Il
number Of deaths by its sister scourge Il
e yellow fever.
: But this infiction does not come upo
US without warning. Year after year an
month after month the admonitary, be
seeching voice has been raised. TIL
Council has disregarded its appeals, un
needed its warnings and contemptuousl
thrown aside its recommendations
Ever since its organization the presen
Board of Health has kept this matter be
fore the Council and the public. In DC
tober, 1869, DR.. Albers made special re
port of the number of cases. October 16
the Board called the attention of the
Council to the matter. On the nineteenth
they again appealed to it and on the twen-
| ty-eighth submitted an ordinance, which
was rejected The Council refused to
take precautions against the spread of
the disease. In the annual report Of that
| year the Board properly characterized
| this as gross neglect, for few neglected
cases in October poisoned hundreds. The
power to isolate cases was taken from the
Board. The health officers who had car
ried out system Of free vaccination, i'm
perfect, but of great advantage, were abol-
ished. The board are compelled to say,
''they have now no one to carry out any
design Of sanitary nature which they
may deem available" The deaths for
November were thirty-two, for December
Lightweight. TO the Council the board
said:
If power be not granted to enforce the
needed sanitary measures, the response
bility for the prevalence of this loathsome
and terrible disease will rest with your hon
orable body
The report of 1870, containing an ac-
count Of tie epidemic Of that year, is a
confirmation Of this assertion. Eight |
thousand persons were afflicted and six |
hundred and fifty died. In the middle Of |
the epidemic the Council passed an ordi-
nance almost identical with that offered
by the board. Its good effect was imme-
aiately apparent, but it was toe late to
all that was desired. The
coard renewed its appeals to the Council
and Legislature.
The year 1871 was remarkably free from
smallpox, only twenty cases being re-
ported, with two deaths. The principal
'auses Of the exemption, besides the con-
'ition of the air, the climate, and the ex-
laustion of the material by the late cpl
lemic, were the prompt isolation Of all
asses, the vaccination Of those exposed by
lcinity, and the distinction Or destruc-
ion Of tomites. The necessity of strictly
ntorcing the rule regarding school chill
rem is shown by the statement that TWEEN
y-one hundred were vaccinated. Never
leless, the virus left by the epidemic was u,
OF destroyed, but was kept alive during
lie summer. 1t was watched closely, but
le anxious physicians now encountered
ew obstacle. The very persons who were +
iiicted regarded them as enemies, and
d all in their power to conceal the ex-
tence Of the poison. Without power L
ON the Council the board could do
'thing. Early in 1872 the disease made Its "
'pearance A new Board of Admin;stra- u
rs governed the city. To them, with q
newed hope in the belief that they u
'uld profit by the errors Of their prede- 1t
ssors, the board appealed. In COM 81
lnication dated November 90, 1872. p'
~ warned the Council the disease was u
hand and increasing, recommended o'
atuitous vaccination and asked for w
oply OF vaccine matter with the ap- I'll
of physicians. No action was ~
zen by the Council The report of that III
IT shows the commencement of the III
amity that now threatens us and fore ~
Is the desolation it is about to spread III
oughout the city. Forty-eight cases bu
'urred from September to December 'o'
1872. fol
The year 1873 opened with one hundred WI
ffty-four cases in January. Sixty as
ee died The people who watched the Us
ceedings Of the Board Of Health be- Ia
le alarmed. The grand jury, in an Re, re-
oorate report, Endorsed the board and WE
ommended prompt measures The ali
INCL were appealed to. They were o0'
nb. In February and March seventy pa
1t deaths occurred. Then the pesti- me
e slowly declined TIL the heat of sum- hef
stopped its ravages. More than INC
en- hundred cases occurred in the mo
on, and over four hundred died. IN
etully prepared statistics show that
death occurs in every five cesas ~, Sta
basis 1t is apparent that large num- Zee
OF cases must have been concealed. DIT
board having no power to enforce dis ~
lre. All summer the virus was at lioi
<, and this fact was again and again 'ne
laimed by the board. The report of oln'
Russell, Of the seventeenth of October, a u
red that the disease was again increas- by
The real danger was close at hand. tha'
the twentieth of October the board thel
e its last appeal to the Council: they
re commends, at this time, that the CITY II as
ivided into districts of suitable size a that
er number of physicians be appointed. b-
nple supply of vaccine be secured, and nav
vaccination be offered at every house duty
lrged upon the ignorant and negligent time
,e authorized a Yau4S Of 4l,a o;t,- 4>