The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-05-13
Filth and Disease.

Ibkf OtfS Juno
Tho little town OF Plymouth, in Pennsylvn.
nin, furnishes q striking Illustration or inc
disastrous consequences OF Ignoring sanitary
laws. 1t Is n place Of less thnn, SIX thousand
other matters that they let the town 20 10 rot,
nntil filth got The mastery, polluted the water
supplies and sp: cnd pcstiIcncc among them.
Disease of n typhoid character sm0tc them
with great violence and hcrumc epidemic.
From u few In the beginning, more than WI
W, cts ago, The cus cS have increased toa nun
drcd md fifty aud II hundred and seventy i've
a day in town and suburbs, WIN SOMETHING'S
eight or ten deaths q day. Scarcely Il family
In town that has not contributed one or more
to the graveyard. while the energies OF THE Nv
Ing have been wholly taken up In caring ior
the stricken, and, the doctors, reinforced Ivy
volunteer physicians from other place, have
been kept on the move night and day. To
add to the calamity Of disease. many Of the
people arc now suffering for the ncccssaries OF
life, which must DO supplied by the churlt1-
An effort is now being male to clear mp the
filth, open up the sewers and let The poison
lion Of closing the stable door after the horse
has been stolen.
There is one thing certain. Sol or!alhcing
can violate natures laws without paying the
small, ignore sanitary conditions without
paying the penalty. Cause and effect. Filth
and disoase. Let rotten garbage NIL the sew,
erS-di% graves rs the result OF me Sr',m,na.
Dll Z III vi tt ttsS y"
should never be built because they nre the re-
ccptacles Of the drainage. OF the higher
grounds, and absorb the NTH that Is washed
down to them by the rains, but naturally
hcalthful iucuttons may he made pestilencc
breeders by ncglcctiny the laws of clcnnlincss
that all rational communities should observe.
There Is no more excuse or rcnson for hithy
streets and alleys, than there is for fithy
houses md yards, and the town authorities
have no more Right to allow filth To accninu'
late In the highways and byways of a town or
city, than the citizen has to let II accumulate
in Ills back lot to the peril OF his neighbors
who are compelled to inllale the noxious ex-
mutations and suffer the consequences. Every
citizen owes 1t not only to himself and ms
family, but TO the community, 10 see that ne
docs not by neglect become Il propagator OF
disease, and u inultiplies of graves, nnd the
constituted authorities should zee that tle
citizen who munifcsts n disposition to De IN
different In such Il serious matter Is not allow
ell to bc indifferent.
Natures laws, which are Gods laws, are un-
necrlng. They move with regularity and mo-
by caprice. Water and oil Will not a>sitni-
late: health and filth will not go together
Poisoned atmosphere means n poisoned lung,
q poisoned liver, q poisoned stomach, poison
cd blood, and death unless n timely aniiloic
come. The reaper, Death. does not go out of
his way to find victims, they como 10 hin.
The lightning strikes, but IL does not go mean-
drring around to find something To strike. II
strikes the object directly within It's rcnch.
Modern research and science have demon
struted TINT contagious. and infectious dl|,,
eases are the result of animalculn generated
under certuin conditions. carried Into the A.
mosphcrc, inhaled anu tax en- Into tho system,
poisOning the blood, resulting In diseases that
have swept off millions OF the human family,
and still sweep of millions. These. deadly
microbes are generated In decay and multi
piled in filth until they live and move In mill
Ions IN the air That's brcntlcd and tho water
that IL drunk. Latitude or longitude has
nothing to do with them. They come where
the filth invitee and when the conditions arc
favorable 10 their propagation, and when tbcy
come they mean business. They mean. Work
for the doctors, work for the nurses, q id busi'
ness for the undertaken. and work for the
grave digger. 1t Is easier 10 guard against
their nining than to contend aYntnht them
they come, for they arc myriad and attack be-
yond the power Of resistance, and the first the
victim knows Of the attack Is when he ful:s,
Then ON the battle with death and tue
trial Of the physicians sk Ill, some saved,
many lost, the population OF the town diHin-
ished, the occupants OF the gravtynrds IN
creased, and nil because Of the criminal indif
ference to the laws OF health that nature In
sIsts must be observed II we would live.
Charlotte, VIC are glad to say, has escaped
the visitatious that have carried. numerous
deaths into some other communities. II can
not be cla$scd among the filthy cities, 1Gi
some attention Is given to sanitary rcgtEt
lions: but Is all lone in this respect thai
should he done? There cannot be two .much
attention given to 1t and now In the, begin
ming OF this new administration let II innu2u
rute business by insisting that no pcStilenct
breeders shall he tolerated within or adjacent
to the city limits.