National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-12-08
BOARD OF HEALTH.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
BOARD OF HEALTH
N AEmT~ErnN- narnmhar- Ts-I

BOARD OF HEALTH.
DISTRICT OF COLUMEIA.l
BOARD OF HEALTH, :
Hon. CommissioRsrs District II COEuinJiG:
GENTLEMEN: The Board of Health of the
District of Columbia, instituted under the pro-
visions of section 26 of "An act to provide a
government for the District of Columbia" ap-
proved February 81, 1871, cheerfully recOg-
MIXING your authority to impose upon il such
duties as to you may seem right and proper,
additional to those imposed under the law ere
ating it not inconsistent with its peculiar
sphere of action, would respectfully report
that, in obedience to your orders, 1t has as
sumed control and direction of the garbage
service, the superintendent Of the burial of
deceased poor, the appointment and superyi-
sion of physicians to the poor and prescribing
the duties Of the same, the designation Of
apOthecaries for furnishing medicines for the
poor and contracting for medical supplies, and
the control and supervision of the "Western
Burial Ground" (Holmead.)
Owing to the strict discipline to which the
garbage masters have Eeen subjected, the ser
vice has been much more effectively and salts
factorily performed than ever before, and at a
saving OF one fifth of the annual expense un-
der previous systems. The number of loads
Of garbage removed by the collectors during
the four mouths ending November 80, 1874,
was 2,927.
Under the system instituted by the board,
requiring a thorough investigation of each
case presented before ordering a burial at the
public expense, applications for this charity
have become much less frequent and the eX-
pense heretofore attending the work largely
reduced.
The care OF the sick poor, furnishing metli-
cal attendance and medicines for the same,
with which the board was charged by your
ORDER has entaied upon it much labor and
grave responsibility, but under the system
which il has inaugurated it is believed that at
no period in the history of the District of Co
lumbia has its sick poor been so faithfully and
zealOusly cared for as at the present time,
while the reduction in the monthly expense
attending the service is simply enormous. The
average monthly expense for the fiscal years
ending June 80, 1871, ~, '13 and II, was
81 ,S25 &C, and for the three months ending
November 80, 1874, it was only S4l1 81, or
something less than 5000 per year. Unless
unforeseen emergencies arise it is believed that
the amount allowed by you for this charity,
viz s., COO per year, Will be ample, and that
the hope expressed by you in your cOmmuni-
cation of September l, charging us with ''the
performance of this service, ;" viz {: THAT the
result will be satisfactory to all interested
will be fully realized. The lumber of poor
persons treated by the physicians to the poor
during the three months ending November 80,
1874, was $40. The number of burials at pub
lie expense in the same period was 40.
The following is a summary of the receipts
and expenditures of the board for the five
months ending November so, 1874, from the
funds of the District of Columbia, aPprOPri-
ated by act OF Congress, approved June D,
1874:
Amount appropriated So, a2O 90