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

{ be Shall nave psWeT 70 Investigate
their acts, have a"cess To al books and Goeu-
menis in Their Offices and msy examine them
and subordlnates or oath. He shsli have
power 10 remove officers Whether they Be
elected or appointed" etc. Now !: Iaay be &
shameful constitutional omission, but actual
" the constitution and the laws fai! TO invest
s. subordinate officer with authority 10 direct
the Msyor. and II Is perhaps Iegretable clr-
cunistsnce that the Mayor o. the city will not
allow himself 10 b. instructed by sub5rdi-
/ rate. and YET ! experience very sincere
I qualification in tie knowledge that have
never been. by word or deed, Intentionally
/ discou1teous TO shy subordinate officer OF this
! city. and 81 | h.se sad before cert'inly the
pleasant relations existing between the
! Health Officer and myself would be hat DC
] NAL OF any iIl-treatmect OF him. 10 adopt
| any SUGGESTIONS OF the Health Officer means
this He Is in favor OF closing the pubic
! schools, and should l adopt MS suggestions
! aGd recommend such measure should feel
moi only that my rigCts as Z Mayor. but that
my rights as g man had been ignobly sur
rendered. The public schoo should be kept
! open they are clean. well ventilated, health
| ful and most magnificent places OF Iefuge TO
| the children OF our people. Drive the child
from our public schools FOX few weeks auc
! perhaps the education Of life i denied him
| The wealthy can remove their children from
schoo. and place them again sni ssain IN
other schools Time IS no Object 10 them
! bat the man OF limited means has none OF
these advantages He has 20 put his boy in
school and uninterrupted y keep MIN -here ;
, time * TOO valuable az -Cjuuct 10 be sactl-
feed.
Dangers, f any and there are none, are faE
greater UPON cur public streets than IL ol'
public schools as matter Of fact the echool
Board Mss already placed theseaI OF its unzn-
imous approval UPON the proposition 10 Keep
the schools open, AMI the SchJo. Board. not
the Mayor 90 ems The case. I. has been
! Asked why some OF our citizens are - anxious
70 have the public schools-ihe peoples
schools-ciosed sud are silent upon the sub
ject OF closing fashion&bly crowded bali rooms
and the private schools paIo1izsd by the
weilthy. The question : q puzzug one aco
leave it
The Health Officer has ever had fall. free
aud undisputed control OF al matters pertain
/ log 10 the extraordinarily 70 ID disorder pre-
I vaiiing in our community. II have assisted
/ him II nas not been with dict.;lOn. bG- og
giving his department the aid OF ne NOS; Ell
.icient officers and membeTs OF Alexandria s
police force These men vonnteeeed and
were detailed 70 ASSIST hin. The orders 10
mem for the fzgiDg snl qrsran-niug Of
o;em ,ses and for the care Of Tue inmates come
from hlu snd not from the Mayor. I have
exercised no supervision over hese nan aoc
4 hey have made 10 Tepor; 10 me. There wss
Il oae report u sce TO me under extraordinary
! circumstances. .seiug informed By one Of our
: city officials. one that an proud 70 claim IS
= friend, tha: the Hea N .ii.er hs3 reported
; certain numbe: ot cases a. existing IL olr
city, and d ne had made no report Of tnst
.h4racter 10 me ! wrote MIN letter asking
for the number OF cases and nsIl snd af'
dresses and when | failed TO rec lie them |
depltized officers 10 canvass he city and
find out, and that has been the extent
# M actions in matters belonging 10 the
Health Officer. except in one instance here
| matter mentioned. Indeed have bean so
ressrdfu O. the Health officers position,
| though no law invests him with extrsoTcl
nary power. that on the occasion OF the quar-
autnlng OF houses il BrsddoCk + ley,
when he directed the policeman on duty not
- permit any one 10 le.ve or enter tie prem
SIS, l refused perem ytoti.y me reQ1es. o.
j Two prominent ci.lzeUs thaf / should alo"
the policeman 70 sdmiJ Little coloIel girl TO
/! tie muse. tool; the position that only the
| Health Officer could grant their Icques.
l Finding their argument with me futile
they applied 70 The Health Officer and ne
! complied with heir wishes Sometime after
Jnis incident | realized the necessity Of the
Hea n Officer having assistance, and nsr-
| toned the matter 10 him. ne stated that be
expected a. assistant in few days, but his
! expectations We're unfortunately dissppoiEt-
| ed, as the assistant failed TO come.
4 few days thereafter 3 young physician
! came in TO see me and kindly offered his ser
vices thanked him for his commemorate
generosity. snd referred him TO the Health
! OH er several weeks ago the question Of
! house TO house inspection was introduced by
Dr.. Wm. NJ Smith, one OF our most popusr
| physicians, and, might also add one OF our
most popular citiz.ns. He explained peEspic.
uousiy The moce OF performing the work and
! referred him 10 the Health Officer l men,
ton these matters as evidencing the courtesy
with which l have ever trested our Health
Officer. 4 day or t"o following this CONVEX.
sa;ioD with Dr. Smith the Health Officer and
| agreed that it was desirable 20 have eight
physicians rather tnsn four to perform the
SoIk,of inspection, as a larger number meant
speedler completion, and we were anX Gus
10 have the names OF patients snd location Of
disorder discovered s. quickly as possible.
The Health Officer could not secure the serv-
ices OF eight physicians. and l then said Sc
cure whatever number You can and let Us pro-
coed with the work imm -diate!y." aud IS the
Inspection is of far more importance jlst uoS
than vaccination. proposed that the inspect.
ors vaccinaie only in infected houses and d.
rect the INDECENT in unintected houses to call
AT the Office of the Physician Of the Poor.
where they could be vacciua:ed giatGitousiy.
This arrangement was not satisfactory ard J
then asked Or Sni 0 be my representa- sc
and insist upon the inspection being uroh-
atTucted and unjmpeded by coincide.t vacci-
nation. This was done and the next morn
ing the inspection began ana in fifteen days
thereafter i; Was finished
As the Heath tfcer would not assume the
responsibility OF th- inspection without vacci-
nation | assumed il. AID l claim now that II
vaccination had accomp MED inspect n the
inspection would not De hsf inisaci today
am more than happy 10 inform ,ol tAsI
the work OF su0iUgailng the disease J., being
vel! done Dr5. Smith. Miller. tiIm4u and
Qusckenbush, assisted by corp; o. expert
iaymen Policemen knight koD-ris, Spinks
and Wilkinson, ara yaccinsiing srge numbers
OF our people. The disease D., oeing exu5-
pated; We have sn abundance OF help. and i,
can be safely promised Ii i Two or three
weeks will see the conclusion of oar troubles
The Health Officer has hid numerous Gu
les imposed upon him bg resson of his nlsny
positions Health Officer. Physician 20 the
Poor and special phys.cisn to treat contagious
cases aud l was more thsn glaa to procure
the services of such excellent assistants As
Drs smith and German, for now the mstter
is pleasantly simplifed. Dr. Smith assists
the Health Officer, and most interchangeable
assistant he is, ana Dr. German. self sscridc-
ing and generous, assists the physician TO the
poor, and slsO the special physician attending
contagious cases. Too much praise csnnot be
given thu gentlemen and when they shall
have completed their lsbors : grateful pe0-