The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-06-10
WHY CHILDREN OF THE POOR DIE
THE NEW YORK BOARD OF HEALrHs FIGHT
WITH THE MEN WHO SELL WATER FOR
MILK,
IN. I. World. 4

A
IN I. World.
After much urging from the medical pro
}. established the Board of Health for th,
= purpose of checking in some degree The
' frigatful mortality then existing among tn,
9 eenement-housea and cellar population Of e..
8 city. The death rate as a whole was very
D much higher then than it 10 now. but NO
where was it more sppalliDg than among
children less than five years old. They
, formed only about one, seventh of the en-
tire population, but their contribution to
: the death rate amounted to fully SO
per cent. In other words, one out of seven
of these died, as against one out Of forty
!, five of people of all other ages.
The first work of the board was the in
PRODUCTION of various reforms in drainage
and ventilation in the poorer quarters of
the city, compelling the vacation of cellars
as habitationR, preventing Overcrowding
in teuements aud enforcing gratuitous vac
cination. This work was as thoroughly
and energeticsliy performed as the laws
and circumstances would allow, and a per-
ceptible Improvement in the city's health
was the result. By steadily and persistent
ly, often in face of formidable opposition.
keeping to the work, the death rate among
| the younger children has been brought
down to 4S per cent. of the whole, a reduc-
tlon of per cent. and a clear saving of
900 lives years, even if it is assumed that
the older part of the population has not
been benefited at all. But it is not alone
in the saving of life that the gain lies. On
serions illness 20 the every death so it is
safe to calculate that "a 900 cases of sick
ness have been prevented yearly.
great deal of work is still to be done.
however, for protecting the lives and health
of the new gene' q ion. Out of over I30 900
n h..fn ftun
thousand still die dnring each year. The
most recent effort Of the board in this d
rection has been toward, securpg pure and
wholesome food for this portion of the
population, in order not only that they |
may be saved from death hut III at they NAV
grow mp to robust and not sickly matu
rity. Recognizing that between the ages of
one and five the main nourishment of these |
children consists in the milk sold by deal |
ere, the board undertook to analyze this |
milk, in order to discover it's degree of |
purity. II was found that while the richer |
and more Intelligent citizens were supplied |
with milk but slightly watered, that sold to |
the poor and ignorant by the small grocers |
IN the tenement house districts was more |
than one half water. The wasted forms of |
the delicate children fed on this milk but |
too plainly showed the result. While the |
holding capacity of the stomach and its
power of digestion were tried as much by |
the adulterated fluid as they would have
been by the pure milk, the amount of food
extracted therefrom was very much less,
80 that child starting out with good,
healthy system very soon, in it's effort to
get sufficient amount of nourishment,
ruined that system by attempting enforced
ly to digest larger quantity of matter
than nature had provided for. The inevi-
table consequence was either death or q
stnnted delicate life.
The efforts of the board in trying to re-
form this evil met with the most bitter
hostility from those interested in maintain
pg it. The actual sales of water as milk I
amounted to several thousand dollars per
lay, SO that there were millions in It,"
The courts were appealed to, and after
'everal test cases, wherein a number of
chemists of the highest reputation were :
,alled in on both sides to testify about the t
lurtfulness of the adulterated mixture, it
,ecame recognized that any further med
ling with the " children's food would g
'ripg certain punishment with it if discov
red. In SO far the present milk supply is :
ertainly purer than it was before. The
redit for its being 80 is due to Professor
'harles F. Chandler, the President of the
'oard of Health, who by perseverance, in his L
and his thorough scientific
nowledge compelled the administrators of s
1e law to recognize the character of the a
lrther INDUCE in its practice. fr
The World then gives a list Of $50 milk
en- who were convicted of adulteration
! complaint of the Board of Health. The
nes collected from them amounted to L
;, 900, while a number were senten ced to
ten days.