The morning journal-courier., 1908-04-21
Tuesday, April 2l, 1908.
CLEANLINESS AND HEALTH.

CLEANLINESS AND HEALTH.
 The energetic manner in which the Associated Civic societies are insisting on plan for such measures and means as will provide for cleaning the city as a permanent work is to be commended. The effort deserves the hearty support of every citizen. The present city cleaning is no sporadic undertaking, The good results so far attained are to be conserved and made to count for similar renovations each year, or as frequently each year as Is possible To this end the organiza- tion of the work Is to be perfected. To instil the idea of cleanliness in the children by using the public schools where the children can be easily reached in large numbers is excellent in conception. It is a process of edu- cation that will mean much for the New Haven of the near future, when the growing generation will provide the city officials and business men.
 The value of this work can not be too highly estimated The words of Mir George B. Scranton. chairman of the sanitary committee. are significant in this connection. He declares that the children "are enlisted for all time as disciples of order and cleanliness in New Haven" It was a tactful piece of work to appropriate the enthusi- asm of children in the work. The chill dren themselves are likely to have more and moro feeling of proprietor ship in the city; to grow up with the idea firmly fixed that this is their city, and in this way the cultivation of civic pride will begin early.
 If the adage that "cleanlness is next to godliness" Is true, then the city is taking steps in the right direction. than many are wont to imagine be- tween cleanliness and moral progress. Whether 1t concerns an individual or a municipality, it engenders self-respect and proper pride and strengthens the sense of that which Is wholesome and right. There is perhaps no people whose literature emphasizes so much the connection between cleanliness and moral progress as the Jewish people A study of their Mosaic laws reveals the detestation which they had for anything unclean. Nothing of the kin6 was permitted in their camps or cities Legislation in detail demanded per. sonal cleanliness. With them pure wa. ter, hyssop and soap were conducive tC moral welfare. A plague or unclear disease, as leprosy, required that tho house infected should be not only clean ed but rebuilt, if the sanitary in spection of the priest ordered it. Tho emphasis throughout this ancient lit erature was on cleanliness from clear hands to clean hearts. But with thi! people 1t was then national or soca question, as it Is becoming more ant more in the present day.
 The effect of cleanliness on health 1, a matter that is minimized only witt danger. The preservation of healtl has become largely social matter Where people are living in more com pact quarters as in cities, there arr duties that cannot be left to indYid ual impulse or fancy, but the city al a whole must undertake in the inter est of all that which the inGiyidua cannot or will not do The care 0 the health of the community is one Q these duties, and cleanliness is essen tial in successfully combating dis ease and securing a healthful city
 Not only is this true of every eft. that is alive to the responsbilitic which belong 10 1t, but there Is move ment to urge the national governmen to establish national department O health, and to the credit of New Ha ven some of her citizens are promn ently interested in this matter Wha New Haven therefore can do in clean lness and the preservation of healt here will have great effect on othe sections of the country and wi strengthen the arguments of some c her citizens in their advocacy of a ma tional department of health.
 But very important part of thi systematic plan for cleanliness in thi city and the consequent benefit O health must not be overlooked Ne Haven Is surely big enough and pro gressive enough to have an ineinera ton plant and a department for tn collection of ashes and garbage, as hay