National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-03-29
DEATH IN THE SCHOOLS.
Water.Closefs in the Basemenis - They
should he Removed at Once.

A citizen" in communication to The
REPUBLICAN,, makes the following important state
ment: Sensible men do not build houses now-G-
days with pipss from the sewer to their bedrooms
or any other inhabited part Of the house. Nor do
they build school houses over water-cloSets. The
idea of keeping hundreds of human beings OF ten
der age five or six hours day. five days together,
to breathe the subtle poison ascending in gases
from numerous urinals and water-closets Is alb
horrent to every we'll regulated mind. No trap mas
been found to prevent It's ascent 1t gives no alarm
by foul smell, but peuneates the atmosphere, car
ryng into the lungs of children the seeds of con-
sumption and typhoid fever. These are the
scourges of Washington, attributable chiefly to
sewer connections, basement closets, and similar
sources offoul air. No enemy of the public school
system could devise more fatally dangerous at
tack upon it than to construct in each building,
In It's basement, radiating distributor OF deadly
diseases. In several school buildings recently
erected in this District the waterclosets and uri-
mails have been placed in the basement. and the
excellent street building, now being erected. is
to be ruined in the same manner. III justice 1t
must be stated that neither the school trustees nor
the health officer have approved such violation
of sanitary law. 1t is generally understood that
this mode of building school-houses is due to the
peculiar views OH hygiene entertained By the
president of the board Of Commissioners, Mr..
Dent. At its last session Congress testified
its d.sapprobaiion by carefully excluding the
Commissioners from all power over tie plans for
the three buildings to be erected in the next fiscal
year Such a strong hint should have been taken,
and the Commissioners should have changed the
P street plan in this respect 1t now seems as il
they will not Mr.. Eutwisle and DR.. Townshend,
appOintees of the Commissioners, were constituted
last week committee for whitewashing purposes.
The former attempts to make the school trustees
share the blame, and thinks there can be no
odor when properly attended to- The latter says:
L have always been opposed to the locating OF
closets and urinals in school buildings, except
when absolutely necessary for want of yard space,
&c. Let me add that the Doctor has the credit of
having, i'll 1879, caused the removal of the water
closets at the Seaton school building from the base
ment to the yard. (See his report in 1872 page 26)
The best the Doctor can say for the president OF
the Commissioners is in effect, that if the tanks
are flushed twice daily, if they are scrubbed out
weekly and if dSinfectants are used occasionally,
then, these ifs being all fulfilled, there is no
danger If the sky falls we shall catch larks.
The health of several hundred children ought not
to depend on q more or less careless janitor. Let
me try my hand at an if 1t is: If the Commits
soners will erect these necessary nuiSances in the
yard the children will run risks; if not, there
will be not massacre but slow poisoning, of the
innocents.'