Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-06-08
MEMPHIS APPEAL
SUNDAY, JUNE s, 1879.
TO.DAY'SAPPEALCO COMPRISES
SIX PAGES.
VIZ uUAr PURIFY ay FIRE,

WE MUsT PURIFY By FIRE.
The work now being SO vigorously prose
cuted by the board OF health, aided by the
auxiliary sanitary association, affords album
dant hope for the belief thlt the day is not
far distant when Memphis will stand among
the first cities in the country In point of sani-
tstion-one of the cleanest, as well as quietest
and best ordered, cities on the continent.
Already, as we are informed by the health
authorities, since the first of May, eleven
thousand cart-loads of refuse matter have
been removed and dumped into the river,
which, under the want of system which
prevailed last year, would have been
left5 to cumber the ground, reeking
mass of rotting filth, plague-bresding and
death-dealinR, a perpetual stencil and
an eye-sore to all who value cleanliness.
Besides this great number of vaults have
bsen cleaned aud others are on the list to
be cleaned and disinfectsd, SO that there re-
mains only the bayou to be dealt with, and
this we are promised will receive attention
the coming week. For this, as a community,
we have abundant occasion to be thankful.
But much remains to be done. Sanitation is
only another name for cleanliness, and clean
illness, as all housekeepers, especially, know,
means constant, every day labor; it means to
20 over the same ground every day, and that
if one days work is left undone it doubles
that of the day following, and so on ad in
.fnitHm. What woman charged with the
care of house would permit her beds
to go unmade, or leave the rooms
unswept from one month to another?
How long would such house be habitable?
How long would it be before it was 80 over
run by vermin as to become untenantsble?
Even the pigs in stye grow fatter and are
healthier for being washed and groomed and
having clean, fresh beds. AS it with house,
so 1t is with the yard of house. 1t should
be carefully swept every day, that the accu-
mutation of trash and garbage may thus be
prevented from growing 60 the proporhons
of mountain. The backyard of residence,
the outhouses and the cellar, if there is one,
should be kept IN a condition to challenge,
not the inspection, but the admiration of all
sanitarians and of all clearly persons. Clean
illness is akin to goodness; it is the sign and
and seal of right living, and no matter how
loud one may pray, or how near to the pulpit
one may sit in church, chapel or synagogue,
they cannot claim to have fulfilled the whole
law if they are dirty in their habits, care
less as to their persons, or reckless as
to the comfort, health and lives of their
neighbors. No man can claim to be a law
abiding citizen who does MT obey every law.
1t is not enough that ne must not make a
beast of himself by getting drunk, or that he
does not play the bully with weapons IN his
hands; that he pays his taxes regularly, and
does not enjoy good government at the ex-
pense OF his neighbor. He must acquaint
himself with all the demands that those in
authority have made upon him by ordinances
or laws, and by the most scrupulous and
prompt obedience to them set an example of
what, in the fullest sense, a law-aGiding citi-
zen is. 1t will not do for him to assert his
own judgment above the law. The inter
probation that the government-mu-
nicipal, State or national-puts upon
any law is the Interpretation that
he must accept. When he has cast
his vote for officers and representatives, he
has done with his right to private Judgment,
SO far as he personally is concerned. He
he can educate a majority to his way of
thinking he may nave it repealed, or he msy
influence his representatives, through the
press, if supported by public opinion, to have
it modified. but so long as 1t stands on the
statute books It must be obeyed. No sensi-
bic man, worthy of being citizen of free
country, will gainsay this. The laws of
health, as they are spread upon the books of
the city, the State and the republic, are
among the most important OF our statutes.
They appeal with greater force than any or
all other laws tor The individual welfare.
They are made after the most mature delib.
Grafton by men Of ability, snd after the most
extended experience, with a view to the pro-
lection of the public against those plaques
and pestilences that, in countries where those
laws are totally disregarded, sweep men, wo-
men and children from the face of the earth
by thousands, sometimes hundreds of thou
sands. They are made to save us from epi-
denies like those which have left their cor
roding mark upon thousands of .sortowing
hearts In Memphis, and to bring people to
realizing sense of the terrible results that may
follow neglect and delay. Obedience to them
becomes a special virtue; and the duty of at
tanning to the fullest knowledge of them and
of all that is yet hidden from us that is essen
tial 10 their enforcement, is incumbent upon
every one of us. 1t is only few years since
physioogy-the law of our beiug-was
introduced as a special branch of study in
our schools. How much good and how
much Of benefit to men and women alike has
followed, Is apparent in the vast improve
ment of the race in every part of the coun-
try. Like results have followed a knowledge |
of and obedience to sanitary laws. liz Roche |
fort, England. where they utilise all ofal, |
ashes, garbage and excreta, in the manulac- |
ture Created by steam Of an Invaluable ma |
nure, that is harmless and odoress, and |
where water-closets have been done away
with, they have increased the general health |
sixty per cent, and diptheria, meningitis |
and scarlet fever have almost totally disap- |
peared. The river has become once more |
habitable for fish. and thus a source Of food |
supply that was closed when the &c " !
ers poured out their deadly volumes |
OF cloaca has been opened again to the poor. |
Cleanliness in this case became a double |
source of blessing, May we not hone that |
the work so well begun and so vicorouslv |
prosecuted in Memphis will, In time. hear |
similar fruit, and that sanitarians NAV vet |
find 1t necessary to come to this once plague |
stricken city to learn how much more COM