The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-06-25
CITY HALL.

|
CITY HALL.
A Debate on the Health Ordinance.
| The usual dryness of our Council meetings
was dlspeIled for o few moments yesterday
during the consideration OF the sanitary or
dinances submitted for adoption to the Council
| BY the Board Of Health. AS anticipated. the Or
dinance was materially amended the pigeon
nuisance clause being eliminated. together
\ with that concerning the construction or
privies. and as we'll such others that are al
ready In force. The ordinance. rs 1t now stands
| provides for the Imprisonment of violators Of
the law In case Of non-payment: the penalty
which is left to the discretion Of the recorders,
cannot exceed fine OF s25, or imprisonment
not exceeding thirty days In the Parish Prison.
! 1t was on the question Of the adoption Of the
clause requiring householders to use certain
contrivances to shut of from their cistern the
first water that falls on the roof Of their houses
during rain. that the debate began. It was
| unimportant, however, and the clause was
| finally rejected unanimously as being imprac-
ticable and liable to impose hardships upon
| the people. with only problematic results for
| their good.
The section relating to the keeping OF cows
without conveniences to maintain cleanliness
gave an opportunity to Administrator Marks to
oppose what he termed the giving of extraor-
clause was deficient in that It did not define the
| nufsancbs specifically, 81 d lett it to the Board
OF Health to determine what constituted u nut
The Mayor expressed his belief that the board
already had that power BY the statutes, but Mr..
9 a ne an 3 n o ms nrdve to b he
alternate penalty Of Imprisonment.
Administrator Houston 10 bis turn spoke en-
ters Of our people. he asserted. failed to keep
their premises clean. and Judging from the
character Of tn men comprising the Board Of
| Health he could not admit that they would sub
/ ject the people to unnecessary embarrassments
or inconyeniences, and much less to oDpres-
upon them q enforce The sanitary
| The severity OF small pox. diphtheria and kid
dred diseases IN certain localities evidenced
/ the necessity OF stringent measures.
/ Administrator Houston also spoke in favor Of
the cause requiring privies to be constructed
aboye gGon v 1t as en- q re most
Administrator Marks contended that this
physicIans ii tie Board Of Health were thsm.
selves ABOUT equally divided in opinion on the
subject. One OF the members OF the board had.
| in tact. at the conference on the previous day
| said to the Council that no action need be taken
upon the subject at present. as 1t was the pur-
pose of the board to inquire further into the
Administrator Houston replied that that
| being the case he would not insist upon the
adoption Of the section, but he. nevertheless.
would insist that the privy nuisance was q
shameful one. which ought to be abated In some
way.
| Of Health to remove small pox patients to the
| hospital when, In their opinion, the case might
endanger the lives OF people living in crowded
Administrator Marks took the floor and des-
canted at length on the objections which sug-
# might AnfnrcAd
/ against the poorer classes. and that 1t would
work hardshtps against the people: that it
f Esslt e. nuoh power y TACT e me Board q
Administrator Houston, after making pic
eolored tenements.. particularly and the inabil-
ity OF these people to conveniently care for their
sick, expressed himself perfectly satisfied hat
the Board Of Health would not abuse its power,
| but would exercise it judciously and only
where 1t was absolutely necessary and the rela-
1 tives Of the suffering from contagious diseases
had not the means or ability to properly attend
to them. The measure was intended to pre-
serve the health and lives Of those very poor
people about whose welfare Mr.. Marks Was SO
Administrator Marks. nevertheless, contend
ed that it was wrong to give SO much titude to
of the people. He did not think the govern
ment had any right to invest them with 80
Mr.. Houston insinuated that Mr.. Marks was
catering to popular sentiment. He insisted
that 1t was necessary that the poor should be
Il
given proper treatment when they, could not
i afford 1t themse yes; and beside. 1t was the
duty of the government to protect poor. people
| who were phi g and healthy against the mis-
! fortunes that befell other poor paople.
i Administra or Marks took occasion here to
| say that twice had it been thrown into his teeth
| that he spoke to make popularity for himself;
this he denied was the case. He was simply
performing his duty as a member Of the city
| government. as a represe ntative of the peOpls,
! In giving expression to his opinion, which he
would continue to do boldly, without fear or
During the debate Administrator Houston
took occasion to say also. that this idea Of CIV
ing too much power to the Board ct Health was
| simply a city ordinance which. even If it were
power. could be repealed BY the Council imme-
i The Mayor now spoke from the chair. He
said that the Board Of Health was already
clothed with the same powers by statutory laws.
the board had resulted from the law. The sec
| ton was then adopted.
The section empowering the board to prevent
communication between healthy people and
| people sick with contagious diseases was
stricken out on motion of Mr.. Houston. who
maintained that since physicians communi-
Gated with those six it Il, was immaterial that
was made of the section authorizing the board
| to destroy the clothing and bedding Of the sick
4 in similar cases, and also of the clause pro-
h1biting the keeping Of pigs and geese within
| certain limits
The section relating to the water supply was
adopted. lit requires that landlords shall pro-
vide an adequate supply Of water. by means Of
| in their tenements, the question of adequacy
being left tothe board Like as at the meeting
flthe Sanitary Association. It was shown that
| only Inadequate but did not even exist. and
that III some OF the rear portions OF the city the
| flushing water In the cutters was used By the