New Britain herald., 1917-05-19

CT and in the revenue brought in. To- day the New Britain water depart
 ment supplies approximately 11,OOO
 families. an increase of about 1000 In
 the last twenty-three years as in 1893
 there were. only about 1000 families
 being served. During this same perl
 cd the income of the water depart
 ment has increased more than four
 fold In 1898 the receipts totalled
 $34.00o. In 1916 they amounted to
 $142.000. i People trying to induce their little
 back yard gardens to grow are ex-
 periencing considerable difficulty Tn
 keeping stray dogs and cats from con
 verting these plots into g8iniature race
 tracks. Patience sometimes ceases to
 be virtue and when it does we LOOK
 for some dead canines and tehnes An"
 some very indignant owners
 Now is the time to begin swatting
 the fly. Biff him as soon as ne
 crawls forth from his winter quarters,
 Smash him before he Is fully awake
 and becomes such an elusive target.
 Squash him before he can begin his
 deadly work of transporting disease
 germs. A fly swatted today Is better
 than g. thousand flies swatted on
 July A..
 The French Model Council, civic
 organization to promote Americanism and to foster American principles, ls beginning a new agitation in favor or day nursery for New Britain. There nf when there was a well established day nursery conducted on Walnut street Here mothers who were compelled lo go out to earn their living could leave their little children and feel assureo that they would receive proper care m capable hands. Eventually. however the day nursery was compelled to sus- pend operations because of lack Q.
 funds. Such an institution is most l worthy one and it is indeed unlort- unate that this city cannot have one. New Britain's isolated case of small | pox has already caused good many l people to be apprehensive apout tne ! future and since the case has become 1 known there has been D decided innu4 | of patients to the various doctors to
 be vaccinated. This is particularly l true of children their parents wishing l to take every precaution against tneir | contracting the disease. Although l New Britain has had its share or diphtheria, meningitis, scarlet fever' infantile paralysis and other serious
 contagious diseases it has been re- | markedly free from smallpox. Ontll | the present case there had not been | single case of that disease in the city l for about five years. It Is the cpl demic of 1902, however, that IS still l wildly remembered by the. residents here. During that year smallpox scourge broke out in the early spring and increased in its intensity as the l summer progressed until there were in all fifty-seven cases. The schools were closed. Factory workers were vaccinated and every possible precau : | ton against the disease was taken. 1t was at that time that the isolation hospital, now used as part of the | town home, was built. While the pa tients were confined there the hospital was surrounded with high picket | fence which was constantly guarded by police. Smallpox patients who l were not removed to this hospital
 were kept in strict quarantine at their l homes and people still remember the little wooden GOODS in which the po- licemen guarding the houses to see ] that quarantine was not broken were | wont to sit to get protection from the | elements. It will also be remembered l that Dr. T E. Reeks, now superin- l tendent of health and then prac- ticing physician, was one of the few | @H% rryHn S NNf hesitate about entering fearlessly into the sick rooms to administer to the patients. At that time he wore special clothing within the houses which he changed upon again going out side. Although there were f1fty-seven
 cases of smallpox during that summer
 there was but one fatality, the victim
 being little baby. Doctors state
 state the mortality of smallpox In the
 United States is very low and that
 1t is the loathsomeness of the disease. rather than the fear of it's resultant
 mortality, that so alarms people.
 Doctors claim that the average death
 rate of smallpox is about one to every
 thousand and that out of the 50.OOO
 cases reported in the United States
 last year there were only about half
 hundred that proved fatal.
 This one case of smallpox, how ever, shows New Britain's need of an
 isolation hospital. Not only has the city no place to send people afflicted with smallpox, but also has no place to send people sick with the scarlet fever, contagious meningitis, infantile paralysis or any other highly conta- glous ailment. Either the city must
 rely upon the generosity of neighbor- ing authorities or care for the patients as best 1t can by strict quarantine. Tn thefr mind the old time resi-