The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-04-15
RICHMOND FAR
BEHIND 8. ! ! SAYS ||| {! He:
! Dr. Taylor Talks Of City's Poor
Sanitation, Declaring It Is
to Her Shame.
OTHER CITIES HAVE ADVANCED
Many Have Profited BY Recent
improvements While Rich
@ ,nond Has Done Little

:
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Ma citizen Of Richmond takes n keener
& or moro Intelligent interest IN his native
y clty's welfare and In I'LL the conditions
TIM, afrect her wealth, growth aid pros
1 pcritr than Or Wi,,ntn Il. ThSlor. Bthto
Y chemist, ana for many years city cor-
b oner.
Regarding present health tohdltiohs
hore. Dr. Taylor aail yesterday;
"rheru Is o thoughtful perso who
hearl the admirable discourse OF Pro.
2ossor sedgwick but must have cnvled
the communities Of whose enlightened
spirit he was the exponent, and have
felt painful humiliation and regret az
the contrast presented by the sanitary
Il condition of our own oily ana etate.
y The distressing ilsares SHOWN upon me
/ screen told all too i, onir " the almost
i unparalleled slaughter going on year ar
/ ter year among us. Yet We have reason
/ to believe that 1t is worse even than
was displayed and moreover, we 40
not know the specific cause for 1t, ana
have never made All honest ana ue-
ter,nincd attempt to find 1t out WIN
view to intelligent efforts to combat IT,
Can our supineness in his transcedentnlly
i important matter be called by any mlIuer-
name than criminal negligence! ana
shall the awakening and most salutary
I utterances of Professor sedgwick be al
lowed to sink into nothingness, as have
done the words Of his predecessors who
have tried TO rouse us from our fatal In
difference?
Be Failure Anywhere
1.-THE remarks l shall make do not
/ necessarily imply adverse criticism of tho
I, members of our city board Of health 1t
I Is far from my purpose to censure them.
| / know the difficulties finder which they
! labor, for was myself Il member of our
q board OF health almost from Its incep-
hton. some forty years ago. and for many
l. years afterwards, and the system undnr
l which its members work now Is essential
fly the same as that Under which work
ed then, and It was, and is, system
4 under which Professor Sedgwick him
/ self would be failure. IN all the forty
years which have elapsed no material
| modification has been made till quite re-
Gently, when some valuable Innovations
| were effected, which, trust, are the
!, harbingers OF many others. There was
an excuse for the crudties of a gem
GRAFTON ago, for sanitary scence was
then almost in It's infancy, and we did
as we did because we knew no better.
But vast advances have been made since
then, and other cities have long ago
profited BY them while Richmond, 70
s its shame and detritnent has steadily
neglected to do 50.
Death Rate Too High.
q OF the death rate he said:8
.The death rate Of Richmond Is alto
gether too high. and It is unreasonably
and unnecessarily high. There Is
cause for 1t, which the data collected by
our Anticipated and worthless Methods do
not enable us to fix. This cause can |
be discovered by the proper application of
modern scientific methods, and. when dis
covered can be effectively combated by |
modern scientific menns of sanitation.
such as we're clearly pointed out by |
Professor Sedgwick. This Is the state OF
the case plainly defined for us-and we
have the option either to dawdle on, as |
we have been doing and die, or wake up,
act like rational beings, and live.
"If. we are TO accomplish anything salts
factory, It Is lmperatlvely necessary, first |
9 OF ALL to reorganze our health depart
ment completely. and in accordance With
j twentieth century ideas. In saying this
Il have no reference to It's personnel, but |
1 speak only Of tho system. cannot now
\ go into the details of the plnn on which,
las ! conceive, thai reorganization should |
be effected. Fortunately, we nave ex-
I cellent models to guide us, and bad onos 4
too to warn us. Most important of ALL /
and, as 1t seems to me, lndispensnhly
necessary, is that the head Of the de-
partment shall be q man thoroughly In |
structed In the sanitary science OF our |
time, who shall be most carefully Sc
lected for his fitness alone, having reason
able assurance of the tenure of his office, |
and with extensive powers and large |
Freedom OF action. And he should DO re-
quired to attend to the work OF the de- !
partment exclusively.
1t Is certainly n remarkable and dis |
creditable anomaly that. for our gas
and the mechanical aspects of our water
supply we properly have departments
possessing the dignity Impaired by n
large degree Of Independence. with heads
who devote all their abilities to gas and
whter problems, while, for the most i'm
!. portnnt OF all our lnterests-our health
We have an organization which, 30 far
from being what may be called n pri-
4 sliary one, Is not even q secondary one,
4, hut Is a tertiary one-or, perhaps, Is lower
Z even than this in tho scale OF independ
.tent existence
It is Past Physicians Alone.
fear that 1t Will ha+,- VI be admitted
\ that we have not at present In Richmond
4 sufficient number of persons qualified
ap>, a nil ba