St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-01-01
SANITARY SUGGESTIONS.
Report Of the Minnesota State Board Of
Health.
SEWAGE DEFILEs STREAMS.

! SEWAGE DEFlEES STREAMS.
Legislation Necessary to Prevent Adult
iteration OF Food---Small- Pox I'm
ported from Canada. = I.
The state board of health held a meet
ing yesterday at the capitol. Drs. D. Il
Hand, P. IL. Willard, st. Paul; G. nj
Hewitt, Red Wing; Y. Smith, Duluth;
w. 81. Leonard, Minneapolis, .an9
Franklin Staples, Winona, were in at
tendance. The board was in doubt
whether physicians and others could be
prosecuted under chapter LA, General
Laws 1887, requiring reports to be made
| to boards of health. Attorney General
Clapp was called in, and gave as his
opinion that upon failure to supply
their reports physicians could properly
be prosecuted. Though some time was
spent in discussing what appropriations
were requisite from the legislature, no
definite conclusions were arrived at.
Secretary Hewitt, in his biennial re-
| port, stated: -;
| In the control of infectious diseases we
have just closed the local history of an out
| break of smallpox in a country district
which Indicates very clearly the independ-
ence OF township board of health and the
government OF another country in the con-
troll of such diseases On the 9th of August
| last woman in the incubation stage of small
| pox landed at Quebec from the steamer Par
lslan, OF the Allan line. She passed the in
| spection at Remouski, on the st. Lawrence
river. and was not re-vaccinated. She went
directly to the township of Wangs, Reny1lle
county. and Sept. the eruption appeared.
The disease was not suspected till Sept D,
when nearly forty persons had been exposed.
The chairman telegraphed me, searched for,
found Isolated, and vaccinated all exposed.
The disease was confined to two adjacent
| families, with eight cases and three deaths.
I.haye called the attention of the Canadian
| government to the case and they are investi-
| eating the matter. A confusion of names
| threatened to prevent our Obtaining the his
| tory OF
THE PATIENT BEFORE EMBARkING,
| but that is corrected now, and the outbreak
| is likely to have direct bearing on reform in
| the Canadian system. The responsibility for
infectious diseases of domestic animals, in
Guiding CHAMBERS, pleuro-pneumonia, tuber-
culosis, trichinosis, aetinomycocis Qumpy
| jaw, belongs to the local and state boards OF
health, for the simple reason that those dis
eases are directly communicable to man or
affect the healthfulness Of cattle and
| hogs as human food, and particularly
| :he milk of the COW. Many local boards
| have regulated the slaughter of ami
| mails, and WInona has an abattOir.
| The advantage of this control can be greatly
| increased if local boards will enforce the in
| spectlOn of milk and meat as sanitary ne
cessity for the discovery of possible causes of
| sickness in the various dilutions, impurities
| and admiXtures to which milk is exposed and
the infection of which meat is the occasional
| carrier. Both are:now suffering from, proba-
| bly,, an exaggerated charge of unhealthiness,
| which, if it has no other effect, will increase
| enormously the consumption of the Infinite
| variety of artificial foods. The authorizations
| of foods are constantly being brought to our
| notice. We have for successive years asked
| simple but comprehensive act that all imi-
| tatlons, dilutiOnS or authorizations OF food
| products should bear, marked plainly on the
| package, an exact statement of fact, and that
/ some authority in the state should be des1g-
| mated to determine the standards OF
PURITY FOR FOOD PRODUCTS, a
| and define what shall be legally meant by
| imitation, dilution or adulteration If the
| legislature does not define them in the act.
| Three conferences with state and local
| boards of health have been held since the
| report-one at st. Paul, another at Northfield
| and the last at Rochester. The attendance
| and interest manifested has been very en-
couraging. The one at Rochester was at
tended by nearly hundred representatives
of local boards. The sessions continued
three days, with two large popular gather.
ings, on the evenings of the first and second.
day. Many valuable papers were read, dis:
cussions were lively and practical, and the;
interest amounted to enthusiasm. These
conferences have become a necessity in the.
work of the local and state boards. ana the,
place of meeting, SO far as .prac ticabie. has
been determined 6y be sanitary. advantage
to- the locality which such meetings
haVeat proven to be. The meetings in
Northfield and Rochester, particularly;
strengthened the work of the local boards.
IN Of hot
local boards and the state. boards is the pollu-
ton of soil, air and water by; human and
animal exereta and the organic and lnor-
ganic refuse OF centers OF business and
offensive trades. Even in cities where there
is q public water supply, but small pro-
portion of the population
USE IT FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES.
Not nearly as many villages and cities have
sewer system, and when it exists its use is
less frequent than the public water supply.
There is no sewer system in use in this State
which does not deliver its contents into q
running stream. No systematic effort
has yet been made for any other
mode of disposal. With the exception of
! two or three cities, running streams afford
| the source of the public water supply, and IN
| some of the exceptions it is not unlikely that
| part or the whole of the water comes from
! an adjacent stream; hence. If there was no
| other reason, this is sufficient to justify q
| general law forbidding the entrance Of
| sewage into streams or other source OF water
supply. The magnificent success at Pull
| man, ILL.,, both financially and sanltarily, is
| an example worthy of study and Imitation
| by st. Paul. Minneapolis. or any other city
| disposing of its sewage in the old way.
! Nearly all the garbage of Minneapolis and
| st. Paul is dumped into the MISSISSIPPI
/ river. A garbage furnace has been erected
| in Minneapolis under the direction OF the
/ health officer. DR.. S. S. Kilvington. from
| which good results are expected. 1t has
| not been in use sufficient length OF time to
/ determine its capacity or the expense OF Its
l. maintenance. There is one general principle
| which should decide questions
| g.. AS TO THE DISPOSAL OF GARBAGE.
| 1t is that such matter should be immedi-
| ately removed from centers OF population
| and disposed or. in such way as not to
| threaten the safety of other populations. For
| villages and the smaller cities a system OF
| regular scavenger service, with burial, pref
J erably upon agricultural land. is simple and
| practicable This includes, of course, the
| disposal of manure an night soil. For the
| large cities this melhod does not seem
| wholly practicable, and various methods Of
| destruction by fire in furnaces have been re-
| sorted to- The experiments now in progress
are in such variety and number that con-
| clusion as to the best method will be pos
| sible within q few months. Economy
| in the expense of such furnaces and the
commercial use of their products, are i'm
:portant and desirable enos, but, of course,
secondary to the first object. which is the
promptest and safest destruction. The con
centration of great slaughtering, rendering
and other estab Adjustments dealing with yari-
*ous commercial forms of organic matter are
liable to create nuisance and pollute air and
water supply by their methods and products.
The necessity is increasing in our state for
their systematic supervision and control as
| respects their influence upon the health Of
population Time is rapidly passing when
these dangers can be prevented or lessened
with minimum of trouble to the Inanufac-
turer, and the minimum of trouble and ex-
pense to the locality. or the stale.N
EXCITED Ill EBREWS. q
Close of the Defense in the Spell
lacy Trial.
Tho xritpoccaa for tho dafancn in tho