The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-12-14
SANITARY REFORM.

NdIDbhS hH3 tpHliitbiilR tIlIllbilS prevail HH
to the practicabiity of excluding yellow fever
from this city by rigid system Of quaran-
tine Able physicians hold that the pestience
is endemic, and other physicians of equal emil
hence are firm In the belief that 1t is always
imported into our midst, and that the germ
once destroyed by severe winter, 1t may
be forever excluded from these shores. In
short, the efficacy or inefIleacy of quarantine
Is a debatable question, or rather an expert
mental proposition. But, as to the importance
OF thorough and well devised sanitary sys-
tenn to the general health Of a community
and the mitigation of yellow fever epidemic,
there seems not to be dissenting opinion.
The celebrated British commission, which
convened fifty years ago to investigate" yell
low fever, made but one positive pronounce
ment, and that was az to the absolute neces
sity of rigid sanitary measures The mem
bers of the Public Health Association, who
devoted the whole of their recent session in
Richmond to the subject Of yellow fever diff
fered widely upon almost every point pre-
scented; but they unanimously concurred In
the opinion that thorough sanitary measures
ought to be enforced In all cities subject TO the
RpDHIRh+ ' ne lfllDW ttNfl ttfHluiSSibn IT.
ported to the Same effect, and tho Homno-
pathie commission. which sat in this city a
few days ago, presented the necessity Of saui
tary reform as the single ascertained means
of checking or mitigating the fever. Physi-
clans who believe in quarantine and physi-
clans who dsbclievc in It, sanitarians and sci
entists in every field, concur upon this prop
ositiun
Here. then, we have one standpoint estab-
lished by universal opinion from which to
operate for the protection Of New Orleans
against such calamitous visitations as that Of
last summer. or for the mitigation of the
seventies of such visitations.
In this city alone there were 1919 persons
who died Of the fever during the recent cpl
demic But this grim death record conveys
but a faint idea of the amount of human
lowed In the trail of the pestilence or of the
almost irreparable loss in property, business
and industry which 1t caused. Taking In the
whole field over which the fever spread, we
find that fully fourteen thousand lives fell
victims to tt. Great as was the sympathy
and charity Of the civilized world, strained to
its utmost tension, 1t was to the sweep Of the
pestience with: its trail of misery and death,
but as a handful of rose leaves scattered upon
the baleful bosom of the Sirocco.
Now then. standing still on the verge OF
that awful visitation. ignorant Of It's nature
and of ell other means of protection in the
future 1t Ia the duty Of the authorities of this
city and State to recognize the one single un-
disputed means of ameliorating the virulence
Of the pestlence, If we cannot exclude it.
From this time forward, and through
out the coming spring and summer,
the utmost vigilance should be exercised
in cleaning the city. The present Ad-
minstrator of improvements Is man OF
capacity and Of extraordinary energy and
force of character. He is also young man
with future before him. No man in such a
position has oyer had so excellent an oppor-
tunity Of making, himself, instead of mere
ofliceholdcr. q public benefactor. He has
started on the right line, and we are assured
he will push his work to the full extent of the
means at his command But there Is a
larger work yet to he done. The powers Of
the Board of Health should be increased
It should be in the highest sense OF the
term sanitary bureau. We believe that no
person should hereafter be allowed to put up
a building, however humble or however pre-
tentious, except in compliance with specified
regulations for ventilation, drainage. etc In
1904, when the yellow fever was ravaging this
city, President Jefferson, in letter to Gov.
Claiborne, quoted by Judge Gayarre In his
history of Louisiana. predicted that New
Orleans would become one day one OF
the greatest cities on the continent, but he
suggested rs protection against future
cpidemics Of yellow fever, that 1t should
be laid out In squares like a ehequer
board, leaving the white squares I'M
built forever and planted with trees. The
idea of this greatest of Americans was that
the city would thus be kept cool. SO that.
the germ or poison Of yellow fever, which fer
mcnts and spreads in hot and fntid atmos-
phere, would, even II imported here. lose
much of its vitality and viruence.
The plan proposed by Mr. Jefferson for the
extension of New Orleans is now, OF course,
impossible; but by proper sanitary laws,
rigidly enforced, 1t may yet be made one
of the cleanest and coolest cities in
America. We do not believe that filth Gre
ates yellow fever We do not believe that
any OF our experienced physicians believe that
1t does. But closely built houses, ill-vent
lated rooms. novels. yards and streets, intensi-
~ the summer heat of our atmosphere and the
fermentation Of masses Of filth naturally aids
the heating process. And thus, with miles of
ill-built tenements. squalid, unventilated
houses, with yards and streets filled with
heated and fernlenting garbage, the tempera-
ture Of a large portion of our city 10 summer
is frequently equal to, if not greater. than
that of the torrtd regions in which the We How
death lives and revels.
Let US, then, have general sanitary sys-
TEN for cooling and cleansing this city. Let
us have laws requiring houses to be built
with proper drainage, and with ventilation
underneath and throughout the buildings.
Let us have city waterworks which, from
June until October, will pour through our
streets one continuous health giving and cool
ing stream OF running water Situated On the