The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-14

/ quarantine has been the SdIeRQaIu
| against yellow fever since 1876.
The article in the Sanitarian says that
! the alderman's season of office is so
| short, and his time so preoccupied by his
4 own affairs (no salary being paid him),
| that he has no opportunity to study, or
| ability to grasp the question, hence he
| leaves the question as well as the manage
| ment of quarantine in the hands of the
/ health officer, whom he considers an eX-
| pert" The incorrectness of this state
ment is apparent. The health officer is
| the executive officer of the board of san
! itary commissioners. The board OF SAM
| tary commissioners was organized in 1877.
| the personnel of that board, from time TO
time has consisted of representative men
of the city, who have watched the health
| conditions of Savannah, and they, not the
| heath officer, control the quarantine sta
| ton, and makes the rules and regulations
| governing it. There is no well informed
man living in the city of Savannah who
can honestly say that he does not know
| this is true.
The further statement is made that the
health officers mastery of fallacious ar
| guments urged in connection with the
| city's exemption from yellow fever dur
| ing recent years, for which he claims the
| credit, are well calculated to influence the
| minds of the councilmen in his favor,
| though detrimental to the best interests
| of the city, not only from the restriction
| of commerce, but by diverting the atten-
| ton of the city authorities from local SAM
| tary measure" This personal attack on the
| health officer will not be answered here
| further than to state that he will reply to
| it fully in another paper. He says "by
| the exercise of the health officers inf1u-
| ence with the city council that quarantine
| was declared against Pensacola and Tam
pa, on receipt of a telegram from the
chief of the Marine Hospital Service that
| cases of sickness existed in those places
| of a suspicious character-cases that,
| after examination proved not to be yell
| low fever. Such precipitate action can
| only be accounted for by the want of
| practical knowledge of the nature of yell
| low fever or by a disposition on the part
| of those who exercise it to take advantage
| OF the Ignorance of people, under the slim
| illus of fear, to maintain a pretentious
system of preventive medicine, alike in
consistent with sanitary knowledge and
the interest of the people"
| These statements, like the others, are
untrue. Pensacola, in 1893, published to
| the world that several cases of yellow few
| err, resulting in death, had appeared in the
| city. Quarantine was Immediately de-
| clared against Pensacola by the Board of
| Sanitary Commissioners. Tampa also fol-
| lowed the same course a few weeks later.
| The chief of the marine hospital service
|
| Ger Of Savannah. The health officer sent
| a telegram to the chief of the marine
| hospital service, announcing the fact
1 that yellow fever was declared to be pres
/ ent at Port Tampa. SO far as the pre-
| tentious system of preventive medicine,
which is declared inconsistent with sani-
| tary knowledge and the interests of the
| people," is concerned, If the land quar-
/ antine imposed is so designated, atten-
| ton is called to the fact that Charleston,
Augusta and other places applied to this
| Office of information during the entire
summer of 1893, and were guided by said
| information.
| Under the head of garbage removal, "
| the writer says: "One of the aldermanic
boards was prevailed to build a crematory
| for the incarceration of garbage" He
| says a competent man was employed to
| do the work, and Go cubic yards of refuse
were daily reduced to ashes, the process
| being almost odorless. He further
| says lowing to the neglect and bad
| management incident to constant changes
| of administration, the crematory was rem
| dered Inadequate to the task of burning
| garbage, and became such a nuisance that
the people in the neighborhood clamored
| for its removal"
The crematory never has burned less
| than 100 yards of refuse daily, and will
| average 125 cubic yards. The neglect ana
/
| matory to become nuisance was the
| result of neglect on the part of the com
| petent man. that he speaks of. This
| competent man" was removed for said
| neglect, the crematory was repaired, and
| is now doing its work satisfactorily. The
writer of the same article pays his COM
| pliments to the condition of the brick sew.
ers around the city. Every one knows
the necessity of a separate system Of
sewers for house drainage No one can
deny that the present system of sewers
is not what it should be- but he forgets
to mention the fact that the present ad-
ministration is now engaged in the work
of securing an outlet for an improved
system of house drainage, and attention
is called to the fact that no one is de-
ceived as to the condition of our sewers,
and the city authorities are trying to meet
the emergency, but from the statement
of the writer of this article, the impress
sion is easily conveyed that no steps ara
being taken to remedy the evil. Refer
ring to the use of dry wells and cess
pools to receive the contents of water
closets, and the bad system of sewers,
he says: This revival of an abomina-
ton, condemned as dangerous years ago,
has already borne its fruit. Typhoid
fever, diphtheria and other filth diseases,
have invaded these newly built localities. y
Attention is called to the table attached
to my report, giving the deaths from
typhoid fever and diphtheria for many
years back. No one will advocate a bad
system of sewers, no one will advocate
the use of dry wells and cess-pools to re-
ceive focal or other waste matter, but
when the statement is made, or an at
tempt made, to convey the impression that
typhoid and diphtheria are on the in
crease in this city, the only answer to 1t
is the attached tables, showing that to-
phoid and diphtheria are steadily decreas-
ing each year.
He attacks the water works department
of the city. He makes an inaccurate
statement as to the water supply. He
says that not gallon of the surplus five
or six millions gallons of water are used
to flush our sewers. I would respectfully
refer to the following letter from the SUI
perntendent Of the water works:
Savannah Sept l, 1S96-Dr. w F. Brun-
ner Health Officer. City: Dear Sir-Yours
of Aug. 80 to hand. In reply will state
that the catch basins are flushed regular
ly, this department having man en-
ployed for this special purpose. During
dry weather the sewers are flushed by
| l,nff H.. \