The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-05-08

| " help tho Investigation Committee, AM
from whom I'VE secured oil the infornl;l
ton for the new ordinance OH health. *
| Pr. Oppenhlincr replied: %f
VI NY did not haveth pleasure Of meeting
MIN 3YouH did not invite mo-"
'ff z DIR. GARCIN's REPLY.
Review Of Committees Report
and Complains Of Unfairness.
Dr. l1,r Garcln's address to the Council Toll
10 the Council Of tho city Of Rlchuloid;
,Gentlemen,-p Probably the ahlest t'resi-
dent OF the United States since washing
American n. should have a square deal: Ger
tainly &the Board Of Health, individually
and collectively, has not received such
recognition at the hands OF your special
Instead OF meeting the Department Of
Health In the capacity Of q conference
committee their apparent object was an
tagonism from the start The second
called sub-committeea Investigation Of
the statistical department came out In
glarlng headlines In the newspapers, with
the apparent object Of creating popular
prejudice p ., against the department.,
the Health Department, especially It's
p pr y, The stenographlc proceedings
Lutte truth of these sta tements f ia ~
My own personal belief is that If 3
your committee really believes its own
report they, should; recommend to
your honorable body that the H ealth !.
Department be lmpeaehed & for gross VI
. general lack OF any attentt6f to their \.
duties. FURTHER If they, really believe
their own report they should recon-
partment be indicted for infanticide
and malpractice. t
Tho president Of tho Board OF Health
will, l believe. ANSWER the committees
4 in detail will personally
swer a few points myself. Il,
Challenge to Committee.
ton 4, reorganization and and ord-
nances, paragraph 2, page 2 says that,
The science land practice OF asanitntiep5
and hygiene is lstlnct branohStof lea m;
~ and SO onr,41and sates.y t|l4tliaE
received such'ttraining as is now consid-;
cred necessarys;for a$public health. Officer.
desire TO- answer BY saying thnt no
member Of the Board Of Health claims
ing for myselfBI do mot claim to- fbeaan%
ignora mus on the subject Of thcsclenen,s
of hygiene and SAM ssl s'Sscience ;sand per
sonally to demonstratey my. Ignorance or
be perfectly willing To- Appear before any
competent body and stand ;shn examina-2s
ton on this Subject, Nythf} the al Altman,
or any g member 0fjthIy a
Section I pagcf2, states thatathe& mem
bcrs of tho Board Of Health make their
duties on the board secondary to their
private work. Personally. SO far as my
own duties on the board have been, and
hrIOR r,erC0rD1a1 7 1oGIro
brand such statement as absolutely false
The amount Of compensation | receive
has never entered into any duty or pre-
vented any duty that fell to my lot as
ton to sanitary conditions in my end OF
the city, will amply justify the truth Of
this statement
Physicians Will Not Report. ,f,g
Page d. section B, Departmental Vital
Statistics" Personally, as a member Of
tho, Board Of nepth III have nothing di,
the indictment Of your committee as
drawn up concerns the Board OF Health.
of which | am member, and as m IN
tegral part of the organization ! consider
that should have q word or two to say
on your criticism of this section. Every
intelligent person, whether he be lay
man or physician, must know that il no
returns are received at the health office.
OF births for example, no returns can be
published In the annual report. The birth
ordinance has been IN imperfect ordl-
nance. 1t has not been. lived ur to- by
tho profession for several reasons. t.,rhe
Board of Health. not being an omnpotent
body, could not report numbers of births
that were not registered at tho Office.
No sensible person could, or would blame
the Health Department The explanation
by your committee is given as IAN In
complete return by physicians" Your
subcommittee report criticised this de-
harshly, unjustly, and certainly
very ilogicaly.
Paragraph OF this section states your
conception of what value a
death certificate Is, or may be, TO the
community and criticses the department
by saving: I'm view Of the above i'm
and the incomplcteness OF these on file
in the Office Of the Board of Health. your
concludes that the Health Dc
partmcnt Is unapprccative of these pur-
poses 20 or negligent IN CARRYING, 1thom out"
cism. must say that they were, to
speak mildly. exceedingly disconrteous
not to explain why there may have been
the Boprd of Health occupies three or
four different offices, receives q mengre
salary and being but n human holng
makes mistakes. ] clio not at all grant or
report. As I stated to the
chairman. DR.. Ennion Williams, his view
point aud my viewpoint are entirely d f.
fcrcnt so far ms this department or statis-
ties Is concerned
Not Sufficient Money. i
Further. In regard to the Health De-
partment's knowledge Of the value and
functions Of death certificates. the intel
llgcnce of the department or the lndl-
vidun members will compare favombly,
probably, with any equal number OF mon.
either doctors or citizens N any walk of
life IN this community Tho committee
should have stated, rs n simple matter of
Justice, that we did not receive sufficient
money to employ needed help. and that
this department Of statistics, II errors do
exist IN same. could have been, and
would be, greatly improved If we had |
the necessary clerical help.
. The last sentence In this section says:
Our high death rate Is hut the natural
consequence Of the lack Of effort on our
part TO check disease" I desire to say
that the Health Department. with the
means they have had, have done MI they
could to check disease. Nobody knows
better than your special investigating
committee why further investigation |
could not be made. As the board has not |
sven had money for necessities, we GER
.ainly could not reach out and investigate |
disease MS we would like and would do, |