Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1911-04-28

things 60 unQOne II We would accom-
plish that which is committed to us.
WANTED A SANITARYINs INSPECTOR
There is no more valuable an asset
that city can possess than low rate
of sickness and death. The day has
passed when sickness was looked on as
dispensation of Providence against
which human efforts are of no avail,
and today ever yone knows that a high
percentage of sickness in community
is evidence of gross carelessness and
negligence on the part of the people
composing it.
In 1897, the year before our war
with Spain, the death rate in Havana
for July was over SO per thousand
nearly nine per cent; while during the
same month in 1901 it was but 10, the
lowest in the civilized world. There
had been no change in the climate.
the food and habits of life of the people
we're the same, but the work of the
Sanitary Department of the Provision
al Government, established by the
United States, had produced the
change by clearing away the filth
spots that had bred disease, Colon
and Panama have been famous or in
famous as the plague centers OF the
western hemisphere, but under the
rigid sanitary control established and
maintained by the Canal Commission,
they have become health resorts.
The original work of cleaning and
purifying these places was tremendous
and those in charge of it deserve high
praise for the thoroughness with which
it was done, but no less praise is due
those who maintain the sanitary stan
dard thus established. Eternal vigil
lance is the price of freedom from dis
ease even more than from tyranny,
and ceaseless, intelligent inspection is
the only means by which this immun-
ity may be preserved.
Staunton justly takes no little pride
in its healthfulness, and this high
standard should be kept up by every
means that is available. Leaving out
of our calculations the sorrow, anxiety
and distress caused by case of typhoid
fever, for an example, it is safe that it
will cost in actual money at least from
fifty to seventy-fve dollars, and as a
rule will run beyond this estimate. A
comparatively small number of cases
will cause general uneasiness and will
be reported as an epidemic, and such a
report spread abroad will injure the
trade and reputation of the city be-
yond any means of computing. Now
typhoid and most of the contagious
and infectious diseases are preventable
by reasonable amount of care, and
this care is.well worth taking.
Before possible sources of infection
can be made safe, they must be known,
and there is the weak spot in our sys-
tenn of municipal hygiene. Our
Health Officer is dependent on volun-
tary reports or complaints made to
him or on the reports Of the police of
such unsanitary conditions as happen
to come to their notice.
1t is obvious that such system, if
system it can be called, is neither eff
Gent nor satisfactory. Few of us care
to lodge complaints about our neigh
bors unless conditions are intolerable,
and our police have enough other
duties to occupy them, SO that they
have no time to explore back alleys
and the rear premises of shacks and
shanties. A special officer should be
employed by the city who shall act
under the direction of the Health Of
ficer and devote his whole time and
attention to discovering pest holes and
sources of pollution so that they may
be called to the attention of the proper
authorities.
Our sanitary laws are excellent,
quite as good as those of much larger
cities, but the machinery for enforcing
them is deficient, and this sanitary in
spector will render our laws effective.
During the winter months the police
reports are sufficient, but it is in the
summer that the systematic inspection
is almost necessary.
Plague spots found and reported in
the summer can be promptly attended
to, and the results, in mere saving of
money, will amply repay the cost.
By charging this officer with the duty
OF noting and reporting leaky water
pipes and other wastes of water, a val
liable service will be rendered the city.
A suitable man for this duty can be
secured for some fifty or sixty dollars a
months, and this for the four or five
Months that his services would be re-
quired would not exceed three hun
dred dollars. We urge the Council to
consider this matter, so that the proper
steps be taken before the advent of hot
weather.
How's This?