The herald., 1893-05-08
SHOULD De WELL CLEANED,
The Sanitary Condition of
Chinatown.
What Does the Council Propose to Do
About It9
Houses that Have Been Rotten for
Quarter Centnry-How Is that for
Cholera Prospect THE
Board of Health.

Ever since DR.. Granville MacGowan
vacated the health officers desk in the
city hall and Or. Powers took charge of
it, the possibility of a cholera panic in
this city has been the foremost consid.
GRAFTON. Instead of having one health
officer we have virtually had two, for
DR.. MacGowan has taken as much per-
sonal interest in the matter as if he,
instead of DR.. Powers, was the incum-
bent of the Office. 1t is we'll known
that, in the election OF a health officer, DR..
Utley was DIR. Msc9owan's choice over
DR.. Powers, but the latter gentleman
has evinced such earnest desire to fulfill
his obligations to the city that he has
found in DIR. MacGowan q ready and
willing coadjutor at ali times and it is
safe TO say that the new officer 10 simply
carrying snto effect the designs of his
predecessor, with the addition of an ex-
ira degree of vigilance in such new cases
rs have arisen since he assumed the
reins of official duty.
DR.. Powers has been ably seconded in
the officers he has selected as inspectors
OF the health department. Knowing the
proneness Of the Chinese to neglect all
sanitary precautions, he delegated TO
the northern end OF the city Mr.. Louis
Sieweke, who is known by the englsized
form of his name as Louis Stone. He is
stout, athletic looking man who is
evidently afraid OF nothing in the shape
of any ordinary obstacle. Mr.. Gieweke
has been at work in the immediate
vicinity of the old plaza for the last
month md ~ Ia Or1ifM hal Ma vwin
render a report to the board of health
today in which he will recommend the
destruction of at least Is buildings, as
being unsafe for occupation by any
human beings, and actually unfit for oc-
cupation by any animals save hegs.
Some of these buldinge are built of
wood and others of brick but none of
them have been occupied less than 80
yeare, by class Of tenants that
never observe any rules of
cleanliness as being indiapens-
able TO health. Filth OF every descrip-
tion litters the floors to the depth of two
inches before it is ecraped away and the
outer yards and outbuildings about these
edifices are eiIhply gigantic ceespools of
rot On all sides there ID nothing but
stencil of some sort or other. With
visitation OF Asiatic cholera, this means
nothing but terminating vat for the
disease to such an extent that nothing
within miles OF it can escape Its rAvages.
1t Is we'll known that while the fret raw
ages of cholera in the city of New York
in 1849, occurred in the lowest portions
of that city, still there were hundreds of
cases in the homes of the rich, in the
upper portions of the city, where every
sanitary rule known to the medical pro-
feHsion was rigidly and faithfully OBJ
served.
Mr.. Sieweke will probably furnish to
the health officer, within the next 48
hours, list of buildings which are full
OF every malodorous taint; and which,
he thinks, should be razed to the
ground in the interest of good health
and decency. Whether his timely sug-
gestions will receive the undivided at
tention of the city government is some-
thing yet to be seen. There are, 30 City
Attorney Mcfarland opines, several
| grave legal questions involved in this
matter of city government deliberately
going to work and destroying other peo-
ple's property. But of two things there
can be no reasonable doubt. First, that
| these rotten houses are a menace to the
public health, as they stand at present
and secondly, that the buildings in
question have paid for themselves. ten
times over, so that no great pecuniary
loss can now be sustained. If Mr.. Slim
son can afford to tear down building
that pays a rental Of $3.50 per month, in
order to erect better and more valus-
els one, surely the owners of these reek-
ing stench-holes can afford to have them
/ torn down in the interest OF good health,
and to erect new ones in their stead.