The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-05-27
A Lesson for New York-How London
Is Made . Healthy city.

conditions Of the metropolis. Many, many
| evil things have been done under the pre-
tence of government" by the adventures
and vagabonds who have from time to time
ruled this city. But the one evil thing for
which they never can be forgiven is to be
found in the fact that, while New York, from
it's situation, its proximity to the sea, the
rock formations underneath, the ease with
which it can be drained, should be one OF
the healthiest cities in the world, it is one OF
the most unhealthy. There is no city IN
Europe or America with SO dismal death
rate. We have to go to Turkey, to the
squalid, swarming masses OF Asia, to find a
parallel. We do not think it any exaggera-
ton to say that the reign Of Tweed and
Tammany Hall alone cost New York thou
sands of ,ives-lives of children swept away
by diphtheria and scarlet fever, lives Of men
aud women sacrificed to typhus and small
pox. We do not, of course, attribute the
presence of these diseases to Tweed mis-
rule. The cause, thus tar, lies beyond the
reach of government or of science. But we
do gay that if New York had been ruled
with intelligence and honesty those diseases
would have been held in check, as is done
in Paris and London; maloria would have
been extinguished and thousand of lives
saved. And if we are not doing any better
now than when the monumental robber OF
the age was at the head OF the government
it is because the policy OF burglary has
been followed by policy Of sitting. The
xv;11 ori,n,po1 aytravouepco IF the old
regime has given way to mean, narrowing
policy which believes that the way to rule a
city is to strangle it. So we remain where
we were when the bediamonded rascals of
the Americas Club were our masters and
when highway robbery was recognized in
dustry.
It is because we would have our rulers
arouse to the true value Of their work that
we print elsewhere description Of the
methods by which London is cleaned and
governed in q sanitary way. The death
rate in London is much lower than in New
York, and yet it falls behind our metropo-
lis in many of the essential conditions of
healthfulness and salubrity. London is in
land. It borders a narrow stream. The
climate is humid, foggy, depressing. These
fogs come sometimes at midday-exhala-
tons from sea and soil-and darkness over
spreads the noon as the shadows overspread
the night. AT times there are incessant
rains. Last autumn, according to the news
papers, it raiued for hundred days. There
are certain diseases which, from these
causes, may be almost regarded MS peculiar
to London diseases of tho chest and throat
and lungs. 1t may be called a city where
the sun never shines at least with that
radiant, glorious, life-impelling light which
we have in New York SO many days in the
year, and which our English friends are
compelled to seek On the Nile or tho Med
iterranean. Yet. with all these disadvan-
tages, the English metropolis is one Of the
healthiest in the world. And, notwith-
ing the advances of sanitary effort,
the rulers of London are still striving to i'm
prove it's condition. The reader will find
a record of these efforts in the letters OF our
London correspondent. The rulers are in
a constant war with malaria and dirt and
disease. The streets are cleaned by we'll
drilled force, whose work is done as surely
as the sun goes down: The sewers are we'll
built, and they carry their burden to the
sea. They are not like the mock sewers Of
the Tweed days, which gave way before the
first tide, or were left unfinished and COW
cred up to become pest holes and fever
nests Rigid sanitary laws are imposed
upon the people. No man can be law
unto himself and to his neighbor SO far as
the generation of nuisances is concerned.
He must respect the genera. law. which sub
ordinates Inc cupidity and sefishness Of the
one to the welfare OF all.
"But system like this of Paris or Lon
don will cost money" we are told by the
timid souls who now claim to govern"
New York. Of course it will cost money.
IF thereis one thing we want to do it is 10
pay money-for the general welfare. We
are not mean people. We are ready to
give our rulers imperial power if they will
show an imperial intelligence. We sre pre-
pared to spend twenty millions Of dollars
on the improvement Of Now York, knowing
that it will bring back hundred millions
in another generation. But we wan. this
money to GO to its true use, and not to
horde of Ingersolls and Garveys and
Woodwards. First of all, we want a
thorough SANITARY system. Let as carry
out the nctlo policy Of tho men
VINO built the Groom Aqueduot, men
who did Roman work and who are
worthy of Roman fame Our whole
sewer system should be revised. Every
loot of the main sewers should be examined,
aud where weak made whole. These sewers
should be extended so as to embrace not
only the developed sections of the city but
the outlying seotaen, which one day will be
the seat OF metropolis in itself We