St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-07-20
Cholera and Sanitation.
To the Editor of the Globe.


The cholera is making fearful havoc in
France. It's arrival in New York is only a
question of time, and then it will very prob
ably come with gigantic. strides across the
continent to the far west as it has done on
former occasions. Let us hope to the con-
trary, but let US not shut our eyes to facts, as
If that would prevent them finding US out.
The sanitary deficiencies of dwelling houses
in this country are alarming at any time to
one who knows the effects of such causes,
but more SO than ever at time like the pre-
sent. / see houses that have already lived
their best days still without the slightest pre-
tence of drainage and with no sanitary con-
veniences but groups Of abominable hidden
closets crowded in close neighborhood to the
back door and the pump, which latter is thus
inevitably fed by their partially filtered
out soakings as well as by the foul waste
water which, in default of drains, is
poured at large on the soil hard by, and
find in such conditions ample causes of the
diarrhoea and cholera morbus which daily
come to my knowledge, and of other and far
worse scourges which may any day be laid
have charge of such matters to get us freed
from at the earliest possible moment; and in
the meantime it is their duty to reduce them
as far as possible by using and making others
use proper disinfectants and antiseptics.
Unfortunately, in these northern climates,
| even more than elsewhere, the attempt to
abolish such evils as those spoken of often
! leads to the introduction of far greater.
though less commonly recognized ones. 1t
is insisted on as primary law of health by
all competent sanitarians that every water
closet in an inhabited building should be
| provided with ample light and air directly
! from outside; that the apparatus should be
| fixed against an external wall, through which
| the soil pipe at once passes from the closet
| trap, and goes down outside to the ground
| (where it has fresh air inlet and up to the
roof Of the house, above which it harInlessly
discharges whatever foul air may be gener-
ated in itself. Waste pipes from sinks, baths,
lavatories, and whatever else, are rightly to
be taken straight away out through the
nearest external wall, and thence to the
ground, where they are cut off and discharged
into a short channel leading to an open
drain guley properly trapped. This is what
ought to be done, and what in England at
least, is now universally insisted on by the
sanitary laws and authorities; but in this
part of the United States it is not and, owing
TO the severity of the winter, cannot be done
! Water closets and other conyeniences are
pushed into central positions to be safe from
frost and are thus debarred from both light
and ventilation; the soil pipes and waste
pipes are taken down internally to the drain
without any ventilation and with only the
miserably intellectual barrier of trap to keep
back sewer gas while they continue sound.
| and nothing whatever as soon rs they begin
| to leak. All the while our houses are kept
dramatically sealed against the pure cold air
outside, and still heated to a degree which
would be injurious even if the air itself were
frequently changed and pure, (Which it al
most never isl and the mode of heating we're
| as harmless as it is COMMONLY hurtful. The
condition of such house is exactly as if it
were huge NOTWITHSTANDING at every source
! from which it can obtain colder and denser
air. and among such sources the most pro-
ductive are the soil pipes and waste pipes.
| So strong is this suction power of a we'll
warmed house that it is found there is per-
ceptible current of air down through the soil
outside, under the foundations and ND
| through the cellar floor where this is not of
imperyious material. How great then is the
folly of thinking that drop of dirty water
in trap win keep back foul gases with
which the pipes are stuffed full while the
house is sucking at them. What wonder
that diphtheria and other dread diseases are
more common here in winter than in sum
mer. Perhaps there are no quite effectual
remedies to be had for these evils without
some sacrifice of convenience and custom:
but there are remedies. and not one danger
that have named need have place in any
home. Respectfully,
VIM. SIMMONS,