The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1912-05-06
WHO SAID DIRTY COURT HOUSE.

nv SAlD OlR1 4 SOOhI HOOSE
When State Sanitary Inspector
Wallis closed the Latah county Jail
and condemned the Latah county
court house because they are unsani-
tary. there was a howl because the
county officials did not clean up. Dis
playing their ignorance these critics
said it was a shame for Sheriff Brown
and the other county officers to per-
nit the dirt to accumulate. And when
Sheriff Brown and the other county of
ficials protested because of the unjust
condemnation of them, there was Of
fered as an excuse that the Star
the Jail was dirty There has been so
much said that the Star-Mirror here
with reproduces its comment. it said:
LATAH COUNTY'S SHAME.
1t is not matter for congratula-
tior for the people of Latah county
that months after the condition of their
court house has become generally UNI
derstood, the sanitary law must
need be enforced to compel ccmplI-
ance with the ordinary requirements
of decency. Latah county citizens
boast of their soil, resources and
wealth: of culture aud refinement, and
we want the rest of the state to be-
lieve that there is the proper environ
ment for the location of the highest
educational institution in the state. We
want the whole country to believe that
Latah county is progressive, and her
citizens abreast of the times, and yet
today the world is reading the news
that the Latah county court house has
been closed because it is unsanitary,
and the Latah county Jail has been
condemned and closed because it is
unfit for Jail purposes; that here in our
comfy court house is place where
men and women have been confined, |
and the place of confinement so vile |
and loathsome that it is likened, and |
truly SO, to the black hole OF Cal
cutta; pronounced by officials and doc
tors as worse than Libby prison. And
the worst of it, to our shame, is that
the charges are true. h
DR.. Rae, county physician, in his 7
annual report to the state last year
said: 1.-THE Latah county Jail is just as
bad as it could be-
Mayor Clarke, who has served as
county physician for many years, says
The same thing, and cites two cases
where men confined in the Latah coun-
y Jail have died. shortly after their
'elease, from tuberculosis.
DR.. Carithers visited the Jail yester-
lay morning. and said: 1T is beyond
belief. 1t is awful. 1t is as bad as could
'e imagined
The committee of nine. who recent
y inspected the court house, said the
4atah county Jail is a disgrace, that it
8 menace 70 the health of every
ne confined therein, The mass con-
ention of Latah county officials said
he same thing, and the men who have
ought the hardest against a new court
ouse demanded a new jail They, too.
ave admitted the horrible truth. La
III county is guilty of maintaining
Ill that would put to shame the black
st dungeons of Siberian prisons.
And yet, when State Sanitary Inspec-
N Wallis, the one man in the state
no has the courage to do his duty,
lmes here and takes official cogniz-
ice of admitted facts, there are those
no are ready to condemn him
But there Is rejoicing in the I.atah
'unty jail, The visit of Mr.. Wallis
I'd his deputy brought joy to the
'arts of the nine men now serving
ne IN this He'll hole. And the rights
these unfortunate men count for r
ore than all the doleful bowls that
dirty dollar of tax money blind their
nse of duty, not only to the maH
cked in the foul cell, but to the voice
progress and civic pride.
The vigorous action of the sanitary
spector now makes a new. court
use an issue that cannot be down. y
by handful of calamity howlers -
pessimistic tightwads whose con-
button to the progress; and develop ah'
mt of Latah county is a million wa
les less than nothing. nln
Why don't some, of the county news the
oers look up the meaning of the san
I'd "unsanitary," and save them gar
yes the time and trouble of display for
their ignorance Nobody has said
court house or the Jail was dirty A
, Star Mirror did not say the court mo-
Sc was dirty. Sanitary Inspector ing
His did not say the court house beti
he jail was dirty. He said it was but