New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-04-07
TIE CITY,S HEALTH.

| Washed by rivers with strong tides to carry
AWAY the filth from its sewers and favOrably sit
uated in other respects, New York should be one
of the healthiest cities in the world. That u Is
not is due entirely to preventable causes. Inc
average o. the annual death rate exceeds that
of London, Paris, Philadelphia and other large
| cities Recent statistics show the rate or NOR
taity in New York to be 1886 in every l,oCc
inhabitants, as compared with 22.l3 in Phlla-
delphia, 20 in London and 21.2 in Berlin.
During tho present winter the death rate has
been comparatively low. The absence of heavy
| snow storms has enabled the streets to be kept
cleaner, and this has no doubt contributed
largely to the exceptionally low death rate.
The same reasons which give New-4ork
high tax rate-a lax and inefficient administra-
ton of its municipal affairs conduce to great
mortality. High taxes mean high rents, which
lead to crowded tenements with their ac-
comnonving evils Two-thirds Of the deaths
occur in tcnements. Bad pavements and defec-
tive sewerage, due to tho mismanagemcnt OF
city officials also greatly affect the pubic
health. A good share of the mortality Is
directly or indirectly due to the extraordinary
number of rum shops. which carry want, disease
and death in their train. Such causes are OF the
preventable kind.
There is hardly mile of pavement in the city
that is in good condition. The deprcssons per-
nit the water to become stagnant in the streets
| Tho stones are often loosely laid, and on an in
sufficient foundation, so that the ground be-
comes saturated with filthy water, and the
I crevices become filed with offensive decaying
mattcr-conditons highly injurious to the pub
! lie health particularly in warm weather. with
| the pavements in such bad state the work OF
street cleaning is made more difficult In fact
n thorough cleansing of the streets, such as
takes place in Paris, is impossible in New lork
under the present system of maintaining the
pavemcnts. No doubt the great Improvement
| in the cleanliness of the streets, under the
! influence of the street cleaning reform Gglta-
! ton of three years ago, has had considerable to
| do with lowering the death rate. But much
more can be accomplished in the same direction.
The i'll effect of bad city government on the
public health is not generally appreciated. The
! terrible neglect and waste of health and human
! life in the metropolis aroused the people some
| wears ago to the establishment of the Netropoli-
| tan Board of Health. The law passed at that
time became the basis of the Sanitary Code
under which the city is now governed. 1t is
generally regarded as one of the best sanitary
codes in the world The great trouble is the
failure to enforce it. Its prohibition of the sale
of adulterated articles of food injurious to the
public health was shown recently by a Senate
! Committee to be wholly disregarded But
much has been accomplished by the Health
Board since its organization. The death rate
| among children under five years of age has been
reduced from So in every 100 to 45-a saving
/ a. IL, l. Iro, A,,1 hot
is good deal-especially considering that the
deaths outnumbered the total births in 1883
! five thousand. The cellar dwellings, 80 numer-
Gus when the Board of Health was established,
have now disappeared. There has been n
decided improvement in the condition OF tene-
ment houses. Incompetent persons are no longer
permitted to construct plumbing arrangements
| and in many other ways influences steadily
at work to improve the public health. better
supply of water, which will enable the streets
and sewers to be flushed in summer, will be of
material assistance.
Experience proves that tho same general
measures of sanitary improvement in districts
and In dwellings, in public and personal
hygiene. cOnduce to the general reduction OF
mortality from the constitutional and many of
the infammatOry diseases, as well as from the
infectious and other zymOtic maladies In the
town Of Ely, in England, the death rate was
reduced 45 per cent because of sanitary i'm
provements. There Is no doubt that it can
easily be made much lower In this city. 1t is
now practicable to point out the local cOndi-
tons and social circumstances out Of which
more than 20 in every 100 who die might be
saved to ripper and more useful years of life
under the influence of improved hygienic sur
rOundings. TO bring about the necessary changes
in New-York requires the Improvement Of the
city government, the eradication of large pro-
portion of the liquor shops which breed so much
filth and disease, better tenements, and other
| things the result of legislation and an intelh-
gent public interest in the question.