Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1899-02-15

| 0oInci. OF bleXaudria, Va. he'd February
i. 1899, there were present:
Hubert snowden, esq, President. and
Alessrs. Trimyer Alton Moore {. y. Moore.
S.sider. Brrell Brill. Greene Smith, UhleF.
snd White.
The following message wss received from
the Mayor
Mayors Office.
Alexandria. Va. Feb il. 500
! To the Honorable The City Council OF Aleu-
aldra:
Gentlemen :. tuared. as I have ever been,
| bv a sincere desire 20 serve faithfully ard i'm.
.,zr;:sl = my fellow citizens, and conceIvIug
], 10 he M duty u give free, full ana I'M
oiased &c, cunt 20 yoG. the representatives OF
cae people, OF matters that are indissol1by
Connected With our public YEA, herewith
respectfully submit tc your kind and bought
cgl consideration request made 10 the Mayor
If youI city Is number OF well-kGoTl; in
teligent aud excelien; fe low citizens.
The request. practically 4 petition, was
handed re BIZ Mr. E. :. Lesdoes;eF. one Of
the signers one OF cur best citizens and one OF
my highly-e5teemed friends. In M reply
through ". Leadbsa.eI I,st-'ed that l would
| with pleasure accompany message 20 your
honorable booy win the petition so that our
people could have 81 opportunity o! KNOWN :
!
number Of bis well D..oyed friends. Il has
been additionally handed down from ti;ne
| aiuost imuemorial that the acquiescent and
| kindly disposition OF men has given birth 70
Numerous y.sgaed petitions. asking the most
impossible, Impractical and absurd conces-
sious: thst wsgers in years gone oy have been
made and WOE that signatures Of the fairest-
minded citizens could be obtained TO petitions
skiing that some amiabe and excellent nan
might be bsuished or even deprived OF life
II the light OF these examples, traditionsl
though hey he there Is DO reason and no jus
ice in impugning the intelligence or the good
citizenship Of man VINO signs need ess or
, Impractical petition. and II perchsnce | should
! indulge IN friendly criticism l am quite con-
| ,iient thst the many friends number among
be sigaers will no. be led Dy designing mar
| plots, who are making even smallpox g good
CROUCH Morgan into believing that George l..
simpson individual. or that George L. Simp-
Ion whose personality Is lost in the consttu-
,ional aud chartered head Of our city. would
.;temp. 10 slight MS fellow men. Ghe pati.
! tion hereinbeto mentioned might be by i'm
! p.;c4tion construed as indicating failure on
| the part OF the Msyor 70 give proper r-cogni-
! ZION 10 the authority OF orr Health Officer. II
| his be The Inference l hasten 10 say that the
| rel4tions o. Mayor and Health Officer have
ever been uninterrupted : pleasant but if
| roncede for the axe Of argument only. that
! nave ROT cour;eously consulted him. surely
ny petitioners hsve set marvelously peIui-
! cions example. for among the first requests
they ask'the Mayor 10 follow measures recon-
meuded by q quarantine officer who mss no
onuecticn with our city government. Me-
links they could have done the Health OF.
dcer q courtesy By submitting his recommen.
ID M aF ff1l
rsl authority. Most OF the measures men.
toned BIZ the petitioners have been accom-
u.i-hed and had been completed before the
pe;l ION reached ne.
First. The house-:o house inspection thor
oughly and splendidly performed ~ four Of
our well-snown physicians. and TO make as.
surance doubly sure he medical inspectors are
being followed by an able corps Of volunteers
from the police force, who are making a
hous TO house canvass to discover whether
disease subsequent TO medic,l inspection has
&C .urred.
second. I am asked to force compulsory
vaccination. II may be that the petitioners
have inadvertently mentioned ne when they
possibly had your honorable body in view.
At any rate, gentlemen. the State laH gives
Jon the right 10 make such an ordinance, but
], does not confer the same privilege upon
ne | am here TO execute laws and not TO
make them. and [ canno: Al the bidding of
petitioners however influential. violate the
obligations of my Office will enforce aw
which YOU aud the state may enact, but
propose 10 lesve my office with the sstisfac
ton Of knowing that 10 man has ever been
illegally and uujUstly Treated By ME. The
day of unlawful star-chsmber proceedings has
vanished, DisreputAb!e gangs that once
boasted OF Substituting the peoples paid ser
wants no longer sit in high places and the
Mayor Of this city will not permit the laws
to be violated by himself or by Others. This
is my answer TO q demand for compulsory
vaccination
Third. House of detention and increased
hospital facilities. Both matters We're men.
toned in my last message TO your honorable
body. The increased hospital facilities have
already been provided. The house of deten.
non pan of our Health Officer is to remove
victims of disease from home to hospital and
then take the family, whether it consists OF
three four or fifteen, aud remove all to the
house OF detention. AS viii be readily per
ceired. house OnsdeFaby larger than any
in our city would be required for the purpose
if forty or fifty generally very large families
are TO be safely separated from one another
II the same building.
So far as the Health Officers present method
OF Quarantlnlng the inmates oflnfected houses
is concerned it is decidedly eticacious, as
there Is no record OF any case being communi.
csted from premises after the placing Of
guards and this fact may he 81 argument
against house OF detention, but l think
probably stronger objection might be based
upon the very decided doubt SIS TO ;he right
of any one 10 90 into a mans home where
there is no actual disease, snd compel family
of uuinfected persons 10 be confined in a gen
eral house Of detention with those who might
be infected The fact OF one person being i'll
with q contagious disease does not necessarily
imply thst all in the same house are similsri-
ly affected or that they should be similarity
treated Humanity AS well as the law might
dispute so monstrou5 g proposition.
Fourth Chcken.pox to be reported by
physicians 10 Health Officer. 4 duplicate OF
this request was published several weeks ago.
Fifth. a more rigid quarantine over isolst-
ed cases; such cases are now more closely
guarded than prison. The last recommen-
datou is deserving OF more than passing no.
tice-the adopiion OF any suggestion made
Dr,' tie Health Officer. Let Us for one mo.
,nent contemp etc the constitutional and in.
destructible powers Of the Mayor, aud in do
ing so permit RE TO say that l very much !
doubt the wisdom OF conferr;ng such powers,
but the constitution does il ana here is what |
it says: The Mayor shsll be the Chief EIecu.