The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-09-04
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH
AND SMALLPOX SITUATION
Health Officer W. F. Brunners Letter to Dr.. H. ].
Williams of Macon.

YOU must have seen his reply that |
was partially right and partially
wrong. and that he would see as many
members of the Appropriation Commit
| tee as were possible and would then
reply to me. I waited twenty-five days,
and never received a reply from him
You claimed to have heard me make
the statement, on July IL, and you
waited until Aug. 20 to correct 1t. Is
it a coincidence that all hands waited
until Legislature adjourned and your
appropriation was settled? / sent a
copy of the letter to Hons. Charles L..
Davis and ]. f. Cam, members of the
Appropriation Committee, and received
no reply from them up to the publica-
| ton of my letter to your president and
the receipts OF Chis) promise to reply
fully to my letter.
You are in error when you state that
I claimed that municipal and county
boards of health are doing nothing to
suppress smallpox. Quoting from my
paper. you are presented with the fol-
lowing statement: "In a majority of
cases the disease was properly handled
in cities and towns where there were
organized boards of health" Probably
you have never seen the true text of
my paper, hence your mistake
Is there not some mistake in your
statement as to the prevalence of
smallpox in Macon, when you say that
no case of that disease has developed
in Macon for months past? The rea-
son why I ask this question is that,
from May IS to July you are credited
with having twenty cases of smallpox.
Again. is it not a fact that during
the summer months smallpox is APP
parently missing, only to reappear as
cold weather sets in.
And here. doctor, why have you fall
ed to answer my statement regarding
the fact that your executive officer is
a professor in a college and from its
catalogue he is scheduled to lecture
-four a. days in every week from Oc-
tober to March. inclusive? The ques-
ton naturally presents itself: Does he
cut lectures or does he cut the State
Board of Health work?
why He Refused Place.
To the question why l did not accept
the appointment on the State Board of
Health, would say that never, know
ingIy, connected myself with failure,
and as far as you have gone, you have
failed.
Now, I have seen Ave state boards of
health; | mean the boards of health of
the five states bordering on Georgia,
which are handicapped by the same
trouble that the Georgia board labors
from a standpoint of general medicine,
could be no better. While some of them
are political doctors, the members of
these boards, are. generally men OF
recognized medical ability, but precious
few have any knowledge of practical
state medicine. and none of them Che
boards) have ever had money enough
to do the work asked of them. This is
a fact which is well known to everyone,
nd &c ga ont ~
which neither you, nor anyone else, can
controvert.
assure you. doctor, that you state
an impossible condition when you say
that I wish the centralized control of
the smallpox situation in our state, in
myself, under the auspices of the Unit
ed States Marine Hospital Service. The
idea is so thoroughly absurd that your
knowledge of the regulations of that
service must be limited, indeed.
Your statement as to the politics of
DR.. Wyman, surgeon general is equal
ly absurd There is no political sig
nificance attached to the Office of sur
geon general of that service. The
proof of that is, however. that DR..
Wyman was the head of the Marine
Hospital Service during the last adj
ministration of President Cleveland.
The Marine Hospital Service is a bu-
if the position referred to had been
political one, the Democratic Secretary
of the Treasury under the Cleveland
administration would have made
change in the head of the service.
/ cannot believe that you meant what
you said as to Negro health inspectors,
the paralysis of commerce, and the
degradation of Southern white people.
with DIR. Drummer head in front of
smallpox conditions in Southern
states"
Marine Hospital Service.
The history of the marine hospital
service in controlling epidemic dis
eases, in the following instances, stamps
all these statements as incorrect.
beg to refer you to the control of the
yellow fever epidemic at Brunswick,
Ga, in 1893; Louisiana in 1S79-1S9S and
1899; the epidemic of smallpox In Texas,
1894, and the epidemic of yellow fever
there, 19O3-19O4.
As to paralysis of trade, II gives
me much pleasure to quote from the
speech of United States Senator Caf-
ferry. of Louisiana, delivered in the
United States Senate, March %, % and
&c. 1898, the following statement:
Speaking of yellow fever at Franklin.
La, in 1897, he states that there was
"a shotgun quarantine for nearly 100
miles between New Orleans and Frank
lin. There was some doubt about the
disease being yellow fever. Dr. Carter,
a most efficient physician, belonging to
the Marine Hospital Service, was tele-
graphed for and pronounced the case