The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1885-07-27
HEALTH AND The POOR.

THE HERALD yesterday had some
thing to say OF tho criminal negligence
that for at least four years past has
characterized the city fathers of Dial.
las in the management OF tho water
problem. 1t seems TO us that no ques
ton at present could be Of moro vita
Importance to this people. 1t is 8
matter that should be daily kept be.
fore the public, and if the municipal
administration does not solve the
problem satisfactorily to the public
they ought to be held to tho strictest
account. Bad water is the first cause
as it is the cheapest, of local bed
health, sometimes reaching the fear.
full dimensions Of an epidemic.
II this fact needed demonstration
tho proof is furnished in the reports
that come to US daily from Spain and
those furnished OF the ravages Of last
year by the cholera in Franco. Nearly
all the reports agree that impure
water and dirty surroundings are the
prime causes of the spread of the
scourge, and that 1t is, and has always
been, worse in the districts inhabited
by the poorer people and
where tho sanitation is least looked
after. In recent issue of the Chicago
Times is the following editorial express
sion: "In France, last year, and In
Spain the present year, it was and is
the very dregs of the populations that
are reached by the cholera. This &C.
ton of the epidemic is tho protest OF
nature against social systems which
elevate the few and reduce so many to
the conditions OF the brute. There
seems some iDjustice in this result, for
If punishment be deserved it is by
those who have brought about our so
cisl condition, and not by those who
are Its victims. Tho cholera also
seems to establish itself largely in To-
cations whore superstition possesses a
domicile and where sanitation Is less
regarded than appeals for rslief to
gOmo fetich."
The cholera has not yet reached us.
America Is free 80 far from an cpl
demic, and Texas enjoys the present
and now national immunity from a
scourge. But how long can we sntici.
pate such freedom if the conditions
that produce disease are continued and
even fosterod by municipal forces?
Filthy streets, dirty water and intense
heat may be confidently depended
upon to make in-oads into a commu-
nity's health, and tho chosen guard
ians Of the public welfare who neglect
to correct these pestilence breeders are
the responsible and direct agents OF
suffering and death.
But this Chicago Times clipping has
q double Significance to the poor. IL
is the poor who suffer most linton
sively and directly from disease. In
quartersis the favOrite halt.
Ing ground of the plague. The funerals
are most humorous in their quar-
tor and the chielest concern, therefore.
OF health promoters and city officials
is,or ought to bet care and thorough
sanitation OF the homes of the poor.
Certainly our city fathers must not
be indifferent TO the poor. They would
not certainly threaten Dallas with
a visitation of cholera or fever,and vet
tho extromo Indifference rs to the
character OF our water supply and the
generally Objectionable condition o.
the city, from a sanitary standpC, ~
would seem TO indicate such f e,,,' y,
on the part of our officials = - i' ,,,n. =
DO an Immediate .A,g,,t,o,ian NOV ' 1,,,s
poor arc ontltle%t1To our care Human.
T. ":"5ll as prudential consldera.
't'9hs, dictate special attention to them
in such seasons as the present, and If
Dallas authorities are callous or neg.
lectful in the premises they are not
tho men they were thought to DO when
they were chosen 10 rule over us.