The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1888-06-29

Nashville whiie-li.is: coorcd-27.72 i6.39
THE COST or rILru.
Your own city furnishes the exception
10 the rule. Here the death rate among
the negroes Ii eight per 1000 less than II is
among the whites, which tells the need OF
sanitary inspection and enforcement OF the
laws In Belgium Baron kolb has shown
that the average of life Of the middle
and upper classes Is fifty years and
OF the poor thirty-two years. As startling
as this is, the annual death rate among
the children OF the poor OF New York I'M
der five years OF age Is more 80, being ITO
per 1000. insufficient food, sewer gas,
decaying vegetable and animal refuse and
the poisoned atmosphere OF tenement
houses are the causes OF this Wholesale
murder OF the innocents, resulting In chol-
era infantum. dyscntery and diarrhaa.
These are among the preyentable diseases,
the plaques that carry of thousands OF
children every year, and that sanitary
science takes cognizance OF NJ among the
destructive agencies 4 still has TO conquer;
Others are smallpox, meningitis, diphtheria,
scarlet foyer, measles, typhus, euteric fe.
vers and consumption, which carry of
their 10000 annually. How costly this
loss IL have already told you, but In order
10 impress II upon you indelibly let me
furnish you other data Spain lost l2i, 900
lives in 1904 by yellow fever, involving
money value loss OF 1921, 00.00O. The
same authority from which these figures
are quoted, says that country lost ], 0O0,-
600 persons by fight and death, max
ing q total loss In one year
Of $1,000, 0O0, 900, subtrncted from It's
capitalized energy aud productive industry.
The money cost Of sickness and death TO
New Orleans in 1873 was S2o, 900, 900, and
10 Memphis from 1867 10 1873, both In
elusive Including loss OF trade and alb
sence oil the whole industrial population),
II was fully So. 900, 900. The total loss TO
all the States axailed by yellow fever In
1873 was quito 500, 900. 0o0-a sum nearly
equal 10 the average annual expenditures
Of the United States government But
worse than this. the English board ofhcalth
tells US that there occur In England 100 900
deaths annually from preventable diseases,
entailing n loss OF $40, 900, 600. whilo the
interest on her public debt "a less than
$50, 5000 Men learn slowly and by
painful methods. Evolution Is murder
Gus process II Is only when epidemic dis
asses, Gods protest against hlth," make
their appearance that they can be stopped
long enough In their pursuit Of business
or pleasure 10 hear tho simplest max
inns as 10 personal and public hygiene.
John Simon, In his report 10 tho pnyy
council Of England, 1874, said ithad been
among tho oldest and most universal OF
medical experiences that populations liv.
ing amid tilth and within direct reach oil
lis poluting influences succumb 10 various
diseases. Filth operates FAR more subtly,
FAR rnore widely and more dcstinctively
than our forciathcs oonjectnrcd. And
OF all the filthy Influences which prevail
against humen life In cities without sewers
are the pits and vaults Of the accumulatiyo
sort. They operate most dlsasirously-
their contents poisoning the earth, the air
and the water aud even tho food, meats
especially, that are exposed 10 the atmos-
| rhere. Tho contamination. says Dr.
Beckwith, OF Ohio. "of drinking water In
J wells and ciston which arr In closo prox-
unity 10 ccsspools and outhouscs, 70 often
the case In country villages and crowded
portions Of cities not supplied with water
systems, IL Of very common occurrence,
giving rise In ordinary seasons 20 malarial
and typhoid levers, dyscntcry, etc, and
inviting widespread devastation during the
prevalence OF cholera epidemic. Tho
rayagcs OF this disease among the Russian
pcasantry during tho winter time has been
attributed solely 10 The habit Of drinking
water from pools about their novels formed
by melting snow, upon which the dcIccia
oil cholera patients had boon thrown. A
report made 10 the recent liygienic Con-
grcss at vicnna stated that In 1884 an 81.
lori WAS mado 70 utilize the current OF tho
Rhone n motive power. A lock was
constructed, and this caused some ol tho
drinking water supply 10 hoN backward
toward the mouth Of a sewer. some
months previously this sowor rccciycd the
objections from two or three isolated cases
Of typhoid lever. In Tow days after the
contamination u the water supply q ser.
ious epidemic broke out In Geneva, and
there vcre no lees than 500 ca.cs Last
year nj CIermont fcrrand and Mont Fer.
l.rand there vcrc BOO cascs q typhoid due
20 waim contamination. while snch places
as Chamayicrc md Royat, thongh close BY.
escaped, their water being derived from Z
different source. In Paris, whenevcs The
supply Of tie purc water from the vapnc1
or the Dhuys lkIl short. and Ire waters ol
the seine. the 0urq. OF tho Msrno vcrr
u-cd INSTEAD. The hospitals vcre nlIed with
ps,isuls suffering IRON typhoid river, pro
oiscly three vSsks aiicr sach alteration ID