The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1881-09-16


and Cairo is in a terrible fix, indeed. We
are in favor of putting the screws to every
overseer who fails to keep his road in
good repair. On the road We speak Of,
nearly all the bridges are really dangerous.
Willow Creek bridge has, Cor had last
Thursday, nearly whole plank gone. 1t
is astonishing to us that stock do not get
their legs broken on this road every day.
We are not exaggerating. There are prob
ably some fifteen little bridges between
Blandville and Cairo, and at least four
ffths of them are unsafe. We suppose it is
some ones duty to see to such things, and
hope it will be'done at once.
Three or four cases Of poisoning from
canned meats and fish, which have lately
occurred in Cincinnati, suggest that the
persons engaged in the business of preserv-
ing articles of food IN cans in tins city and
elsewhere must be careful. Any chemist
could furnish them with information which,
if conscientiously applied to their opera
TONS would enable them to guard with alb.
solute certainty against all danger from the
absorption of poison from the cans into
their contents; and there are equally etfec-
tive means Of avoiding the canning OF
meats that have already become poisonous
through decomposition. The canning bust
ness has grown into an extensive and lucra-
tive industry, but it will be well tor all
concerned to remember that it may be bro
ken down as rapidly as 1t has been built
up. Housekeepers find canned articles
very convenient. They will not long con-
tinue to buy and use them, however, at the
risk of lite. The houses engaged in this
business are no less interested than the
public in the thorough and immediate re-
form of the carelessness by which the pois-
oning of that kind of TODD becomes posi-
BILE, for every report OF the effects of such
carelessness injuriously affects sales, and a
few cases like those of recent occurrence in
Cincinnati will utterly destroy the demand
for such perilous stuff.
Many people Of CAIRO seem to be uu-
der the impression that the marine hospital
Is somewhat of a charity institution, where
sick paupers can go and be treated, free Of
charge, and that it is therefore relief to
the authorities of the city and county.
This is an erroneous impression. The ma
rine hospital is not, in any sense, charity
institution. The marine hospital system
of the country is established and upheld
by the government at the expense OF all
marine and river men-lt is the only feat
ure in this republican government, which
partakes of the form of what may be termed
"paternal government" and is in direct con-
tradiction to the fundamental principles of
a republican form of government. Yet it
cannot be said that il is not good thing
for mariners. Those who are en-
titled to treatment in these
hospitals must present certificates proving
that they are in active service on some wa
ter craft and.that they have paid the gov
eminent forty cents each month out of their
wages with which to MAINTAIN these hos
pitfalls. This forty cents must be paid each
month"; even though the payer be not in
condition to need once in his whole life the
hospital which he thus helps to maintain.
The man who is unable to present. certif-
cate of the kind referred to can not be
treated at the hospital even though he were
at the point of death, and DR.. Carter Would
lay himself liable 10 instant dismissal were
he to violate this rule. DR.. Carter is not
even permitted, by the regulations Of the
marine service, to use the Office he occupies
in the custom house for any but marine
practice, and, were the rules rigidly enforced
would be liable to censure if not discharged
for even writing a prescription in the gov
eminent Office for patient who is not a
marine. This seems harsh, Of course, but it is
nevertheless true. The marine hospital in
this city is not an institution by itself, il is
branch of st. Mary's hospital, which is
conducted by the Sisters of Loretto, and the
Sisters are renumerated by the government
for their very valuable services and for the
use of the necessary room in their buildings.
Those persons who, not being marines, but
being without means and in need OF med
ical aid, are sent not to the marine branch
of the hospital, but to st. Marys hospital,
where they receive the best of treat
ment at the expense of the city, or the
county, or Cairo's kind-hearted physicians,
railroad men and citizens generally. Thus
it will be seen that the marine hospital does
in no way and to no extent relieve the
community Of the care of