The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-03-24
AND WATER SITUATION

Memphis has had some 200 cases of typhoid fever officially
reported, and so far there is no abatement in the number
announced each day. A few years ago this would have been
very dangerous, and it is dangerous now if general use is not
made OF the a%ntnyphoid serum, given free by The health depart
ment at the police station, or at a reasonable price by any
physician,
Memphis, since the adoption of the present water system,
has had less typhoid fever than any other city Of its size, and
from all OF the information available at this time it seems that
someone was asleep at the switch when the present outbreak
was permitted. We hope that the entire medical profession OF
the city will live up to its high ideal and rally in one grand
effort to help the authorities stamp the disease out before its
germs become any more widely distributed. There is now no
real cause for typhoid fever to be in Memphis, nor is there any
Tor 1t to spread. The water again probably is the best, from
a health view, of that supplied to any city Of consequence in the
land. 1t is simply up to the authorities to set to work, and
with the aid Of the general practitioners eradicate the infection.
When the pollution was discovered in the downtown city
water supply, The News Scimitar, with a view Of suggesting
the use OF %antityphoid serum as a preventive, asked the officials
Of the health department day after day about the danger OF
typhoid fever from the water, The public was assured by the
department that there was no danger Of typhoid fever from the
water. 1t was treasured when the department day after day
announced that the analysis of the water showed colon but no
typhoid bacllh
Now comes the health department with the charge that the
typhoid outbreak is due to infection during the short period of
impure water in the downtown area,
Why was not the use of the %antityphod serum begun as
soon as the pollution in the water was discovered? Why were
the lives OF Memphans and the even course OF affairs 'endan,
gcred by this delay? II it is now known that the water caused
the outbreak, why could not the danger have been discovered
then?
The most astounding revelation of the entire situation, how
ever, is that no one knows how long there was pollution OF the
Auction avenue supply before its discovery-that there was no
daily analysts of the water furnished Memphians to drink. Since
the discovery Of the trouble at the Auction avenue plant, the
water from that main unit of the system is analysed every day,
but today the water from the other units is tested only occa-
sionally. The chance is very remote for any injection to occur
in other units Of the system, but, however remote 1t may be,
there should be a daily analysis OF the water from each unit
Human life is too valuable and sickness too expensive Tor any
such chance to be taken,
We are told now that the discovery of the pollution in the
Auction avenue supply was purely northumberland the
employees there found a flow of water greater than was due to
come from that particular drift, and the effort to learn the cause
of the additional amount Of water revealed the leak in the system
so close to a broken sewer that the sewage was flowing into the
supply. How long the pollution, probably beginning in a small
seep, had been increasing, no one knows. Think of i'll With all
OF our machinery in the water department and the health depart
ment the discovery of a contamination OF the water was from an
employe seeing too much water come from one set of wells
Had there been a daily analysis then as there IS now of the
water from the Auction avenue unit OF the water system, the
microscope in the health department should have shown in
few hours the presence of the germs, Analyses OF the vari
Gus drifts and then wells would almost instantly have showr
the source of contamination. 1t would have been blocked of
before the mains and laterals were contaminated,
The various city departments now are passing the buck
back and forth as to who shall shoulder the responsibility fi
this omission. The water department is sure that it asked the
city hall for regular analyses of the water twice a month-no
every day, but every other week.
The city hall has no recollection OF any request for regular
inspections.
Soldiers shoot the sentry who sleeps at his post; politicians
raise his salary.