Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-09
HEALTH TALK.
The Sanitary Outlook for the
SOUthside Discussed
BY DIR. EDGAR A. A.MUND0RFF
Made Land Held Responsible for Epi-
demic Disease Germs.
HOUSES BUILTON TIE RIVERS BED.
R0OkerieS Storm Centers for the Diffusion
of Bacteria.
BY DIR. EDGAR A.MUNDORFF
HOUSES BUILTON TIE RIVERS BED.
RADICAL REFORMS ARE NECESSARY

AlLnOugn the nealth OF the SouLnsIue Is
comparatively good at the present time, the
subject is an interesting one; more so that
means may be found to have it continue.
Realizing this fact, it was thought not un-
timely to inquire into ''The Sanitary Out
look for the Southside." In the search for
facts, DR.. E. A. Mundorff was the first in
teryiewed, and requested to put the same
in writing, as given below. He has
made special study of the causes of epi-
denies and disease, using the microscope in
his researches. In 1887, among others, he
was engaged by the city of Pittsburg as a
scientific expert to investigate the causes
and spread of typhoid fever, then raging at
an alarming rate. His report, with others,
was reprinted by the city in 1889. He
has made
OTHER INVESTIGATIONS
of a like nature, among them a microscopic
analysis for the County Medical Society of
the milk supply of the two cities. DR.. Num-
dorf writes as follows:
'sThe sanitary outlook for the Southside
has often proved a matter of grave concern
to the Department of Public Safety, and
the reasons for it are not far to seek. The
rapid growth of the Southside as manu-
featuring mart has opened up the avenues
of employment to all classes of mechanics
and laborers, thereby raising the ratio of
population per square mile of inhabited
territory to the highest degree compatible
with healthful and comfortable living. In
order to supply homes and dwellings to
cover these toiling masses, the work OF
house-building has not only been carried on
over every portion of the. original
narrow strip of land, stretching between
the Monongahela river and the hIIlsides,
but the Birmingham shore itself has been
extended out further into the channel.
Ponds and hollows everywhere filed in
with porous and heterogeneous debris, while
the adjacent hillsides, graded and terraced,
have furnished still further additions to the
entire extent of manufactured land plots
Besides this large amount of made territory,
which forms the foundation ofwhole squares
of the Southside, there is another portion
representing the primitive bed of the Mo-
nongahela river, before It's shifting current
mad piowed its way along the present
channel
With this unceasing using up of all avail
able space to build houses on for our increas-
ing army of workers, there went on also the
inevitable filling up of the natural reser-
voirs and outlets that constantly collected
and carried off the surface water, with its
organic matter in solution. And it came to
pass that this surface water, not properly
gotten rid of, gradually found its way into
the loose subsoil and thence trickled
INTO THE SURROUNDING WELLS
and cellars. Thus the problem of what to
do with the surface water was solved by
process of simple wrong displacement.
This arrested flow of the Surcharged surface
water into its natural outlet, the Mononga-
hela river, by no means left that stream
above suspicion. In this connection it must
be borne in mind that the rapid industrial
growth OF the SOuthside, with Its inadequate
drainage system, leaving the powers of
nature (overtaxed) to do the work of puri-
fication, has been paralleled by the rapid
development of other towns above US, which
cast their impurities into the Monongahela
river, thus increasing the danger with us of
disease infection.
with these foregoing facts understood
there is no difficulty in the way of compre-
hending the reason of recurring epidemics in
this portion of the city. In the presentation
of this evidence, familiar to all, three factors,
at least, are readily disclosed as
forming the conjointed cause, and in
the order of their mention, may be stated
thus: Overcrowding of our population,
defective drainage systems, favoring the re-
tention of surface water, charged with de-
cayed organic matter, in adjoining cellars
and wells, and lastly, and by all means
most troublesome to remedy, an impure
water supply drawn from river that, in
the days ofslight rainfalls, is condensed
with Its combinations into species of
soup. Having this threefold obstacle to
contend against, in the enforcement of ade-
ouate sanitary protection to the people of
the Southside, it is very clear that without
the full sympathy and cooperation of all
land owners and taxpayers, with the efforts
of the Department of Public Safety. no
great reduction in the annual sick and
death rate may be hoped for with the lapse
of a reasonable period in the future.
OF COURSE IT WOULD COST.
'sThat such an undertaking, satisfying all
the requirements Of sanitary reform here,
would lead to the expenditure of a consld-
erable sum of money, goes without question;
that it would lead to some radical depart
ures in the present method of carrying out
sanitary reforms is also apparent, we pre-
sume. without question. Nevertheless, in
view of the deadly regularity in the vista
tions of the epidemics that affect our
neople. the actual expenditure of
sum sufficient to institute proper pro-
lection for them becomes a matter of
humanity and expediency. That this state
meut may be shown to have tine color. of rea-
son. one has only to calculate, in an ap-
nroximate way, on the cash value of in
inries done to a town by an epidemic sweep
inc through it. If we wish to deal with
dsfa uuder our eyes, instance from among
other local examples, the probable cost to
tbis community of the smallpox epidemic of
18g1-S2. and the typhoid lever outbreak OF
1857 both of which rapidly developed into
alarming proportions; literally disorganized
tbe Soufhside as a great workshop; arrested
the course of trathe with other towns, and
Id nIltitudes of our industrious citizens
or heds of fatal illness or prolonged suffer-
inr Instance further the cost of our people
Using from the perpetual sacrifice of lives
..,o,,2 the children OF the Southside from
o---SS 1.-.,-,SSsr niasmas and winter emanations,
fron, SCARLET fever, measles, diphtheria and
oro,r. 1, aII largely due to conjoint causes
tbot Thorough sanitation would materially
lessen or blot out.
BRoADER RESPONSIBILITY.
s'The work of sanitary reform is not alone
hello in trust by the Department of Public
Safety. Health Boards may inspect districts
and enforce sanitary correctives to the full
extent and meaning of the term, and yet
from q thousand sources OF unclean-
ness there may be difused contamlna->
tions that will continue to poison
the ground beneath us, the water we
drink and the air we breathe. 10 the
wnplete suppfesnen of these numerous