Morning journal and courier., 1890-07-22
THE GAUvTLKr OF DEBATE

 Run by Professor Brewer and Br. Dib-
 ble Before the Aldermen and Large
 Gathering Upon she Proposed New
 Plumbing Ordinance Last Night-The
 ProfessOr's Argument and she Doc.
 tors lrOny-A Digest of the Proposed
 Laws.
 A large and interested gathering listened to a sharp and spirited debate in the council chamber last night between Professor W. Fl. Brewer and Dr. F. 0. Dibble upon the pro- posed new plumbing ordinances. The ordi- nances were drawn up chiefly by Professor Brewer while member of the board of health several years ago, and have been before the common councils committee ever since. The members of the board of aldermen, who had invited the gentlemen to debate before them, were seated at the left, and gathering of about one hundred prominent citizens, doc- tors, builders, and public officials clustered about the seats on the sides and rear of the chamber. Mayor Peck presided and opened the meeting.
 Alderman Daley reviewed briefly the course of the proposed plumbing laws from their first inception to the present state of the uOCum0utbs QO AAONS0 tnoV tA0 AOu5o RO into committee of the whole and hear the gentlemen who were to speak upon the ques. tion. Professor Brewer opened the debate. We take fresh ,pure water into our houses, said he, and it is necessary that we should. We use this water for the many things of life and it becomes impure through use. It takes many of our impurities from us. As it becomes vile it must be deposited in recep- tacles, and sewers become neces- sity. And with these come plumbers, who are both terrors to our pockets and to our health. Plumbers are l dangerous in many ways. Their work may injure our health through dishonesty, bad construction and general ignorance of health laws. Sewers may therefore become great dangers to the public health. It has 1 been law in cities for all time that as the cities become larger the death rate increases l and they become more and more unhealthy | spots to live in. As things are now, no city can afford to be unhealthy. In days gone demic as they are at present. half dozen deaths from typhoid fever now will cause more talk and alarm than twenty or thirty l would many years ago. In these days of rapidly spreading news and
 wide spread journalism we heal ity that sets us to thinking. We zee
 that we cannot afford to be unhealthy, and 1 therefore we see that we need protection. | It has been demonstrated that the waste and l soil pipes in our houses become as foul as the
 sewers themselves. The air of the sewer if l much better than the air in the wasteand
 soil pipes of our houses. Unless the plumb ing arrangements are good, there is constant l danger that this foul air may spread about
 starts from filth, and others do not. Som'
 believe that filthy conditions will generate
 these diseases anew. Scientists dissgre'
 among themselves. I do not know myself
 whether |. filth will cause these dis
 eases, but I do believe that filth
 will cause the spread of them
 have never heard any physician questi or
 tients. We know these diseases are infec- tious, and we know that in numerous easel
 bad plumbing facilitates their spread. It ii probable that it does in all cases. We know
 that these infectious diseases prevail mos | where there is bad plumbing. The healtl
 officer has given us figures showing that il | cases ot these diseases in the last few month
 was good, 97 where it was fair, and 9S wher
 the plumbing was very bad. This is no CO
 incidence. During all my term upon tn
 board ot health have seen numberless case of death where was convinced that death va
 due to foul air emansting from bad plumbing
 The evil effects of bad plumbing hav
 been learned by degrees. Most large citie
 of the country have been compelled to adop
 some laws regulating the matter. In mos
 cases the state governments have left it t' | the cities to form by-laws to suit their owl
 taste. Hartford and Bridgeport and Nev
 Britain and Waterbury in this state hav laws covering the principal points. Som
 points have already been settled. We do no need any more experiments to convince u that foul air is bad for health. There ar . some men wto persistently argue that th earth is fat, that the sun revolves about th earth and that vaccination does not lesser , the spread of smallpox. It is useless to argu
 with such men. 1t is just as useless to argu
 that foul air is bad, for it is an acknowledge, fact.
 Professor Brewer here took up the pro
 posed ordinances themselves. He said ht
 was not responsible for the details. He ex , plained each of the sections and their appli , cation. We have found, said he, in relating
 few instances in our investigations in thi
 city, meat refrigerators in markets whic were connected with the sewers with no sig of a trap. He said this was the only city il
 the civilized world, as far as he could asceI
 tain, where there are men who publicly con . tend that filth is healthy. He did not as that these laws be given to the board 0
 health to carry out, but thought it the mos
 economical He did not think they woul
 interfere with personal liberty any nor , than the fire or police laws. New Haven , healthy city, but the death rate can b , diminished. Poor people need health tn
 first thing. It is their capital and thei plumbing should be good. They do not de maud poor plumbing. They want the bes , Mayor Peck here presented the fol!owin which was read by City Clerk Downes an
 was greeted with applause:
 , Hon. Henry F. Peck, Mayor, etc.:
 My dear sir: After 2 careful revision of Il great pleasure to announce that the population wi considerably exceed s''ooo , Very truly & yours
 Supervisor of Census. First District of Connection
 Dr. F. L. Dibble then began his srgumer
 against the proposed law. He said the law r were a relic of the despotic idea of goverI ment. It would require over 90 per cent. ) the houses now built to be replumbc: a The property owners could not afford i
 It would ruin them. 1t was only few yea
 ago that scientists began to invent sewer ga Sometimes it had a bad odor; sometimes
 | was odoress; sometimes 1t arose on hisl sometimes sank to earth. It penetrated soli wallis of masonry. It's backward pressul , , was enormous. It wriggled through pip' : and pervaded our systems. It was the eau . of numberless diseases whose symptoms al
 as contradictory and opposite as they can b
 There is no evidence on record that there
 ! euch thing as sewer gas. We daily breatf | and drink the constituents of what it is sai ! sewer gas is composed. The greatest chemis of London have proved that there was nothir poisonous in the air of sewers. It has bee . shown conclusively that those who are en ! l ployed in sewers are not sufferers from bs health. It has been shown that they are Tt any more subject to these infections diseas than any other class of people. Thousand 3 of people visit the great sewers of Paris evel year if they can gain admittance. The Jai at Danbury, Bridgeport, Litchfeld, New Lol
 don, New Haven and other places have bee s subject to all sorts of sewer air blowing bac a l and forth through their corridors. This WI ! before plumbing was placed there, and 2 r motto diseases were hardly known. ther , | Dr. Dibble here gave many statistics of zy f motto mortality before the prevalence of zoe < plumbing and after it. The percentags given were larger after than before. In pr, g portion to population New York city, with 2 its plumbing laws, has a far larg 6 precentage of death from these contagior k levers than New Haven has. It has almo : twice as many deaths in proportion. It is
 the same way in Boston. The ratio in tn n city of zynotic mortality to other causes a death is 20 per cent. Given the moral SUI v sion of the board of health, continued D s Dibble ironcally, and we will grow in bles . edness and good health despite our sew
 gases It has been said that the death "a
 in New Haven would have been smaller
 there had never been board of health, f
 they spend the peoples money in turnir ky, ,aiv okk A6a I