The record-union., 1896-07-19
HAPPY BUFFALO.

dry season.
HAPPY BUFFALO.
In 1891 for the first six months of the
year the deaths in Buffalo, New York,
were 3,012; for the corresponding period
in 1896 the deaths We're 1850, while
good health conditions bettered 65 per
cent Between 1891 and 1896 the popu-
lation of the city was augmented by al
most 100000 souls. Such gain in the
public health conditions in five years is
remarkable. There is no city in the
Union that can show such a record for
any group of five years at any time in
its history.
It is conceded that the fine exhibit of
Buffalo is due to broad-minded, en-
ergetic Health Department, out of
which political bosses kept their paws,
and with the effective working Of which
the legislative body of the city did not
meddle. 1t did not set itself up to judge
the Health Board and override it and
dictate to it. 1t said, on the contrary,
Gentlemen, you are given the admins
tration of the affairs relating to the
public health. You win be held re-
sponsible. We will not NEEDLE. Now
go it." And the Health Board did ''go
it,, and the result is as stated.
Now, what did that Health Depart
ment do? The Buffalo Enquirer tells
the story:
1t made frequent examinations of all
lodging and tenement-houses it ordered
the maintenance of meteorological
laboratory at which free tests of all sus
pected cases of diphtheria and con-
sumption may be made; the sanitary in
Spection of schools; a weekly examina-
ton, chemical and archaeological, of the
public water supply; the prompt report
ing of contagious diseases by telephone
at the expense Of the city; the placard
ing Of houses in which there are cases
of diphtheria or scarlet fever; the med
ical and sanitary inspection of all prem
Uses exposed to infection; health office
open day and night for the reception of
reponts and complaints; the publication
of reports concerning work done by the
premises of all milk dealers by sanitary
officers and plumbing experts; the reg
istration of all dairy herds from which
milk is supplied to consumers, showing
by the certificates of a veterinary sur
geon whether the cows are free from
tuberculosis; a register containing re-
ports concerning all cases of disease on
each milkman's delivery route.
It is explained that especial attention
was given to the examination of milk,
and much of the reason for improved
fact. Buffalo has no control of the
dairies, for they all lie without munich
pal jurisdiction. But she said to the
milkmen who supply the city: Here
month, provided you permit our experts
to examine your dairy herds, your milk
houses and your sheds, your methods of
feeding and your system of cleaning
milk utensils-provided, Of course, that
we find things as they should be. We
have no power to enforce this examina-
ton, but mark you, without this clean
bill you shall sell no milk within the
city limits, nor to any one else to be
delivered within the city"
That settled it. Not milkman of the
hundreds in that city of 355. 900 refused.
To refuse was to close out business.
Moreover, every nilkman wanted the
certificate. 1t was to him capital in
trade, and of a value scarcely meas
urable in dollars. More than that, every
milkman became, as it We're, volun-
tary sanitary inspector. Anxious that
his route should have a good health
record, he reports TO the Health De-
partment all violations of sanitary reg
ulations that he discovers, and as he
threads the alleys and courts, and
places, and travels the streets and en-
ters the areas and the Easements, and
climbs TO the upper stories in the
early morning hours every day in the
year he has the very best Of opportuni-
ties for discovering where there are foul
smells, secreted offal. bad drains and de-
fective sanitary arrangements. He is
pretty sure to know where there is sick
ness in a house, and what is the cause
of it, and as a result he becomes most
valuable aid to the health authorities.
Buffalo has therefore found milk and
dairy and milk building inspection to be
very profitable. She has saved thou
sands OF lives by it; she has gained a
reputation for good health that makes
her people envied of all others, and she
has added nearly third to her popu-
latfon. Diphtheria and scarlet fever are
stamped out as soon as they show their
farrgs. and infant mortality has been
sent down to the lowest notch. Happy
Buffalo. Let Sacramento raise fund
and send on her Board of Trustees to
spend a week of northumberland
in that well-ordered city, where health
e. Of more importance than wealth, and
blooming vigor more dear to the people
than the political vagaries and economic
absurdities of the City Fathers.
INSANE MURDERERS.
The other day an insane man shot and