National Republican., 1876-04-10
LIGHT DEATH RATE OF THE CAPITAL
Curses Returned Home to Roost

A special meeting of the Board Of Health was
| held at their rooms Saturday evening; DR.. G. G.
| Cox, president, in the chair.
Mr.. Marbury, from the finance committee re.
ported bills amounting to see.si; which were ap-
proved and ordered to be paid.
| DR.. Bliss, registrar, submitted the following
communication in relation to
DEATHS PROM zYNoTIC DISEASES
with table compiled from the the published rec
ords Of Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Philadel-
pima, Baltimore and this city, showing the aver.
age deaths in each place within the same period
from a similar disease. The paper is an answer
to the fever epidemic said 90 be prevailing in this
city by New York paper and the proof fully
shows the falsity of the charge. The eommuniea-
!ien will alply.repay perusal:
ba DISTRICT OF CoLuMBIA
BOARD OF HEALTH, OFFICE OF REGISTRAR, J
WASHINGTON, April ., 1879.
To the Honorable .hc Board of Health:
GENTLEMEN: My attention has been called to
an article which appeared in the New York Sun
ofthe 3lst ultimo, from. its Washington corre-
subject matter of which deem Of sufficient i'm
portance to our community, the public generally
and to this body as the health organ Of this Dis
trict to induce me TO prepare and submit the fol-
lowing correct tabular exhibit of mortality in the
principal cities of the United States where an
approximately correct registry of deaths is OBJ
tafned, together with such statement Of facts
bearing upon this subject as may serve to allay
the expressed apprehensions of some of our citi-
the scandalOus article referred TO, here quoted
WASHINGTON DOOMED.
a FmGHTFUL EPIDEMIC THE PROBABLE RESULT
OF BOSS sHEPHERD's RAsCALITY.
WAsHISGIoN, March 29-Those terrible
seOurges, typhoid and typho-malarial fever
to an alarming extent in this city, and are daily
increasing in intensity and fatality These de-
stIuetiye complaints are the natural results and
consequences entatled upon us by the 'compre-
hensive system of improvements original ed and
prosecuted by Boss Shepherd and his ring of
thieves during their rascally reign.
1.-The sewers constructed by that plundering
crew are nOtoriously inadequate for even ordinary
drainage. and during heavy rain storms their con-
Easements Of buildings on Pennsylvania avenue
and two adjoining streets in fact, dwellings on
NJ street northwest, the most elevated portion of
the city, are subject TO the same nuisance.
The main sewers and laterals are rapidly filling
with eXcrementitiOus matter. This fearful accu-
mutation Of putrid, decomp0sing animal and vege-
table substances is gradually approaching every
building that is connected with the main sewers.
The deadly gases generated by this mass Of cor
Iupticn escape directly into our houses, and are
inhaled at every breath. If we attempt to venti-
late by open doors or windows, we are met by an
atmosphere charged with infectious spores arising
from the decay and rOttenness Of the wood pave
ments.
Notwithstanding FACTS BEFORE Us,
,ur excessive and increasing death rate is of easy
solution, and we have strong reasons to expect
terrible epidemic during the coming summer
months that will destroy hundreds If not thou
sands, of our citizens"
If those who have perused the above article
knew that the pen from which 1t emanated was
paid TO malign the District of Columbia and pre-
ludice its interests should not feel called upon
TO reply, but the effect Of the article has been to
convey TO the minds of thousands beyond the lin
its of the District, and many of our own citizens,
the impression that the preyentable diseases emu
merated in the article are rioting in our midst
and that the health authorities are powerless to
arrest their progress because of the existence Of
local conditions sequel@ of the comprehensive
system of improvements" inaugurated by the late
District Government While ii is not my purpose
to discuss the merits or demerits oCthe manage
ment of the late Board Of Public Works in effect
ing remarkable improvements in the District,
desire to bear testimony to the recognized results
Of their labors, which not only beautified, but en-
hanced the salubrity OF our cities and their sur
roundings, rendering them especially desirable as
places of residence.
The gross Misrepresentation of fact embodied
fever" .typho-malariai fever sfSroGLrofl and
"dfphtheria," will be apparent upon examination
OF the following comparative statement Of NOR
delphia, Baltimore, Boston and the District of
Columbia for the quarters ending December 81,
1875, and March 81, 1876, which is correctly
COMPILED FROM THE oFFIcIAL...MoRTUARY RE-
PORTS
of the cities named. 1t is, however, proper to
I;sate that the authorities of Philadelphia and
Bai.imore do not secure correct record Of deaths,
owing, it is believed, to defective legislation,
nose GRties and ID fS that t Of the
District of Columbia, where an abso-
lutely correct record is obtained is mani
fest injustice TO our own locality, but In order TO
more clearly show the utter falsSy OF the article,
/ include those cities (Phil3lelphia and Balti-
zymotc or preventable diSsases exceeds that ofthe
District Of Columbia IL more thm fifty per cent,
while in the cities 81 New York. Brooklyn, and
Boston, where scrrect record is obtained. the
excess Is more man 100 per cent. II will also be
observed tb.t the mortality for the six months end
ing MarcS u, 1876, from the diseases enumerated
in the .rticle exceeds that of the District of Co
lup-sla by 100 per cent. in the city OF Baltimore
III per cent. in the city Of Philadelphia 225 per
cent. in the city of Nev York. and more thap 900
per cent in the cities Of Brooklyn and Boston
rAprt.