Norwich bulletin., 1911-04-26

MILK c0HnITsoNs Better
PubIIc Health and Social Evil Dis
cusssd II the Conference 81 Charities
and corrections At New Haven.

in what they had to say: &
Pollution Of Streams.
Calvin w Hendrick of Baltimore
member Of thes National Sewage com-
mission, opened with "a paper on pol
luton Of streams and harbors Civ.
ing in brief a review of what Ealti-
more has done to prevent further pol
lIutipn OF the Chesapeake hanbnr and
the oyster beds in Its, tributaries. He
said that the question of Eollution OF
water courses of the country Through
indiscrfminate disc charge of sewage -
and Atty years hence; if preventafiye
methods are not taken. the country
Will face the problem of. being de-
priveds Of pure wafer supplies. This
win become a national calamity.
Cause Of Contagious DfseAses.
He id that cOntanina tiOn OF water
supplies at the. present time is in a
measure reflected in the constant i'll
ness of three million people with con-
tagiOus diseases and the economic
waste of more than $500, ,000,D00 year
ly- Sanitary laws strictly enforced
will be the lvation As sewage can
be treated so that it does not menace
public health. it IS tosbe expected that
states will pass laws which will stop
pol1utionzef their streams Mr.. Hen
bricks described the formation of the
National Sewage commission to pro-
mote discussion OF the problem. :
Losses by Sewage Contamination.
G, Everett Fill Of New York. SAM
itary engineer. said that economic
losses tlr ongh' sewage contamination
are enormous The great danger does
not lie in pollution of the great
streams, but by. destroying the purity
of the supply of smaller streams
through the neglect of towns and cit
les yupoR Them to care for the sewage.
He recfted /. personal experiences in
tracing epidenics, Including his. in
city. in which he found gross care
lesSness III ha nd1ins the milk supply,
some years ago.
Milk Conditions Have imprevsd. :.
Or. Towasend Of the state hoard of
healtLs rose. TO. say that what n r. Hi
hid said of dairy conditions at the
TIME OF; the epidemic was true, but he
wo{fld toint out that since sfhen. under
superv sion Of the state board. and ed
lines, conditions had beenzyasfIE I'M
proved. Z : Es7
Some Streams Arc Open. Sewers. :.
James a Ner-lands of aIiddletown,
introduced as 4 state expert. said that
many of the streams Ia the state were
not unler legal Supervision and in
consequence some were nothing more
or less than open sewers. He said
that Mr.. Hendrick had pointed out
Ba1timore's care of oyster beds four
teen miles distant. while in this state
sewers are known to discharge within
two <ht1ndr8d1 or three hundred feet of
oyster beds. He said the great need
in Connecticut was a law to compel
towns and cities to divert their sew
ages into other eOurses than the rivers.
Contamination Of Oyster Beds.
Mr. Fitch foses and asked Mr.. New
lands, to- repeat his statement in re-
gard to oyster beds and this was done.
Mr. Perry. clerk of the shel1fish COM
mission, pointed out that oyster beds
which might sbe near sewers were not
producing beds They were used most
1y for seed oysters. Mr.. Newlands
replied that he did not intend to con-
yeys the Impression that all beds We're
contaminated; on the contrary, he be-
Iieved ssti1at the beds as a whole were
free from sewage contamination.
Move to Prevent Pollution.
DR.. Townsend suggested that COM
mittee be named to appear before the
public health and safety committee on
the. bills to prevent pollution of
streams. ,szssT-s
Remedy Of Special Evil.
The second subject, the social evil,
was. then taken up. The opening pa
per was by DR.. t.. n. Hepburn of
Hartford, who frankly discussed the
prevalence of venereal plague in the
country; the eco.oinice entailed,
the cost of prostitution and measures
to remedy the evil He said that state
regulation and supervision and medi >
cal inspection, which have been in
force abroad, have all failed He be-
ieved that remedy would be found
in spreading physiological knowledge,
but: whatever Improvement there was
would be very slow. He. attributed
enes sn Sessea
nlent would come. when municipal
homes, and a scheme which would fur
nishs pleasant surroundings and attrac-
tions to. poor girls, can be put into
force
Give Girl. Hsttsr Wages.
DIR. Richard Cabot of Boston did not
believe that legisIa ton will ever solve
the problem Improvement would not
come until girls are, offered equally
good wages in. their-ekery day employ
ment as are secured by them in a life
of prostitution. He believed education
was an Important factor, but UP till
this time he believed that nine -tenths
of the. .so-caHed education was merely
information and Information rarely
proves a factor He said that medical
students have all the information they
desire as to the effect of the social
evil bat he had never noticed that
their morals We're any better for this
reason. The medical profession knows
most about the effect of morphine
yet there are more morphine users
among physicians Than in any other
walk OF life. He said that people will
not. tell the truth simply through be-:
ing told to- do 50. He thought infor-
nation was good only as it neutral