Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-08-04

nervous ana GlnllU anu bhcse lncllneu "
anticipate all kinds of evil for this much
vexed globe.
UNsANIrARY HOMES CT THE RTCH.
Generally the belief obtains that IN
sanitary conditions prevail mainly in the
quarters of the poor. But Charles F. Win.
gate, in a recent able paper, has demon
strated that very largely the homes of the
rich are in a wretched condition, because
of the defective plumbing bad ground
drainage, the carelessness of servants, and
thelack of ventilation and this is especially
true of the houses of the wealthy in great
cities. The new residence of the Duchess
of Connaught, says DR.. Playfair, is almost
a pest-house from the prevalence of sewer
gas. The costly houses of Murray Hill are
but little better off, as regards domestic
sanitation, than the tenements Of Baxter
street. Proper ventilation in many of the
great houses of the land is a lost art, and
the upper rooms are constantly poisoned
by the vapors from damp cellars and de-
fective cOld.air registers. Water tanks
and cisterns are contaminated by soil
pipes, and sinks and fixed washstands are
storehouses for the seeds of disease. OF
35l houses examined in Chicago, 50 per
cent. proved to be imperfect in drainage,
In st. Louis the health authorities reported
no one house with proper drainage in 1879.
In Brooklyn the finest homes on ''The
flights, swept by ocean winds daily, are
polluted by sewer and cesspool gases. Like
reports come from Washington, Philadel-
phia, Cincinnati and San Francisco. The
cause ia attributed to the deceit of plum
bers, who are, by sharp competition and
the greed of builders, forced to palm off
poor for good work, and to the careless
ness of men of wealth who intrust the
sanitation of their homes to contractors
and incompetent persons. A mansion in
New York city, costing SIS. 900, was found
to have no fue in it that would draw"
the bathroom ventilation was by a trausom
over bed above, and one of the first occu-
pants of that bed died of typhoid fever.
Plumbing practice has not developed as
rapidly as other mechanic arts, and even
where good workmen are found, they are
not permitted to do frst-class work, for
the conscientious worker must yield
to the exactions of contractors who
are encouraged by the offers of
plumbers reckless as to the results
OF their "jobs" In small towns, where
good plumbers are not usually to be found,
the case is worse, as the whole work is
oftenest left to tinsmiths who are unquali-
fed for the important trust. In the case
of fine houses built for rental in cities the
situation is, in the majority of cases, very
bad, and drainage, ventilation, trapping
and ground publication, are of the poorest
quality. Even at seaside watering places
there is very little improvement, and
typhoid fever and malarial diseases are
quite as prevalent as elsewhere, and solely
because OF the defective sanitary arrange
ments of the hotels and dwellings. Busi-
ness men prematurely age and grow worn
and haggard in appearance, and this is at
tributed to the badly drained and poorly
ventilated offices they occupy in the cities
in the majority of cases. Wingate's Is a
sweeping indictment, and we are confident
that he has not greatly overcolored the
picture he draws. But it is to be borne in
mind that the people are awaking to
realization of the facts. Dealers in first
class plumbing supplies declare that within
brief time the demand for such goods has
very greatly increased. The agitation of
sanitary questions by the press has called
public attention to their Importance, and
there is reason to believe that within the
next four or five years radical reform
will be worked in domestic sanitation
throughout the country generally. The
people have disabused themselves Of the
idea that the sanitary dogma is merely the
extravaganza OF alarmlsts and sanitary
engineers, Boards of Health and physicians
The demand for fresh air is rapidly grow
ing one on the part of householders and
renters. We are firmly fixed in the belief
that the day of unsanitary conditions in
public buildings and mansions of the rich
is nearly ended, and that more enlight-
ened sentiment is taking the place of the
carelessness of the past regarding the SAM.
tary regulations in municipalities, and
their enforcement in all residence and bust
ness quarters. There can be no question
that in the light the sanitary science now
sheds, the past in our houses regarding in.
telligent sanitary regulations is revealed as
wretched one in the majority of cases,
whether the home is that of the rich or
the moor man