Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-07-30

city drainage and sewage disposal VIII De
held 1t is suggested at the German Court
that the Powers also take steps by threats
of drastic regulations to awaken the peo-
pies where cholera originates to some re-
FORM activity, but little, however, can be
looked for in that direction, as portion OF
these are devoted to form of religion,
some practices of which lead to outbreaks
of virulent disease.
Out of all this there must come great
good 1t is possible to destroy the nests to
which cholera resorts in Europe, and by
widespread sanitation of seaports, i'm
proved drainage of towns and cities, and
enforced regulations as to cleanliness, to
so clip the wings of cholera as to render it
impossible for it to spread to any consid-
cradle extent. So too, by international
quarantine convention, it is possible to in
terpose almost insurmountable barriers to
| its progress by sea.
OF course, all this takes time. No regen-
Grafton of the drainage economy of Euro
pean towns can be accomplished in any
brief time 1t will be many year before
the people of the old countries, who most
need it, can be brought to adopt the results
of sanitary discovery and research for the
| prevention of disease As cholera is a filth
disease, it is prevenhble, and when these
two facts are thoroughly beaten into the
municipal governments of France, Italy
and Germany, we may expect the first
practical check to the crusade of cholera to
be interposed. If a beginning is made this
year, however it will be q great step in ad-
vance.
Take Toulon, for instance, as an example
| of what must be done. Her drainage emp
ties into harbor basin where there is the
minimum of tidal effects practically none
and as a consequence the filth of the city
has for years been accommodating in the
basin. In the same city, since the cholera
assault, an old and forgotten main sewer,
choked to fullness with the foulest matter,
and reeking with filth, has been discovered
| running directly beneath the chief hospital
of the place. In Marseilles too, through
| the cholera quarter runs canal brim-full
with sluggish water charged to the max
| imum with decaying animal and vegetable
matter, while in all the poorer quarters the
| cutters, drains, alleys and streets are indie
scribably filthy, and have been for years,
the authorities having wholly neglected
the sanitation of the section. In that quar-
! ter the cholera with an unerring finger
| points to its antidote, for there is where the
pest began and where it maintains its head
| quarters.
There is reason to believe, we repeat, that
out of the scare " of this year great good
will come, and that the civilized world will
| benefit by closer attention being given to
| the laws of sanitation. AS a result the
public health will be improved, the average
lease of life actually enlarged and the dan
ger of suffering from filth diseases much
reduced.
THE San Francisco Chronicle should be
able to state matters concerning proceed
ings in u public body with ordinary &C
curacy. 1t does not always serve its pur-
pose, however, to do so. In such cases it
| never heSitateS to misstate. For instance
it declares that the issue regarding the
| formation of the late State Republican
| Convention was, whether the Chair should
name the committee or not. Now in fact
I there was no such issue presented. The
question raised by Mr.. Parks, of Yuba,
did not concern the method Of choosing the
committee, which was in fact selected by
the delegates from Assembly districts, but
| the whole debate related to the proportion
! of representation of the interior compared
to that from San Francisco. No matter
| how the question might have been decided,
| there was no issue made as to the Chair
naming or not naming the committee, nor
| did it enter into the debate on the question
to restrict San Francisco representation on
the committee to a smaller number.
| The Chronicle distorts the facts ia a futile
| effort 20 show that the Convention demand
ed sort of Stockton anti-railroad fulmina-
ton in the platform to satisfy its stomach.
The fact is that it was almost the unan-
| imous voice of the delegations that the
| platform to be adopted should be simply
an affirmation of the national platform,
and at least two District Conventions passed
resolutions to that effect. There was at no
time any desire entertained, expressed or
evidenced, on the part of the Convention
or the delegates TO have the body make
such spectacle of itself as was done by
the Democracy at Stockton, nor anything
like it. in fact, conservatism was the rule
from the beginning to the end of the Con-
yention. and the conservative spirit was so
manifest that no one could mistake it or
doubt its sincerity.