Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-21
APPEALS TO DR. Lee,
An Effort to Have Garbage
Boats Emptied Below the
Dam at Davis Island.
THE ARGUMENTS OFFERED.
Startling Result of Sanitary In.
spectiOn of the Hotels.
GUESTS HEALTH IN DANGER.
Chief Bigelow Will Cause Reduction in
Dump Boat Rates.
THE ARGUMENTS OFFERED.
GUESTS HEALTH IN DANGER.
ONLY TEN IMMIGRANTS PASS THROUGH

Chief Brown yesterday wrote to Secre-
tary Lee, of the State Board of Health, &C
cepting his appointment as deputy inspector
of this county. In the same letter the Chief
makes strong and vigorous statement of
the danger of the two cities resulting from
the dumping of garbage in the pool above
Davis Island dam and asks the Secretary to
abolish the practice. The point is made
that the garbage will not float away when
put in the river above the dam, unless the
wickets are covered, but if dumped below
the dam there is sufficient current to carry
it away, removing the danger above the
dam and increasing it little, if any, below.
Secretary Lees decision in the matter
will be conclusive. If he decides the
garbage boats must go through the locks,
or if he decides no garbage must be dumped
into the river, he need only give the order.
His powers as executive officer of the State
Board are mandatory in all such matters.
Knocking Out Garbage Monopoly.
George Free, owner of the dump boat
monopoly, came in for another roast from
the ash and garbage haulers yesterday. A
committee waited on the Mayor to answer
Frees claim that he could not afford to
allow the use of his boat for less than 35
and 65 cents for one and two horse wagon
loads respectively. The former price
had been 25 and so cents According to
the haulers one of Frees boats will hold
an average of 500 wagon loads Figuring
at the old price on one-horse loads this
would give Free S175 day, less the wages
of few laborers. The haulers say that
under the new rates they are unable to
make over rs cents to 81 day, including
their horses and wagons. The Mayor called
on Chief Bigelow and consulted him on the
question, with the result that Free will be
required to reduce rates to-day. He only
pays So month for his wharfprivileges, and,
as the health officers will allow no garbage
or ashes dumped elsewhere in the city, Free
has monopoly of the business.
The Mayor Favors Competition.
The Mayor has proposed to open o COM
petition in the dump boat business which,
if carried out, will lessen the trouble from
that source and cheaper the cost.
The inspection of the sanitary arrange
ments and ventilation of hotels began yes
terday. Chief Brown saws some of the
hotels, judging from what was found yester-
day, are in a terrible condition as to sanI-
tary arrangements. One of the well-known
hotels is particularly described as being
dangerous to the health and life of the oc-
cupsnts. A number OF others visited were
nearly as bad. When the inspection is
proper remedies will be applied.
A meeting will be held in Mayor Gour-
ley's office to-day at 8 o'clock, to which
about 40 physicians have been invited, to
confer on the best preventives to be en-
ployed in event of cholera making its ap-
pearance in the city. The apparatus for
making inspections of suspected cholera
cases has arrived from New York. 1t will
Central station, which is being fitted up as
a laboratory.
VIII Inspect the Sweater Shops.
Chief Brown says he will order an in
spection of sweater shops as soon as the
school, hotel and public building inspec-
tions are finished. The Chief and the
Mayor discussed the matter Yesterday, and
decided that something should be done to
stop the spread of disease from that source,
but until the inspectors make report they
hardly know where to begin. The Chief
several letters relative to the toby
making shops known as sweaters up in the
Fifth, Seventh and Eighth wards yesterday,
but the statements were too indefinite to
Justify action.
DR.. McKelvey, of the Central Board of
Education, called on the Mayor yesterday
and denied the statement of Plumbing
Inspector Taggart that the Third ward
was not in healthy sanitary |
condition. A letter from the Holy Ghost
College faculty makes similar denial as to
:he condition of that institution.
DR.. Kirk and Inspector Morley yesterday
inspected ten immigrants who
came in over the Pennsylvania Railroad
They were all provided with certificates
from the inspection station at New York,
and as they seemed in q healthy condition,
were passed on. A large train of immi-
grants is expected on the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad this morning.