The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-02-15
MARKET IN A BAD WAY.
ITS UNSANrTARY CONDITION BE-
ING LOOKED INTO.


Citizens Sanitary Association-The
| Need for improvements in the Mar
| ket Building, and the Better Enforce
ment of the Market Regulations
The Filthy Condition of the Vaults
The Basement Disgusting Stencil
Hole.
The report of the condition of the city
market building, made by Inspector Des-
vergers to DR.. J. c. LeHardy, chairman on
| public health of the Citizens Sanitary As
! ISOLATION, and by DR.. LeHardy presented
| to the executive council Of tae association,
! discloses a most unsanitary situation of af-
| fairs, and will awaken the deepest interest
| in the future course Of the sanitary author
| tiles.
The report calls attention to the defective
| drainage Of the market building. which has
| been fully covered in TO .mer reports, and as
| the committee Oh market is authorized to
! Put in a new sewer TO obviate the inefficient
| drainage complained Of and hence Other
| portions of the report will be dealt with
| this report, first Of which are the
| absence of water closets inspector
! Desvergers says that there is not one
| in the building. and that the most uGsanl-
| tary substitutes a~e escorted to, and the
contents are surreptltlOuSly emptie1 into
| the boxes on the sidewalk t. poison the air
| until the scavenger cart comes round to
remove them. A better system Of plumbing
| is recommended, and the faciltie added to
| prevent the filthy practices complained of.
The floors Of the market basement are
| reported to be in unSanItary condition of
unsanitary material To quote from the
report:
| open joints upon the bare sand some of them
| worn away and leaving spaces Of dark filthy
| earth as the only foundation. Daily washing
| OF these floors is a daily saturatiOn of these
| porous bricks and the sand beneath them. In
| some Of the vaults floors of wooden material
| have been put over the brick floors, and even
then it is not always possible to keep the vaults
| in descent con iitiOn because of the fact that
| the level of the vault floors are several inches
| lower than that Of the passageways, and the
| difficulty of getting rid of the water deters
| liberal use of 1t. Rats have undermined these
| floors and even perforated the dividing walls of
the basement just on line with the floor level.
the bricks having become 80 softened in places
from constant dampneSs, that the rats easily
gnaw through them.
The Inspector inquiries If it will be posi-
BILE to keep the basement in a sanitary con-
dition until the sewer capacity is increased,
and the floors Of the passage ways and the
area around the basement lowered several
inches below the floors of the vaults, and
new floors sub tituted which will be smooth
and impervious to water so that it will
carry off the debris into the passage ways,
into the cesspools and openings Of the
sewers.
The inspector groups other matters per
| tanning to the sanitation of the market
which demand attention, and the conclud-
| ing portion Of his report Is II such interest
| tat it is herewith su joined:
The vaults occupied by negro tenants, are
most of them dirty sOOty looking places. 1t is
| in them tnaU the bricks have worn away or been
-ar,, I'D IF leg- ,aH-f,
| upon which dish water and other liquids are
| thrown Fowls ar. kept in tn m, convenient
! for slaugbteriug as occasion require sOme in
cOOps and others running loose about and
among the culinary utensils. Filthy looking
| clothing hang about their walls and be ldmgis
| kept in them; aud in one are apartments con-
| structed with sleeping hunks in it. In of
| them poultry dealer is keeping live fowls. I
| found in it a good number of turkeys and other
| fowls running loose; others in coops which
| we're reeking with filth. Empty coops also
| caked in filth were stored in it The
brick floor so slippery with filth in
| places, that it was with difficulty that could
| maintain my feet; and in other places, filth had
| remained until it had caked on the bricks in
| masses Upon my application to the poultry
| dealor to whom these poultry belonged for ad-
| mission to this vault, he stated that he was
| only a subtenant of it, and that the lessee had
| the Keys to it. | thereupon went to the lessee,
| aud he sent after the poultry dealer, who bad
| the keys himself, and caused him to give me
| admittance to the vault. 1t was then that |
| witnessed the condition of the ult as I have
| above described it. Iapprised The lessee Of the
| condition OF this vault and it was promptly
| cleaned and the caked filth sCraped from the
| floor. Poultry still kept in il The lessee
| states that he has forbi den them being let
| loose in it. There is no place about the market
| building specially provided for Strengthening
| Snj dressing poultry, and cleaning fish. Con
sequently this is done either in the vaults or the
| passages, or the area about them.
| One OF the vaults is used as a store-room for
| butchers meats. The refrigerat0rs and meat
| boxes in it leaking. and foul-smslliug fluid and
| slime settling in the depreSsions in the floor and
| saturating the porous bricks beneath them, and
| collecting in pool over a clogged hydrant
| cesspool to the side of the vault. Everything
| about this vault has a foul Odor and appear
ance. 1t is filthy, disgusting subterranean
| stencil hole.
The passage-ways between these vaults are
| always offensive with the Odor of urine.
| Tramps, and other parsons Of filthy habits,
| make a night rendezvous of them. and watch
for an opportunity, when the eye of the poll e
| man (who is on duty above, and who only goes
! down to the basement occasionally, is not upon
| them, to commit the flthest nuisances.
| These questions suggest themselves in
reference to these latter matters, to wit:
| Is 1t expedient that meats should.
| an underground vault, which is always
| damp and inaccessible to public scrutiny, and
| where police vigilance is not constantly upon it,
| Would not refrigerators, properly constructed
| and located in part OF the building upon the
| upper floor, where free ventilation and dry at
| moSphere would be better assured, be more
|
| should be kept IN these vaults at ALL either In
| coops or running loose, and sHOuld they be
| made a storehouse for empty, foul coopS? Is it
| expedient that any Of these underground vaults
| should be let for any use which nccessita.es
| closing them upY Ought not the purposes for
| which they are used be only such as will keep
| them daily open, in order that dry air and light
may get into them and the public at all times be
able TO see into theml
| The streets around the market square,
| the report, concluding, says, ex-
| cept those portions recently paved on Con-
| gresS street, are paved with cobble stone,
| and the pavement is full of cavities in which
| blood and the urine AID excrementitious
! droppings Of domestic animals and the 6lthy
| fluids and substances incident to an area
| around a public market place collect and
| purify, and the Surroundings OF the mar
| ket building are conseque thy never in
| sanitary condition at any time and during
! the summer months the square is always in
| an offensive condition, the air around it,
air, and atmosphere Of foul odors swarming
| VITA flies aud until the present pavement
| be replaced with a hard, m1oJl pavement
| improvements and water santing from the
market building in such a manner as t.
cause all fluids to flow from the square to
| the cess pools around it, and from whicn
| garbage can be easily swept and gathered
no after market hours, better sanitary con-
ditions around the market square need not
| be expected.