The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-02-26
MOSQUITOES DOOMED
THROUGHOUT STATE
THAT IS IF LEGISLATIVE BILL
GOES THROUGH.
Can Drain Salt Marshes For 81 An
Acre-Tenement House Cues
ton Before the Committee

records for hearings by calling one
for 10 O'Clock in the morning when it
heard men in favor of several bills for
the determination of mosquitoes.
Three of the measures were sched-
uIed, two being of minor Importance,
relating to the powers of local boards
of health giving such boards power to
declare mosquito breeding places null
sances. The main bill, House Bill
SIS, is more pretentious it provides
for draining mosquito breeding areas
throughout the state, both fresh water
and salt marshes. 1t makes an ap-
preparation of 100000 for the pur-
pose and the Connecticut Agricultural
Experiment Station to Ego to it,
The room was crowded with en1ln-
ent doctors who appeared for the bill
| and DR.. w H. Carma1t of New Ha-
ven had charge of the affirmative
side of the proposition, there being
no objection entered.
House Chairman Pons of the COM
nnittee opened the hearing by saying
| that the committee had decided to
| limit all speakers to fifteen minutes.
! to which DR.. Carma1t acceded. He
said he favored the bill in the interests
| of public health and also because it
would enhance the value of shore
| property. He said he had received
| 700 letters advocating the measure
| and called attention to the success
| which had attended the work of the
|
quitoes from the Canal Zone and of
the work done by the State of New
Jersey along the same lines. In this
| connection he read a letter from a
| New Jersey expert commencing the
draft of the bill under consideration
kDr. G. J. Bartlett of New Haven fol"
| lowed and sa6d the measure was
| practical and that those favoring the
| bill knew exactly how many acres of
| marsh land exist in the state and how
| much it would cost to drain them,
| later speaker placing the figure at 81
| an acre. He said that about one
| tenth, of the entire area had been
| drained last year by private subscrip-
| ton and enterprise but the work must
| be statewide in order to attain the
| desired results. He said that ma1a
| ria is transmitted by mosquitoes and
while the number of deaths from that
| disease is not large the loss of time
! incurred by its victims should be ta-
ken into consideration. He empha-
! sized the. fact that both shore and in
| land marshes must be drained. ut
| cannot be done by private subscrip-
ton as it is too big job he said.
New Haven had done some work and
| the results were highly satisfactory.
| DR.. Moss Gompertz of New Haven
| said $4,000 was spent about that city
! in the work last year of which about
| $500 was spent in ditching. The
I
| he said. DIR. E. T. Bradstreet of
Meriden, president of the State Medi
cal Society, was heard in behalf of
the measure and called attention to
the eminent backing which it was re-
| ceiving. He said that the $4,000 900
asked for would probably be but a
1 small part of what would be expend-
| ed if the.work was started as private
/ enterprise would aid.
DR.. e. K. Root of this city spoke as
a member of the state board of
| health and told of the work which
! the city did in the South Meadows and
| of the success of the undertaking. He
| said, however, that its success was
I somewhat hampered by the fact that
| work had to stop at the city line and
nothing could be done to keep mos
| quitoes from breeding in Wethersfeld.
| DR.. G.. w. Gaylord of Branford, and
| other physicians were heard for the
measure as was State Entomologist
w. E. Britton.
| At the afternoon session the COM
n1ittee considered three tenement
| house bills. The first taken up was
| introduced by Mr.. Kopplemann of
Hartford and related to the estab-
| lishment of a state board of tenement
| supervision its prime object and
| provided for certain conditions as to
walI-papering over old paper and the
| withdrawing of cellars. There were
several, aside from. Mr.. Kopplemann,
| who spoke in favor of the measure
and numbe offered opposition on
| the ground that the boards of health
| had the power now, to~do all that the
| commission would be empowered to
| do, and thus the appointment of such
| a body would be nothing more nor
| less than an incumbrance. Mr.. Kop-
plemapn outlined the province of the
| bill and added that he had always
| been interested in lettering the con-
| dition of the poor, that he had made
| a. study of the subject and that he
| thought it the duty of the Legislature
to protect the poorer people who are
| really the ones to be safeguarded. He
said that the majority of the owners
| of tenements were inclined to do
| the right thing but that there were al
ways someone who would take the
| cheaper way out in dealing with ques-
| lions and it was these, that the bill
| was framed to hit.
Thomas J. Cummings explained
| that the bill was not to provide a sal
| aried commission TOR the violations
| would take care of any compensation
| for the members. The bill provides
| for inspectors to enforce the law but
| the supporters of the bill did not
know how many would be required.
| Alfred J. McKeon of Bridgeport
J said the people of his city were vital
| ~ interested in the bill, as Bridge
| port was a cosmopoIiton city and the
| conditions in many of the houses
were awful. This was particularly
| true of the tenements owned by peo-
| pie living outside the city and he
said people were forced to live in the
| tenements so to be near their work.
| The Board of Health, he thought, was
not empowered to handle the situation
| and he added that there was no in
| tent to burden the state, but simply
| to aid the poor. He thought the
spread of contagious disease was in
| part due to the fact that new wall
| paper was allowed to be placed over
germ laden walls without the old pa
| per being taken off. All of the doc
| tors present, however, disputed him
| on this point.