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Special number Augusta’s Health Carefully Guarded Department of Public Health MMembers of the Board of Health H E. Murphey, M. D., at large, presl- H and ex-officio health officer. IV. C. Lyle, M. D„ chemist. IHm. C. Kellogg, M. D„ at large. |H. R. Munday, Ist ward. 18. H. H. Duvall, 2nd ward. 18. J. Hollingsworth, 3rd ward. H, H. Land, Jr„ 4th ward. ■ B. Platt, Bth ward. H H. Cumming, 6th ward. Hembers of the health committee of H City Council of Augusta are also members of the Board of Hith. Hlth _ommittee of City Council, 1914; Hon. L. C. Hayne, mayor. Hon. It. E. Allen, chairman. Bon. Martin W. Boyle. Hon. F. L. Boyce. Wm. Martin. Julian M. Smith. Hlon. Frank W. Moore. H. C. Wilson, secretary. [ Depar'.ment of Public Health. Hlugene E. Murphey, M. D., Health Hicer. Hi. C. Wilson, Secretary. Bliss E. M. Ellington, Stenographer. Holm W. Dow, City Chemist. Ht. V. Lamar, M. D., Bacteriologist. D. Jennings, Jr., M. D., Contagi- Bs Disease Physician. ■A. L. Haggerty, D. V. S., Chief Food Hi. C. Campbell, D. V. hi., Assistant Bod Inspector. 81. J. Callahan, Assistant Food ln- H". tor. Hr. W. Vales, Inspector of I'lumblng. Hvin. Stucker, Chief Sanitary In spec - H. E. Trumpler, Sanitary T nspector Blohn Stark. Sanitary Inspector. Ht. H. Ramsey, Sanitary Inspector. HVV. M. Roche, Sanitary Inspector. M. Cabaniss, Sanitary Inspector. Hid. C. Alford, Sanitary Inspector. H Wilhelm, Sewer Flusher. H W. Scharnitzsky, Sewer Flusher. Hw. R. Barker, Sewer Flusher. Ha. T. Covar, Sewer Flusher. Physicians for the Poor. ■ George H. Lehmann, M. D. Hlienry Brooks, M. D. Hj. Ri°hton Robertson, M. D. ■The Board of Health of the City B Augusta was first organized In Bis. and is chartered directly by the Vgislature of the State of Georgia, ■ossesses the power of making Its own Bnitnry laws, ordinances and regula- Hons, which have the affect of law Hhen passed, and are not subject to re- Hew or repeal by the City Council. Vhe Board of Health organized the ■department of Public Health of the fcity of Augusta as a department of ■he municipal government In 1905. ■ Thj board Is composed of sixteen ■ ‘izeris who meet the last Tuesday in ■icii month, to receive the reports of Bre different departments of the board, ■ml to talk over and make suggestions ■> better the health conditions, and ■ass such ordinances as in their judg ment are needed to make the work of ■he del rtment more efficient. I The president, who is the directing Imd of the department, can during tils lime that the board is not in session Issue such ruling as he thinks will be lor the betterment of health condi licns nn 11 the board meets and same Is passed in the form of an ordinance. I Th operative poftion of the depart ■Ttent is composed of the president Ivlio is the directing head; the secre tary and stenographer, who do ill I’erical work of the office; a chief Bold inspector and his assistants, who |tal;e care of the food supply of the |ci'y; a chief sanitary inspector and [b>, six assistants, who see that the sanitary conditions are taken care of. It has a chemist and also a bacteriol o Ist, whose duties are to do all chem ical and bacteriological work for the department; and by arrangement with tile university laboratories, possesses laboratory facilities equal to those ot any city in the country. Indirectly connected with the de partment is a medical service for the poor of the city, also a school inspec tor and district nurse; these are un der the direct supervision of the med ical college. It maintains a Department of Con tagious and Infectious Diseases with a detention hospital for the care ot smallpox and other transmissible mal ar, ics, which cannot be properly iso lated in their own homes. The Division of Sanitary Inspection concerns itself primarily with the con dition of lots and premises in the city of Augusta, the enforcement of plumb ing ordinances, the control of breed ing places of flies and mosquitoes, and general supervision of all work of this character. As a part of the work of tlie sanitary inspectors, they have had within the past five years approxi mately five thousand surface privies removed, und in their places sanitary plumbing in connection with the sew age system installed, and the policy of the board is to continue this work as rapidly as the sewer system of the city can be developed. Unremitting warfare has been waged upon the mosquito, with a marked diminution of malarial fever in [-o city. The following table will be >f interest, hsowing the actual num ber of deaths from malarial fever, and [he increase in the amount of oil which has been used for the mosqui to eradication during tlie last decade. TABLE 1. Deaths .-rom Malarial Fever, 18C0-1913 White. Colored. Total. 1880 9 8 17 1881 6 7 13 1882 7 8 15 1883 1884 ..26 38 64 1 Bf!s8 f !5 16 25 41 1886 23 . 34 .57 1887 15 30 15 1888 16 26 42 1889 12 21 33 1890 14 23 37 1891 10 . 20 30 1892 13 22 35 1893 16 22 3S 1894 20 27 47 1895 24 29 53 1896 27 54 81 '•■B97 9 16 25 '.398 13 21 34 1899 27 33 60 1900 23 54 77 1901 43 52 95 1902 19 45 64 1903 9 33 42 1904 9 27 36 1905 6 33 39 1906 14 26 40 1907 9 31 40 1908 12 19 31 1909 5 12 17 1910 7 15 22 1911 9 20 29 1912 6 21 27 rjlS 3 9 12 The Board of Health of Augusta, Georgia, first began the use of mos quito oil in 1903. Gal's Used. May Ist to Oct. Ist, 190.3 200 May Ist to Oct. Ist, 1904.. .... 200 May Ist to Oct. Ist, 1905 590 May Ist to Oct. Ist, 1906 960 Apl. Ist to Nov. Ist, 1907 1,765 A.il, Ist to Nov. Ist, 1908 5,780 Apl. Ist to Nov. Ist, 1909 11,300 Apl. Ist to Nov. Ist, 1910 12,830 Apl. Ist to Nov. Ist, 1911 9,041 Apl. Ist to Nov. Ist, 1912 13,425 Apl. Ist to Nov Ist, 1913 15,080 Increased attention is being paid yearly to the elimination of the house fly, which, as everyone knows, breeds almost exclusively in stable manure. The increased co-operation on the part of the citizens as to the prompt re moval of their stable droppings has done much to diminish the great num ber of these pests. Most, if not all, of the typhoid fever which develops In the city of Augusta is a fly-borno infection, and typhoid fever Is de creasing in Augusta as surely and as steadily as malarial fever. The fol lowing table shows the number of ac tual deaths from typhoid fever sincn 1880: Deaths From Typhoid Fover, 1880-1913 White. Colored. Total. 1880 9 8 17 1881 30 13 43 1882 .30 12 38 1883 16 f' 9 ‘24 1884 10 8 18 1885 12 17 29 1886 11 7 18 1887 9 11 20 1888 12 14 26 1889 11 7 IS 1890 5 6 11 1891 16 11 26 1892 11 10 21 1893 6 7 12 1894 9 9 18 1895 15 8 23 1896 4 3 7 1897 6 7 13 1898 3 5 8 1899 20 11 1.1 1900 11 6 17 1901 10 15 25 1902 6 14 20 1903 9 10 19 1904 7 12 19 a 905 10 6 IT 1906 9 10 19 1907 10 8 18 1908 9 5 14 1909 10 5 15 1910 9 8 17 lull 11 4 15 1912 7 7 14 1913 4 5 9 Purity of th 0 City’s Food Supply The Department of Health has no more important duty than that of maintaining the purity of the city's food supply. Our foods should be sound, wholesome, unadulterated and prepared under sanitary conditoins. Therefore, the food inspection prob lem of the Department of Health is one of the greatest health problems. The people realize the enormous amount of work that is required to insure to the citizens of Augusta a pure food . upply. Under the division of food inspection comes the inspec tion of all meat markets and all places where meat or meat food products are sold. Dairy farms which .supply the city’s milk, soda fountains, fish and oyster markets, fruit and vegetable stores, restaurants, soft drink manu facturers. The food Inspection of Au gusta is a problem that keeps one guessing to keep it up to the standard of efficiency that we are trying to maintain with our present force, as we ar« handicapped for inspectors to give the work its highest efficiency. Perhaps my best plan will be to give you in detail the way we carry on the work of food inspection in the city of Augusta. Meat Inspection. —The inspection of all meats that come into the city of Augusta, and the inspection of all marsets or places where meat is sold. About one-half of the city is supplied from what is known as home-killed meats, and are all slaughtered by two abattoirs without the city limits, and each maintains an inspector from the United States Department of Agri culture, which assures us a pure meat supply from this source. The other half of the meat is supplied by what are known as the Western packing houses, who each maintains a branch house, and it is here we have to in spect each day the supply of meat on hand as to its fitness for food. The inspector of this department visits the branch houses every day, looking over all the meat supply, and passing that which is fit for food, and retain ing that which is not fit for food. This same inspector must inspect eacli meat market within the city to see that each place offers for sale only meats that are fit for consumption by the public, and to see that these markets are conducted in a clean sanitary man ner; that all Ice-boxes, blocks, machin ery, and utensils are clean. Milk Inspection. —The inspection of all milk and its products that come into the city requires an enormous amount of field and laboratory work. All dairy farms are visited as often as possible, those Just outside the city to those two hundred miles distant. In visiting each dairy,, our idea Is to see that they are maintained in a clean, sanitary manner, lor it’s the cleanliness of the dairy that insures a clean milk supply. We observe the way each dairyman conducts his dairy and to see that he gives proper care to the handling of his product that it may not become contaminated before reaching the consumer, for if he is careless and dirty, contamination takes place, and there follow outbreaks of epidemics, such as typhoid fever, etc. Milk is one of the best media we have for the growth of bacteria, therefore if proper care is not given In the pro ducing and it is not properly cooled, vvo soon have a hot-bed of bacteria, which Is dangerous to human life, and to which the infant Is the most suscep-1 tible. To prevent this Infant mortal ity, we must have clean milk. All dairy cattle are examined as to the physical condition and freedom from disease, and to each Herd is ap plied the tuberculin test for the dis covery of any tubercular cows, that they may be eliminated from the dairy herd. The sanitary conditions of the barn, mila house, and utensils are looked after to see that the barns are kept clean, that the utensils are of proper construction and properly cleansed and sterilized, and to sum up to see that cleanliness is paramount at all times. The laboratory work is to ascertain if the milk is of a known standard. If it is clean, has the right amount of butter-fat and total solids; also that the bacteria are not above the city standard, and to see that it is not adulterated. Restaurant Inspection. —All restau rants are inspected every so often to see that they are maintained in, a clean, sanitary manner, and that the foods used are fit for human con sumption, that all utensils used are clean. Fruit and Vegetable Stores are in spected as often as possible to see that all fruits are properly screened, and that no fruits or vegetables are sold to the public that are not fit to eat. Soda Fountains are inspected to see that they are maintained in a clean, sanitary manner, that the employes are and that a clean prod uct is served to the public. As yet we have no law as to the purity of the different syrups, etc., sold at the foun tains, but this will soon be looked after, for we now have drafted an ordinance to be passed at the next meeting of the board to take care of this part of the work. Fish Inspection is one of our great est items, for each year twenty to thirty thousand pounds of fish are con demned and destroyed. This inspection is conducted on the same principle as market inspection. You can gather from the above that the Division of Food Inspection is a very busy division, in view of the fact that there are only three inspectors to look after the food supply of the whole city and also to the country dairies. The division will not be up to the standard until the force is in creased to take care of the work that is coming in the future. We maintain a bakery inspection, and inspect each bakery at certain intervals, and at the present time each loaf of bread sold within the city of Augusta is wrapped at the bakery. As a result of more efficient milk supply and better conditions of milk production, there has been a vast de crease in the Infant mortality, which the appended table clearly shows; Mortality of Children Under Five Years, 1881-1913. 1831.. 142 189 231 1882 128 171 299 1884 147 201 348 1885 .. 97 202 299 1886 144 270 414 1887 163 295 458 1888.. 140 244 381 1891 108 180 288 1892 147 267 414 1893.. 119 251 370 1894.. 103 213 316 1895 131 257 388 1896 141 . 262 401 1897 98 237 335 1898 118 254 372 1899 123 219 342 1900 127 262 390 1901 115 232 347 1902 124 204 328 1903 93 151 244 1904 122 183 305 1905 71 97 16S 1906 ..104 142 246 1907 106 87 193 1908.. 128 126 254 1909 83 89 172 1910 71 73 144 1911 87 89 176 1912 110 111 221 1913 81 84 165 The city of Augusta has been free es smallpox, except from imported cases, for the past two years, which is due to the persistent and rigid vac cination of as many of our citizens as can possibly be, reached. Every child who desires to enter the pu..ac schools of Kichniond county must be vaccinated either before ap plying for admission into the schools or else immediately after admission. Every person at the city barracks Is vaccinated by the physician for con tagious and infectious diseases, and every person entering the charity wards of any hospital in the city is also required to be vaccinated. School inspection has been estab lished for about three years, and dur ing the year just passed has been placed upon a fairly efficient basis; not so good an inspection as we hope to offer In the course of a few more years, but still a large step in the right direction. The object of school inspection is to see that the health of the child Is not such as to render him a menace to the other children with whom he comes in contact, ad if such be the case to remove him from school; and still further to see that the child is not being hampered in his prog ress as a scholar by the persistence of remediable defects. Whenever a child is found affected with adenoids, enlarged tonsils, de fective vision, defective teeth, etc., the parents of the child are notified, with a request that the child be referred to their family physician for care and treatment. The school Inspector does not treat the child in school; he mere ly calls attention to condition whicn needs correction. In the case of citi zens who are unable to pay a physi cian for the care of their child, the university, through its outdoor poly clinic, gladly takes care of all these eases and corrects any detects which may exist. Free immunization against Typhoid Fover is offered to all the children in the public schools. During the year just passed some five hundred chil dren availed themselves of this privi lege and it is to be hoped that in the year to come that a still larger num ber will place themselves upon the Immune list. in 1909 a municipal laboratory for the study and diagnosis of city health problems was established by the city council under the supervision of the Department of Public Health. In 1912 this was fused with the chemical and bacteriological laboratories of the Medical Department of the University, thus enabling this department to se- - THE AUGUSTA HERALD, AUGUSTA, GA, Dr. Eugene E. Murphey V : '; President Board of Health Dr. Eugene Edmund Murphey wa» Iborn iv Augusta, Georgia, November Ist. 1875. Elected President of the Board of Health, April, 1908, and ever since his incumbency in office, all of Ills efforts have been to make the Department of Public Health up-to-date in every re spect. The result* of his labor can be fully appreciated by carefully reading a synop sis of some of the work accomplished, which appears in this paper. cure highly trained and efficient lab oratory investigators at a much small er cost to the city than if an inde pendent laboratory were maintained In these laboratories any problem which touches the health of the com munity is solved without cost to the citizens, and is used daily by every practising physician in the city as an aid in the solution of the problem of disease which they have to combat. In conclusion, it is well to bear in mind that the city of Augusta has grown since 1880 from a town of 21,000 to a city of 55,000 and that the change in the outlook of its citizens upon the problems of public health has more than kept pace with its growth In population. The following table shows the population of Augusta at ten years intervals: Year. Population. 1880.. 21,984 1890.. .32,990 1900 39,247 1910 55,180 These population figures are ap pended so that one may use them in reference to the tables published above, covering the total number ot deaths from various diseases during the period above mentioned and a perusal of these tables with thesa facts in mind will show conclusively that Augusta’s progress in population, health and sanitation has been con sistent and that its citizens have much to be thankful for in way of improved conditions. Most of the development of the Department of Public Health has occurred during the last eignt years. During this time thefollowing changes have taken place: The old fashioned filthy slaughter pens, whose unsavory memory still lingers in the nostrils of ail of our older citizens, have been abolished and replaced by modern, up-to-date abattoirs under absolute government inspection, which inspection is maintained for the citi zens of Augusta without cost ot them by the United States government. There have been removed from the city during this period more than five thousand surface privies. There has been established an up-to-date mu nicipal health laboratory. There has been an efficient system of inspection of all food products, with free tuber culin testing of every dairy herd that sends its products into the city. The public has been educated largely to health and life, and are co-operating with the department in their control. There remains much to be done be fore Augusta fully realizes her pos sibilities as a health resort, but with a wider understanding of what the Department of Public Health is try ing to do, and a closer degree of co operation between the department and the citizens it will only be a few years before Augusta stands where she should stand as the healthiest and cleanest city in the South. ' . . „ y, ,v.s. Do You Give Your Daughter a Monthly Allowance? In the August Woman’s Home Com panion appears a rage entitled "Good ideas for Gins." One oi the sugges tions on tills page has to do with monthly allowances lor girls. The writer says liiut the euaige is otten maue by men that women are extrav agant, uut she asks wnemer the men have never realized mat the remedy lies in their own hands—that if they do their snaie in trailing tneir own daughters, the women ot the next generation will have some knowledge oi administering money. The writer goes on with her suggestion; "No; the real solution is more in clusive. It yotir daughter is ever to know the value of money, you must teach her to keep accounts and to live within whatever sunt is allotted her. "Figure up approximately the entire amount you have given her for clothes during the past year. If she is the sort of girl who asks trequenily or lor large sums at a time, knock off ten to fifteen dollars from the lump sum; if she asks but seldom, and then reluctantly, add twenty-five. Tell her that she must keep within this limit. Let her have it monthly or quarter ly, as is most convenient for you both, it at all possible, put the money in the bank tor her and let her have her own check book. By this plan she will learn to keep accounts, to do business by check, to plan and shop for herself, and to live within her income. “There is a special advantage in such a plan for the girl who often goes without because she hates to ask for money. It is there all ready for her, and that peculiar self-respect of hers is thereby saved. “No doubt there'are 'some fathers who will say; .‘A great fuss , about nothing! The old-fashioned way of handing it out is good enough lor me!’ Let me tell you, many a girl .(it. may be yours) is using her earning, capac ity on the -housework, by this means saving you the expense of outside labor. If she gave the same amount of time and attention to any business or proiession away from home she would draw a salary and enjoy her personal independence on it. Then why shouldn’t she enjoy a similar in dependence with a stipulated income at home? Financial dependence at home is driving out into the world many a girl who really does not need to go, and whose parents would be glad to have her stay with them. “If you have done your share to ward training your daughter to spend wisely what money she has, you yire privileged to complain of woman’s ex travagance—but not before!" : '',''-i' ''' ’ ' ; Augusta’s Magnificent New University City Hospital Greene Street Presbyterian Church, Augusta, Ga. PROBABLY. Lieutenant Porte Will leave our shores And flutter for The far Azores, Then on and on, To land in Spain— His loss will give The w T orld a pain. SUPERFLUOUS ADPECTIVES. Little Willie—Pa, what's a redundancy of expression? Pa—Using more words than are neces sary to'express one's meaning, such as "wealthy plumber,” "poor poet,” “idle rich," etc.—Tit-Bits. VERY STRONG. Site,-Everybody says you're a good fellow but that you are weak and can't resist temptation. He—Well, I'm tempted to kiss you now. Kollock Street Baptist Church, Augusta, Ga. ■ , HMKrcgraP*:. < . - “AUGUSTA IN 1914” EVER NOTICE! Why is it that a banker on the stage always has muttonchip whis kers?- Why does the stage lawyer always carry his papers in ills hat? A real lawyer never does that- Why is the state reporter always distinguished by a big notebook? A real reporter never carries one. LAPSE OF TIME. “The Panama Canal is finished.” “Yes; and a little S2OO lawsuit that was started about the same time is still dragging on." THAT’S IT. Gabs —What becomes of a temper when she loses it? Steve —Her husband catches it. Cincinnati Enquirer.