The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1912-01-25
.BLAMES TYPHOID 70 WATER
Is in the Throes of Great
Contest Between Physicians and the
Health Department as to Condition of
the Water Supply Of the City.

That Milwaukee IS water supply
from Lake Michigan is so far below
the usual standard Of purity that it
is dangerous even to use it in brush
ing the teeth unless it has been boil
ed; that fresh vegetables cooked in
unboiled water carry the contamina-
ton, and that the present typhoid
fever epidemic and prevalent intesti-
nal trouble may assume alarming pro-
portions, is the statement of more
than one physician in that city.
Tt is charged that the administra
tion, more particularly the health de
partment, is attempting to minimize
the danger, refusing to do more than
to suggest the boiling of water and
milk in more or less perfunctory
manner. The statement has been made
by medical men that the administration
is fully cognizant of the danger, but
is squelching the real gravity of the
situation.
Tt is said that DR.. George G. Rub
land, city bacteriologist in Milwaukee,
has repeatedly called the attention of
Health Commissioner Frederick A.
Kraft to the dangerous condition of
the water, but that the real truth has
NOT come FROM the commissioner s Of
fee, Testimony to the impurity of the
water is found in the forty-three new
cases of typhoid fever last week, and
the death rate Of 15.92-unusually high
despite the assertion of DR.. Kraft
that the situation is due more to I'M
wholesome vegetables and other food
products than the water.
! DIR. +. G. Studley is severe in his
condemnation Of the water supply. He
said ON Wednesday:
81 do not permit my children even
to brush their teeth with water which
has not been boiled and everything in
the line of fresh vegetables is cleaned
|'only in boiled water. There is no
doubt in my mind that the epidemic
of typhoid fever is due to anything
but the water, for it is utterly absurd
to make out that the large district
embracing the cases has any other
source than through our water supply.
81 was extremely gratifed with the
work of DR.. Rucker in the chlorination
of the water while he was health com.
missioner, and while it has been the
general rule of every administration to
somewhat minimize the danger from
bad water when it was in such condi.
ton. | believe that the public should
be fully informed as to the true sit
uation. 1t is wholly unfit just now,
and extreme care must be taken.
DR.. j. I'll. Levings is as pronounced
in his condemnation of the city water
as is Dr.. Studley. ''The water now is
absolutely unfit for drinking pur.
poses,n he asserted, cit has been so
in my Judgment for the last two or
three years. AT my home, Farwell
avenue and Kane place, the water was
so murky this morning / couldn't see
through, it. Last night the whole bot
tom of the bath tub was cover
ed with dirt. / warn the peo-
pie that it is unfit for drinking
unless it has been boiled. Before
boiling the water, suggest that it be
strained through two or three thick
nesses of cheese cloth If the water
is boiled and then bottled and placed
in cool place it retains it's natural
taste to a considerable extent and is
palatable. / know that many of the
typhoid fever cases of last autumn
were directly traced to Lake Michigan
unboiled water.