36
THE WEST SHORE.
February, 1880
' the premises low ami damp, he should flee from ; lanes, and worse, that it was suffered to remain
it as from a scourge spot. There can be nothing : there and disgust and poison with its noisome
t hut disease and death in such a house a score of! odors. In the central parts of our city, pest-holes
physicians could not give health in such a place. : of dirt, and reeking filth existed, and in other
, I if- nml hpnlih fir! ntlwr mnttrrs afterwards, in : narts of the citv filthv heaps of rubbish, composed
our cily. The citizen who knows anything about Any . Mna a am, flf (he most om,nsive tood gra(luallv )t.
(be sanitary condition of Portland has nooccas.on f no( for hjs (ing s(enches and deleterious
to swell with pride, nor can he boast of the m- ineighbo( ,houl(1 wi,ingi without a moment's gases, which, rising up, creep into the adjoining
chinery intended to 1 Med to insure the health () y an(, (ha( , MUgttr,te hoUKS, feeding neuralgia and all malarial diseases
.., ,.,c ,Tu,.,e ., ,-,. k.umm .,..,, . ,nJ enforte t(c laws tQ (ect the . nd ai,mentSi The most oflemuve places are
health and lives ol that family, to say nothing of those in possession of Chinese, where they run
keeping the doctor out. In cities men are pre- their wash-houses. The yards f many of them
PUBLIC HEALTH
An spring Is upon us, and summer will soon
follow, it is not a moment too soon to call the at
tention of the public to the sanitary condition of
likes a just view of its Illness for thai purpose
Attention to this subject is the more needful just
now in view of the recent deaths which have taken
place here from diseases al once so virulent anil
unsparing, striking down and destroying the loved
ones in our homes who had before them the pros
ecl of long, useful, und hnppy lives. It is none
too MM, then, to warn the public authorities,
and arouse them from their lethargy, if such is
possible, ami to stir up our cttlttDI to insist on
rieid sanitary measures, feeling assured that lboe
eminently their brother's keepers in matters of are littered up and strewn with an indescribable
conglomeration of the vilest smelling offal; upon
this is thrown the most disgusting liquids that
health. Their houses are in closer proximity
Iheir business relations are intimate. This hud
dling of houses together, which is the constant only a Chinaman, with an experience of tltee
practice and bane of cilics and one of the princi- thousand years, could concoct; the fetid -nis,
pal objections to city life, is what calls for the gives out an odor at once as startling as frightful,
greatest watchfulness nnd care on the pail of our and as dangerous as offensive. If the heathen were
public aulhorities, to see that they are so con- , strict followers of Confucius, or hailed from the
. . i t .L MLL.. .L . 1- . 1. 11 l , I JittT .
, . strucleii as lo drainage, pipes, iraps, vein pipes norm oi enma, ineir naous wouiu oe uiuerem.
who recently manilesleil so much laudable real in an,i cosels, that only Hie miniinum evil may arise, Their former practice of living over water, has
liehalf of the dumb brute, will more readily act ,,s somc ,ust ,e the consequence of the close con- created a strong tendency to dump all or any filth
in a cause that effecls every home.
Poitland, situated as it is with all III
present advantages, should be one of the
healthiest cilies, if not the healthiest one
in the United States. Its facilities lor
draining could haidly I c Utlcr, and the
water supply which is available, or can be
mnde so, for Hushing out pipes, drains,
sewers, and oilier ordinary purposes, is
most abundant. It docs not enjoy the
reputation it should were its sanilnry In
lercl closely attended lo. The truth is,
that for want o( a proper system of vital
statistics, nr any system at all, (for none is
in existence) the position it occupies is
quite unccilain. It must sland low, how
ever, and can not lake ils pioper place
without a IhoioHgh clionsing, which must
be icpcalcl nnd kipi up ionium. illy, fol
lowed by the prcpan turn ol lables of luallh
att mortality monthly oi quarterly. These
tables would show 001 evict position, and
would sqiiiucly bring our cii'ciis fact! to
fau-wiili certain preventable drmioi lbr
ravage die commuiiily uilh al. inning fie
qviciicy. Nothing quickens any sluggish
public more tliiiu the slailling revelations
t,u',M bv these tallies tiom lime lo time.
They leuch home, and people think
and ad with decision and energy. The thought tact of dwellings and business places. The day 1 of t,t.
almost astounds one, that a city such as has long passed that we can lather on Providence
i
h a mBBI pmj . m
. ji JlTItllivjS MaBBBai
jBTilnl Hi
TERRITORIAL UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, AT
SEATTLE, W. T, Prom a Photo by Peterson Hios.
they part with, upon yard, alley or street.
Were it not for the coolness of our cli
niale and the abundant supply ofrain we
gel, I have no doubt that the most appall
ing epidemics would have ravaged our city.
Any person can see with half nn eye the
terribly close proximity of back-houses
and cesspools to many of the dwellings.
In one quarter there are four within a few
feet of, and another immediately adjoin
ing, three family residences. These vile
receptacles are the most dangerous things
that we have on our property, and only
their necessity compels their toleration ;
mosl of them are worse than powder mag
azines. They require the most unsparing
pains in cleansing and keeping clean, and
in ventilating and discharging the foul air
from them in some safe way. By these
means they are made comparatively safe.
As they exist al present, no one will dare
to deny thai a large number arc in a most
deplorable condition, and call for the iin-
mediate attention of the lathoiltiet.
Another fact thai cannot betoostronf ly
impressed on parcnls, is the bad condi
tion of the sinks and waler-closels that
form parts of their dwellings. It is
staled, upon good authority, that one
houses in this cily in which recently
occurred several deaths, contains a water-closet
Poitland, with its twenty thousand inhabitants, disease and death arising from our criminal ' w itla tian but no ventilation nine In such a
has adopted no means lo obtain mid preserve such thoughtlessness and neglect as lo sanitary pre-; case the trap is no real protection, as the fetid gas
statistics, wlm h an-o ncci-ssaiy. (If all things caulions. Our forefathers were In the habit of
lh.it call Hpu us foi cunsi. bullion and action, j taking too kindly lo His inscrutable ways and
health should I lush What can we do well giving Him credit for many of the fearful epi-
iernici and pestilences thai ravaged the country
in those days, thai now are quite under our con-
wilhoiil it ? What docs blc amount to in its ab
sence ,' This thought should nnpicss us in all I lie
changes in locality we make dining life, especially
if wc are acting as heads of families or as the
guardian of others. When one is moving lo a those unaccountable ways and spoils, and does
will find ils way through the water and poison
every one inhaling it. If such was the fad, the
disease may well be traced to the escape of the
pestiferous gases from the closet, and should lie a
warning lo all in charge of such properties to at
Irol, and are preventable. Science in those- days once inspect and protect themselves against any
nao noi so iiuerieieo wuu ami trenched upon
strange cily or couutiy, the lit) OUtatioQ should
tie, is il healthy? And in moving into strange
houses in this ol any other city, the hist question
uoi laugh at calamity when il does come, as some
wiongliillychaiged lhal I'rovnlence did. We can
repetition of the terrible disease. A certain
plumber residing in this city, slated, the other
day, that he fell, al times, almost guilty of mur-
not blame them, as they acted according lo (he ''cr' he considered the manner in which he
should lr. is the locality healthy oi unhealthy ? light they hail ; but if they had enjoyed the scien- had lo be compelled, by the sheer niceardlincss of
ti... i. ...... ..i.i ... ... i. ' o - .i. ..I.', iii... i.i 1..., .... .i.. i la .. . i b
the nest, i the house old oi new) is it a death's tihe blae lhal we do, they would not have es
liap, lo eaten ins inougmiess, iiiiiiHem ciuiiitcnr cojied our cciisuic and condeninaiion. Thanks
Will malarial gases creep oul of the sinks, cscaiie to Scicnce'for what she has already done- let us
people erecting houses, to do their plumbing. To
save a lew dollars by dispensing with a trap or a
from the water-closets oi back yards, and invade use her as a future and unerring guide in warding vcnt-piic, the safety of the inmates was entirely
. : I-.. .1. ........ it.. . .. ... : ..or I ' ...
and ilrike down the innules ? II.- can examine oil disease
sacrificed. He said that about two-thirds of (he1
the nirliiises thoroughly, and he should -lo so, and In looking alsmt the city recently. I n,,ii, ,-.l .,1.1 ;.. ,i.;. ..: i .
if he find, the drains choked, the sinks entrapped lhal many of our c,li,e.,s threw all kinds of tilth pipe,, and that a large number of the newer ones;
and no ptopcr vent pipe, or system of ventilation, tend garbage on the street, and in many of the which contained traps had no vent-pipes from