Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-02-16
sa4.4sO.4S


Among the larger items in the repairs
of school buildings is s707.4O paid w. II.
Bodine for boiler and setting in old high
school building; $4365S paid F. s. Fuller
& Co. for placing two furnaces in the
Saxtons River school building $317.25 to
e. p. Bennett for painting at the old
and new high school buildings, and
$312.27 paid in two bills for repairs to the
roofs of the old and new high school
buildings.
The expense to the town for the town
building was $3266.75, while the income
for rentals amounted to $3S17.75. In 1910
the expenses were $453703 and rentals
$S966.00
The orders of the selectmen in the
miscellaneous department in 1911 aggre-
gated s77O0.9S, while in 1910 they were
$S7S9.43
Just 200 orders were drawn by the
overseer of the poor, aggregating s722iS3
as compared with an aggregate of
S6775.01 in 1910. The income of the farm
in 1911 was s6S1.S5 and in 1910 s557S1. The
net cost of supporting the poor of the
town aggregated $1.21 per capita by the
census of 1910 In 1880 the amount was
only sc cents per capita. In 1894 the cost
per capita in Rockingham was So cents
while the average that year of Mont
pelier, Brattleboro, Rutland and Green
field was only 80 cents. The question
may be asked "Why is Rockingham
pauperized to an extent of three times
what other similar towns and cities
are?" The expense is increasing much
faster than our population increases.
The health officer of the town, DIR. E.
S. Allbee, reports more than the usual
number of contagious diseases during
the year: Diphtheria %, scarlet fever 16,
mumps IA, measles II, chicken-poX IS,
typhoid fever 13, pneumonia 6, erysipelas
l, all requiring the quarantining of 107
places and the fumigation of 40. An in
teresting fact reported by DR.. Allbee is
that while he was not able to trace the
source of the first case of diphtheria he
is sure the disease was spread by what
is termed diphtheria carriers, that is,
persons who have the germs in their
threats and show no symptoms of the
disease. In the last epidemic he request
ed the physicians to secure negative
cultures from all persons in the different
families, whether i'll or not, before the
quarantine was removed, and three were
found who carried disease germs with
out showing the least signs of disease.
DIR. Allbee makes an exhaustive and in
teresting report. OF the cases of ty-
phoid fever four were contracted else
where, two from river water and five
from polluted cisterns. OF the 13 deaths
from tuberculosis three were non-resi-
dents.
or the 100 deaths occurring in town
during the year 70 took place in Bellows
Falls and 80 outside. which is a much
less proportion in Bellows Falls than or
dinarily. The causes of death were:
tuberculosis IA, brights disease s, apo
plexy 10, heart disease 8, suicide g.
arterio sclerosis 8. cancer s, senility 4
still born s. and other causes of one and
two each.
DIR. Albee reports inspection of al
schoolhouses in town and that the ven
tilation of each of the rural houses is
defective, while in Bellows Falls and
Saxtons River it is commended.
Fourteen licenses for peddling mill
were issued requiring the inspection OF
AZ different diaries The examinations
show a marked improvement in the
quality of milk over former years, only
two out of 81 samples at the last exam
ination being found dirty Great i'm
provement has been made in the stable:
and care of the different herds.
He reports complaints made to him o.
the unsightly condition of the burnt
district between Canal and Rockingham
streets, and says that upon investigation
he found that as there was no complains
as to its being menace to public
health, being merely unsightly did no
make any action by him legal.