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METROPOLITAN HEALTH BILL.
REMARKS
D.  B.  E^TOIST, Esq.,
JOINT MEETING OF THE COMMITTEES
        ,,  OF THE
        /
        /


SENATE AND ASSEMBLY,
ALBANY, FEB. 2d, 1865,
AN  APPENDIX
Pu/blisliecl by the Friends of the
            NEW-YORK:
GEORGE F, NESBITT & CO., PRINTERS AND STATIONERS,
CORNER OF PEARL AND PINE STREETS,
1865. 
 
METROPOLITAN  HEALTH  BILL.
Mr.  Chairman,—
  I have been requested to appear before this Committee, and
to state some of the reasons why a Metropolitan Health Law
is demanded by the city of New-York.  It will readily occur
to every reflecting person that laws properly adopted to pro-
mote public health must always be, in some respects, peculiar,
as they  are equally  demanded by  the most disinterested
principle of humanity and benevolence and by the  lowest
instincts of self-preservation and fear.  The meanest coward,
and  the  noblest  philanthropist,  by  different  motives, are
prompted to common action.
  Until  a  considerable  advance in civilization  there  is
scarcely a possibility that adequate  health laws should be
enacted, and the  character of such laws and the efficiency
of their execution will  be found to keep  pace witb, and
illustrate  the  disinterested  sanitary  science, and the intelli-
gence  of  every nation.   Such  laws may also bear  some
relation to the realization of danger to public health.
  It requires  the existence of  a high degree  of  scientific
cultivation and varied experience relative to the causes that
produce  disease in all its manifold forms, before any people
will properly  appreciate  either the want or  the utility  of
proper  health regulations.  There  are  few  causes  more
varied and profound than  those that relate to the preserva-
tion of public health and the prevention of disease.
  Many  of these causes are local, and hence a knowledge
of soil, climate, habits, buildings, and drainage, are involved.
And  hence the  health  regulations  of  each  city  must be
adapted :o the peculiar dangers and exposures of that city.
  * In tho Appendix will bo found an Abstract of the pending Bill, and
a list of the present Health Officers and of their salaries. 
4
   The  dangers to health increase  vastly with the popula-
 tion of places, and the density of such population.  Density
 of populations endangers health in two ways: first, by impair-
 ing ventilation and otherwise producing habits and conditions
 that originate disease;  and secondly, by greatly increasing its
 spread by exposure and  contagion.   Such results also cause
 much more study  of the sources of danger to public  health
 in large cities, and demand more stringent measures for their
 removal.
  For  this reason,  laws  relating to public  health,  have
 usually originated  in large cities; and it is in the older coun-
 tries, and in the experience of the great cities, that'examples
 of adequate health laws are to be sought.
  It is only within a few years that there has been very useful
legislation  on the  subject of public  health  in the United
States,  and the few illustrations found relate mainly to New-
ark, Philadelphia and Boston.   In this country, therefore,
this field of legislation is yet to a great extent unoccupied.
  It is impossible  that a health law should  declare  much
more than authority in  general terms, leaving the officers that
administer  them to apply  them  according to the exigency of
the danger.  Moreover, it is  apparent that the execution of
a health law requires great intelligence and experience in the
officers.  The  duty  of the Health Officers is  to study the
causes of danger to public health and discover their remedy,
and then to apply the  power he possesses to the  removal of
the causes.  This  implies a  sort of minor legislation all the
time on the part of the Health Officer.  He is not simply di-
rected to do a specific thing, but is required to discover hidden
causes,  to devise the proper, remedy, and  then  to .exercise the
legal power of removal and redress.
  It is  not the  province of a  Board of Health to simply
cure diseases or consult  the health  of individuals.  Such
boards  are to attend to the  pervading dangers that affect the
general public  health.  To devise and apply wise precau-
toons against the hidden causes of disease which threaten the 
5
health of communities or classes, is their especial duties.
These precautions  relative to the soil we dwell upon—the
houses  we  live in—the  drainage of waters—the food  and
drink we  consume—the places of  public gatherings—the
filth that poisons the air—the  trades  that contaminate locali-
ties—the decoctions and drugs  that  are used as remedies—
the precautions against contagions—the arrest of pestilential
disease.
   A law of 1850 affords a striking  illustration  of  a health
law, as applied to the draining of a swamp.
   (See laws 1850 p. oSo, ch. 271.)
   It must  be  apparent  that  such duties  can be performed
only by scientific and  intelligent  officers who act in concert,
and for a  series of years upon a wise systematic  method.
Many of the most  important results  sought can  only  be
reached by a long and careful study and by comparison of
.systematic observation and experiments.
   It would seem  very plain  that a Board  or  Commission
with  continuity of succession  that should make the subject
of public health a special topic  of  study and observation,
would be best  calculated to attain the end sought; and the
science of health must from its nature be a progressive study,
and all health boards should lay before the community full
reports of their experience and observation as well as of their
ministerial acts.
.   One of  the  earliest health laws, marked by  any notice-
able comprehension,  is  the English  law  of  1848,  relating
mainly to London.   That law originated in a " Eeport of her
Majesty's Commissioners of Health." In 1847 it was formally
announced  in  the  English Parliament, that  " Her  Majesty
had thought fit to appoint a commission to report on the best
means to improve the  Health  of the Metropolis,"  &c.
   That B,eport resulted in the elaborate law of 1848, which cre-
ated a "Metropolitan Board of Health,11 and gave it large powers.
   In  1858 a more elaborate Act of Parliament enlarged the
health powers  of this Board, and extended the law to  the 
6
Other larger  cities  of the  United Kingdom; and it is well
known to all who have  given the subject of public health
the attention it demands, that the effect of these laws has
been to lower the death  rate, to lessen disease in the great
cities of Great Britain, and to extend the term of human life.
This Board has been an intelligent centre of benevolent, sani-
tary and scientific inquiry, and  has  enlisted, to a very salu-
tary extent,  public interest in the sanitary condition of the
lower classes and aroused a concert of action for the promo-
tion of public health throughout the United Kingdom.  No
corresponding, action has yet been taken on this side of the
ocean, but in France a similar work is in progress.
  In New-York  a similar  work  is imperatively demanded.
It has every natural facility for being a very healthy city,
but is  more  unhealthy than London, Paris,  Philadelphia or
Boston.  The main cause of this unfortunate result is believed
to be found in the negect of those precautions which wise health
provisions, wisely administered, would, in a few years, afford.
  There is not, and has not been, in New-York,  any body
deserving the name of a Board of  Health—any  body that
embraces any considerable  portion or representation of the
educated mind, of the sanitary  experience,  of the  medical
science, of the benevolent heart, or even of the practical ad-
ministrative talent of the city.
  The  organizations  that have  had the exercise of health
powers in New-York, have been mainly political bodies, or
at best, bodies that  devoted most of their attention to poli-
tical and general municipal affairs.  The subordinate officers
have, in the  main, been  utterly unqualified to act as health
officers, and  have had a variety of conflicting duties to per-
form,, and  have been appointed largely in reference to poli-
tical opinions and influences.*
  Besides  the  health powers are  distributed   in  such  a
manner as to cause great  uncertainty as to  who is authorized

     * See Extracts from Mr. Delevan's Report in the Appendix. 
                            7

to exercise them; and there is a  necessity of consulting so
many  officers,  that  concert of action is nearly impossible,
even if the officers were capable and desirous of serving, with
singleness of purpose, the cause of public health.  The result
has unquestionably been that the Health Laws applicable to the
city of New- York, have never been usefully or wisely administered ;
and, as now delegated, they are found to be nearly impracticable ;
the'public health is greatly and needlessly exposed, and by reason '■
of the  disease spread  from the army, is now much more endan-
gered than ever before.
  Disease  cannot be confined  to localities  where it origi-
nates or most readily spreads, but is  soon carried along the
railroads and rivers, and on the wings of the wind, and
speedily finds its way into all parts of the State and nation.
Hence, while the people of  the city are directly interested in
its sanitary condition, the danger in the city is yet the com-
mon danger of all the people of the State.
  The existing  organization and the principal authority con-
cerning public health in the city of New-York, are derived
from  the 275th Chapter of the Laws of 1850.   (Laws 1850,
p. 597.)
  It will require but little examination to see that the law is
so imperfect that its efficient execution is nearly impractica-
ble, and the  strange provisions almost  force  one to the be-
lief that there was a design in their confusion.
  §1. Confers all legislative  power on the  subject of health
upon the Mayor and Common Council.   It is not easy to un-
derstand the force of the words "legislative power."
  §2. The Mayor and Common Council,  when acting  in rela-
tion to health, are  made a Board of Health.  Ten members
make a quorum, and the Mayor  is made President  of the
Board.
  Now, it is known there  are two  Boards of the Common
Council, and  it  is not said whether all the ten composing a
Board of Health may belong to one Board, or must belong in
part to both, to make a legal Board of Health.   Besides, the 
  two Boards of the Common Council are composed of more
  than twenty members, and, hence, there may be two separate
  legal Boards of Health in existence at the same time ; and what
  ten politicians ordered to-day as a Board of Health, twelve or
 fifteen other members of the Common  Council, (who did  not act
  to-day,) may reverse to-morrow, and, as a separate Board, may
  make other orders.
   Besides,  the Board of Health has no power, save when the
  Mayor chooses to call the Board together, and, as often has
  been the case, the Mayor will not make such call.   The law
 does not provide whether he need  call more than ten mem-
 bers to make a legal Board.  There has been no meeting of
 the Board, it is believed,  since  1863.
   The practical effect  of this power of calling the Board to-
 gether by the Mayor is well illustrated  in the Beport  of  the
 City Inspector, (Mr. Boole, who exercises  at  this time  the
 principal health powers in the city,) who says, in his Annual
 Report, filed in January,  1865 :
   "Neither my desire, nor that of the Common Council,  has
 been able to induce the Mayor to convene  the  Board of
 Health, and the city is thus deprived of their action on mat-
 ters of pressing importance, when their authority is absolutely
 necessary for efficient action."
   Probably many good citizens agree  with th« Mayor, that
 the only action likely to be  taken would be quite foreign to
 public health,  and would be very  dangerous  to the public
 purse.  So, in tne meantime, and at this threatening period,
 there is almost no execution of the health laivs.
   §3. This provides for secret sessions of the Health Board.
   §4. Creates a distinct Board,  known as "Commissioners of
 Health," and
   §5. Declares the duty of the latter to be, to " advise the
 Mayor and Board of Health," and also the "City Inspector."
 It will be observed that no physician is a member of the Board
of Health, or has any authority to be present or ask a hearing
at its meetings.                                          s 
a
  §6. A Health Officer is created, and  he is to perform the
duties which the Mayor and Commissioners of Health or the
Board of Health shall  order.  The  orders of such separate
bodies may be quite inconsistent, and  who  the City Health
Officer shall obey, is quite uncertain.  The result is, he does
nothing, or does as he pleases.
  §7. This Health Officer may  appoint an assistant who may
perform  all his duties.   Hence, the principal may do nothing,
and his office be a sinecure, and the duties all be devolved on
his assistant, who is not named or removable by, or responsi-
ble  to,   either  the Board of Health  or the Commissioners of
Health.
  §8. Defines the duties of the Resident Physician, and makes
it the duty of  this doctor to attend to  the private wants of
any person who is "reported" (by whom?) to either the
Board of Health, to the Mayor, or to the Commissioners of
Health.  It is plain the Resident  Physician is clothed  with
no  duty  properly relating to public health.  No class or de-
scription of persons are directed to be attended to by that
officer.
  §9. The Health Commissioner is created  by  this  section.
He is merely an assistant of the Resident Physician.
  §10. This requires  that the  Mayor and Commissioners of
Health shall meet daily, but as they are only to advise the
Board of Health, which does not meet at all, and in regard to
which there is no provision for meeting, this section is quite
remarkable, even as compared  with the  other  parts of this
remarkable law.
  §11. This gives the Resident Physician a salary of $1,250 ;
and the  Health  Commissioners an annual salary of  $3,500.
Now, as  the Resident  Physician is, by the fourth  section,
made one of the Health Commissioners, he draws a salary in
each capacity, and is, therefore, entitled  annually to $-1,750.
  The sums paid to these several officers, for pretended ser-
vices as  Health Officers, are, therefore,  in the aggregate, not
le3s than $22,250 annually ; and it may be said, without ex-
     2 
10
 aggeration, that  they perform no  valuable  services in the
 sphere of their public duties, and  only the  two  physicians
. perform even a limited service of any kind.
   The Health Physician  and Health Commissioners are ap-
 pointed by the Mayor.
   §12. This section authorizes the Board of Health to appoint
 an unlimited number of persons to office.
   Title  2d,  (extending   from pages 599 to 607,)  of  this
. Health Law of 1850, confers upon these impracticable health
 tribunals a large portion of  all the authority conferred by
 law for quarantine purposes.  The tribunal was so inefficient
 and useless, that the exigencies of quarantine service caused
 that power to be taken  from the Health Board altogether.
 And finally, by a law of 1863, (Laws of 1863,  p. 573, ch. 358,)
 a regular  Board  of  Quarantine Commissioners was  estab-
 lished, and the  power over quarantine was given to that
 Board, and it is  not proposed to interfere with that power or
 Board.
   Similar  relief is now greatly needed for the city of New-
 York.
   Returning  again to the  Health  Law of  1850, p.  607,
 as applicable to  the city of New-York, we  find  Title 3d,
 Article 1,  §1, provisions that greatly add to the confusion and
 uncertainty before referred to.  For large powers over public
 health are conferred specifically on the " City Inspector of the
 City of New-York."  Whether these are a part of the legisla-
 tive powers before mentioned as conferred on  the Mayor  and
 Common Council, or are a different class of powers, is a mat-
 ter of great perplexity and doubt.
   Certainly the powers of  the Inspector are  very  extensive
 and unguarded.
   (I.) He  may appoint, with  the consent of  the Aldermen,
 " so many Health Wardens and other officers" as " the Com-
 mon Council or  Board  of  Health  shall direct," &c, "such
 Health Officers and Wardens, &c, are subject to the control of
 ihe  City Inspector of the City  of New-York" 
11
  We have seen that the two Boards of the Common Council,
(with the Mayor acting as President,) or any ten of them being
a quorum, constitute the Board of Health.  Hence any such
ten members, on the nomination of the Inspector, may appoint
just such Wardens and officers as they see fit.
  (2.) These Wardens and officers are to report the sanitary
condition of the city, not to any Board of Health, but to the
Mayor and Commissioners of Health.  We have seen that the
duty of the latter officers or Board is only to advise the Board
of Health.   Was there ever such confused, impracticable and
ill devised legal machinery.  There is no provision that any
of these Wardens or officers  shall be physicians or men of
science or experience. It is well known they are, most of
them, mere  politicians who draw their  large salaries and
otherwise utterly neglect their official duties.
   (3.) Then  follows sundry other powers given  to the City
Inspector, including cleaning of  lots and  places,  but he is
obliged to consult the Mayor and Commissioners of Health
as to such matters.
   (4.) Then, at page  608, § 2 & 3,  " the Mayor, Aldermen
and Commonalty of the City of New-York,"' &c, are author-
ized to make all By-laws they may deem  necessary to pre-
serve the  public health.
   It will  be seen that the exercise of  these powers is quite
inconsistent  with  powers  given to the  City Inspector alone,
and  it  is no matter of wonder that  the  health regulations of
the city are in a state  of inextricable confusion.
   Whether  the body referred to in § 2 & 3, page 608, is the
same body as that referred to in § 5, page 609, and in § 2,
page 597, is by no means easy to determine.
   If the  various  powers  conferred on  the Board of Health,
 Mayor  and Common Council, Commissioners  of Health, and
 City Inspector, at pages 607 to 615, were all conferred upon a
 single Board of Health,  made up of six or eight intelligent
 persons of whom one-half were experienced physicians,  these
 powers could be exercised with a third  part of th§ cost to the 
12
city, and in that wise, harmonious and efficient manner that
would avoid the  present confusion, and  vastly promote  the
health of the city of New York.
  Sections 10 to 13, inclusive of pages 610 and 611, (Laws,
1550,) afford striking illustrations of the confusion that  fol-
lows,  conferring power on  so many different officers with
such  undefined relations.  It is not a matter of surprise  the
reports required are almost never made.
  As  no small  portion of all  the health powers really  ex-
ercised in the city of New-York, are that portion  conferred
upon ihe City Inspector, and it is that officer that has expended
tliose  vast sums of money that have raised so much alarm, it
is proper to consider the origin and nature of his department
and to call attention to its administration.
  The amendments  to the City Charter, (Laws 1849, ch. 187,
p. 278 to 285,) established numerous departments in the City
Government.  The  16th section of the Act creates  a  depart-
ment  in the City Government to be called the " City  Inspec-
tor's Department," and it is declared this department "shall11
have cognizance "of all matters  relative to the public health of
''said City, and the  chief officer  thereof shall be called  the
"City Inspector."  This looks more hke a concurrent than
like an exclusive jurisdiction.
  The 2Cth section  provides that all Heads of Departments
shall be elected every three years by the people.
  The term was changed to two years by the 21st section of
the Act of June 14th, 1857,  ch. 446, and by the 19th section
of the same Act,  the Mayor appoints and  the Aldermen
confirm the City Inspector.
  And by the 27th  section  of the last cited law the power
of the City Inspector's Department was further modified and
is now as follows:  "The City Inspector shall have cognizance
" of all matters affecting the public health, pursuant to the
" ordinances of  the Common  Council and  the  lawful require-
ments of the Commissioners of Health, and cf the Board of
^Health,   There shall  be a bureau in the City Inspector's 
13
"Department to be called the Bureau of Sanitary Inspection
" and Street Cleaning, under the control of an officer named
"the  Superintendent of Sanitary  Inspection," etc., etc., and
that officer is  " to  remove nuisances detrimental  to public
health," etc.
  See Valentine's Laws relative to city of New-York p. 275.
  When the powers given the  Inspector in 1849,  and those
given in 1857  are compared with  the  before-recited law of
1850, it will appear to be almost impossible to decide what
power relative  to the public health  are at this time in the
City Inspector; what in the Board of Health ;  what in the
Mayor and Commissioners of Health ; and there is no occa-
sion for surprise—that the City Inspector is the only officer
that enters upon the exercise of any health power.   Yet this
officer is, at this moment, under sentence of removal or sus-
pension by  the Mayor, under 21st section of the  Charter of
April 14th, 1857 !
  Hence it is, that at this time, the vital and responsible powers
over the public health, {distributed with such confusion through so
many bodies,) and the vast patronage of street cleaning and gen-
eral inspection in the city, and the annual expenditure of a mil-
lion of money, are all now in the control of a single officer, who
is at the head of one of the numerous subordinate departments of
the City Government.   His power  and patronage  are vastly
greater, at this moment, than those of the Mayor,  Aldermen and
 Councilmen  of the city united together.  He employs  more men,
dispenses more money and exercises powers more vital to the pub-
lic well-being.
  And it cannot be denied by any  one who will look into the
facts, that a large  portion of the shameful abuses to  which
this condition of things has given rise, results naturally from
the confused and impracticable laws under which the powers
of the City Government are  exercised.
  No extended reference can  here be made  to  the Ordi-
nances of 1859, under which the immense powers of the City
Inspector's Department  have been consolidated  and made 
14
effectual for those vast expenditures and flagrant abuses which
now alarm and arouse the public mind.  They give the most
important powers of municipal legislation in the city of New-
York.   The ordinances of this department alone, as published
in 1860, fill ninety printed pages, and no one can read them
and any longer wonder at existing abuses.
  A copy of the Report of F. I. A. Boole, City Inspector, for
the year 1863, dated July 22, 1864, is before  me, and was
published at the expense  of  the  city.  It fills 518 closely
printed  gilt-edge pages,  is bound in morocco, and is beauti-
fully embossed and adorned with gilt letters and designs and the
name of the donee, in gilt  letters, appears  on the gorgeous
cover.   He was doubtless a valuable friend  of the Inspector.
Any one who has seen this rich specimen  of official book-
making will ever after read a corporation printer's bill with
diminished surprise, and loose half his wonder at the millions
paid for city inspection and street cleaning.   Not  much can
be said here of its significant contents.
  There were, in 1863, in the city of New-York, of marriages,
3,272; of births, 6,426; of deaths, 25,196—as Mr. Boole  re-
ports, at page 7. At page 10, he makes certain comparisons
of the death rates of London with those of New-York, so im-
perfectly as to be  no guide, it is true.   Yet he  makes the
figures show that the rate of deaths is higher in London than
in New-York,  and then triumphantly calls upon the commu-
nity to  give the credit  "due to the enforcement of sanitary
regulations in New-York," which have, he thinks, contributed
to the result he reports.
  There was  never a more unfortunate   request.   He as-
sumes, in his comparison with London,  the correctness of his
own returns, and asks to be judged as to his manner of en-
forcing sanitary regulations on the basis of  the correctness of
those returns of his Report.  Now, by these returns, in 1863,
6,426 human  beings were born, and 25,196 died, in the city
of New-York, a net decrease of population,  and a  total loss
under  Mr. Boole's enforced sanitary  regulations, of  18,77Q 
15
human souls in a single year!   Perhaps, if this be a fair speci-
men,  false reasoning,  presumption  and  extravagance  were
never united in larger proportions than in the City Inspector
of the City of New-York.
  It is hardly to be doubted that the returns of marriages are
very defective, and it is manifest that those of births or deaths,
and, perhaps, both of  them, have not an approximation to
truth.
  Yet this officer, in  his gorgeous Report, at page 11,  says,
" It is in vain that those who have not access to reliable statis-
tics," (of course, meaning the Reports of the aforesaid City In-
spector,) pretend that New-York is not the most healthy of
the great cities of  the world.
  It is not the purpose  of these remarks to  establish the
solemn truth, that the contrary is the fact.  Nor can I stop
to expose  the  other and  frequent errors  and assumptions of
this extraordinary Report.
  There is a law, of the 2d day of  April, 1853, relative to
births, deaths and marriages, and providing that the City In-
spector of the City of New-York shall keep a record thereof,
and that there shall be  collected a fee for the registration of
the same, of  such  amount as the city authorities may  author-
ize.   It may be suggested that it would have been interesting
to the public to have known the rates charged for this regis-
tration, the number of thousands of dollars collected by the
City  Inspector for such  service and the disposition made
thereof; we  find  nothing  on the subject in this gilt-edged
Report,  or in the Report  of the Comptroller.   Where is the
money ?
  With the  unparalleled present powers  of the City  Inspec-
tor's Department,  it is a little surprising to read at p. 12, that
the City Inspector has repeatedly demanded, in vain,  addi
tional powers "to  render  the powers of  the City Inspector
more  effective"—for what ?
  And it is some proof of the  impracticable  nature of the
laws we have referred to,  and illustrates the fatal confusion 
16
and-hostile rivalry that grows out of the present delegation-of
the power; over public health, to read this language at the
12th page of this gilt-edged Report. "It is nottrue as alleged
"by his Honor the Mayor, in his late communication to your
"honorable body that I possess a power that no honorable
" man should desire to exercise.11
  Does not a solemn sense of public duty to a great  city,
whose miserable  government,  reeking filth and  pestilential
air,-not only degrade -the morals and endanger the lives of its
own citizens, but those of the people of all-the State, sternly
demand, of the Legislature some prompt and efficient remedy
for those unseemly official conflicts and criminations—those
confused and  impracticable  laws, and those alarming conse-
quences ?
  We agree  with the declaration  of  Mr.  Boole's Report, at
p. 13, that in London  and Paris " it is a  fact worthy of all
praise," &c, "that all that  concerns,  public health receives
the prompt attention of government," &c, and, we may add,
the  appropriate  attention  of . metropolitan health  bodies.
And we  now ask that the Government of the State of New-
York will. attend to the  same subject and  establish a similar
Metropolitan Health  Board to those of London and I'aris.
We  further  agree  with the City  Inspector, again at p. 13,
where he says that the "present system is deficient," and that
"at-present the City Inspector is obliged (?) to assume respon-
sibilities  unsanctioned by municipal ordinances, but imperiously
demanded by local exigencies."
  At page 21, it is stated  that, in the  city of New-York,
6,000 families live in underground cellars,  which nurseries
of disease are inhabited by 18,000 persons.   He says his
Health Wardens  daily report the state of  all those localities.
It'is to be hoped they do, and  that they  are  good, devoted
men, who make  these  reports, and that  none  of them aro
mere political hacks and keepers of groggeries; but the con-
trary is believed,  and no reports have  ever been seen,
- Tt ought to  be  stated that the Report proper, containing 
17
the result  of all the City Inspector's reflections  and expe-
rience for the public instruction in 1863, only fills 24 printed
pages, and the great bulk of.the volume is filled with extracts
from foreign work which  only illustrate how far this city, in
regard to its health regulations, is behind the other great cities
of the world, and what a miserable comparison the Inspector's
own Report really is, when contrasted with the productions of
 men of science and learning!
   The Report of Inspector  Boole for 1864, dated January
23, 1865, is a comparatively modest document of 53 pages,
of which the Inspector's Report proper fills less than 8 pages,
and is as poor a public  document as ever  was issued by the
Chief Health Officer  of a great city of the world.  He no
where gives his Honor the Mayor the lie, as in his Report for
1863, but instead  of that pungent paragraph of that Report
he says,  there " has sprung up an arrogant and self-constituted
association  called the  "Citizens' Association,"  and pretty
clearly indicates that that body does  not approve, and that it,
with some  effect, opposes, those schemes of the City Inspector
that have so alarmed all property holders in the city of New-
York.  It  is doubtless true that the joint efforts of some
public spirited  citizens have somewhat embarrassed the City
Inspector's operations under his " assumed powers."
   It is only said of the Mayor, in the Report for  1864, that
not all the urgency of the City  Inspector  has overcome his
"unwillingness," <&c, to "convene the Board of Health," and
hence the "city is deprived  of its action on matters of press-
ing importance," &c.;and hence it appears that the old quarrel
continues, and the health powers, (beyond those  belonging
to or " assumed" by the City  Inspector,)  arc, in this time of
public danger, when the city is  filled with soldiers going to
the country freighted with disease, utterly dormant.   The tide
of contagious fever and pestilential small-pox rolls on undis-
turbed from the army to the city, and from the city to all
villages and homes of the State.
  The Report for 1864 states the deaths at 25,645 only, being
    3 
                            id

449 more than in 1863; and  again there is a like triumphant
comparison of the death rate of New-York with that of Pans
and London; and  it is doubtless true that the returns are
just as reliable as those for 1863.
   It is. a curious indication of the results and of the probable
accuracy of these  returns that 1864 shows  only 2,637 mar-
riages against 3,272 in 1863,  (certainly not indicating a very
favorable tendency of metropolitan morals and wealth,) and
gives 5,592 births  against 6,429 in 1863.
   The births subtracted from  the deaths in-1864, according'
to these valuable and accurate Reports, show that the popula-
tion of New-York in 1864, decreased 20,053 souls.  It will,
at this rate of killing off more than 20,000 ofthe people of the'"
city annually, above  the. number that are born in it, hardly -
require  more  time for the City Inspector to depopulate the
place than he is likely to consume in using up all-the property
within the city, rapidly as he  is  known  to  be advancing in -
this latter enterprise.   The last man and the last dollar, upon"
the joint  results of his figures and his action, will soon be'
left "alone together."
  This Report for 1864 is as silent as.that for 1863, about fees
received for the registry of births, deaths  and marriages.
   A large portion of the document is  taken up by a Report
of "L. H. Boole,  Superintendent of Sanitary  Inspection."
The natural reasons that placed a brother of the Inspector
in the most important position of this great department Of the
City Government, which, though this one officer has paid out,
in 1864, (as is admitted by this Report,) the enormous sum of
$812,003.85, has, doubtless, also secured that perfect, harmony
of aim and co-operation which, it would  seem, nowhere else
exists, between the City Inspector's Department and the resi-
due of the  City Government,   I repeat,  at  this moment, the
City Inspector stands suspended by the Mayor.
  The duties of this Superintendent of Sanitary Inspection
are defined in the 37th and 38th sections of the City Ordinan-
ces of 1859, as given  in  the late City Inspector Delevan's 
19
 compilation as follows: "He shall  remain, audit and certify
 to the City Inspector  all accounts for work done under his
 supervision, and  no requisition shall be drawn for any bills,
 accounts or contracts lor cleaning the  streets,  unless certified
 by the Superintendent of Sanitary Inspection,"     *    *   •
 "who shall, in all matters, be under  the direction, control and
 supervision of the  City Inspector;' &c.   But it should be added
 that, in beautiful harmony with the last clause, it  is also  de-
 clared (§37) that  said  Sanitary Superintendent, " shall  also
 have, exercise and possess all the powers and duties by law or
 ordinance conferred on the City Inspector," .&&   That is,  one
 brother may expend $182,003  85 per year—the other may  ap-
 prove  all the vouchers—the first brother m authority has full
 control over the last, while at the same time the  last  has all the
 powers and duties of the first!  It may be thought, in view of
 such  ordinances,  that  the well-known  economy  of those
 officers has been the only reason why their expenditures have
 never been  thought excessive, and  why  the  people are  so
 well satisfied with the present arrangement!
   These  Reports  do  not show much that is  pertinent  to
 the question under inquiry.  The City Inspector is constantly
 exercising power under health laws  proper, and also under
 laws relating to sundry other subjects, such  as street cleaning,
 care of markets, &c, &c; but he does not state how much he
 expends under the separate heads.  He has officers and clerks,
 who perform both classes of duties, but the time and expense
 attending the respective classes are not indicated.
   At page 63 of Valentine's Manual  for  1864, (published at
 the city expense,) we find a list of 22 "Street Inspectors," who
 are. appointed by the City Inspector.  Their pretended duties
 are, (as defined by the 40th  section of the City  Ordinances of
 1859, still in force, see Morton's Health Laws, p 88,) to report
to the  "Sanitary Superintendent," (an  appointee of the City-
Inspector,) "the condition of the streets and all violations  of
" any contract for cleaning them, and shall each receive for his •
 "services the sum of three dollars per day."  Thus nearly 
                             20


$24,000 is annually paid to this class of semi-Health Officers.

When we know that the streets  are not cleaned by contract at

all, that these officers arc, for the most part, ward politicians,

who are believed to devote  their time  to their own  private

affairs and to politics, we find some further explanation of the

existing public discontent and official corruption and extrava-

gance.  The following  extract from a Report of a Finance

Committee of  the Board  of Aldermen,  is  quite instructive

and pertinent to the matter in hand:

    For salaries of the City Inspector and of. the Officers,
     ■Clcrk-s Messengers and Inspectors attached to, or
     counseled with, his office, and in each of the bureaus.
     a;:d offices in said department,one hundred and thirty-
     eight thousand one hundred and sixty dollars......$138,160 00
    For salaries of the Resident Physician, Health Com-
     missioner, and the'Clerk of (he Board, or  Commis-
     sioners of Health, five thousand three hundred  and
     forty five dollars..............................   5,345 00
    For advertising, office expenses, and all other eapense3
     necessarily incurred in the enforcement of the Cor-
     poration ordinances relating to said department, not
     specified and provided for under other heads, twenty
     thousand dollars..............................   20,000 CO
    For compensation of th; Resident Physician for his
     services as  agent of the Board of Health, and for
     expenses which may be incurred by said Board be-
     yond the amount provided for under other heads of
     account, fivtf thousand dollars...................   5 Q00 00

           TotaI.......................• -'........§168,505 00

  It is believed also,  that scarcely any  of these Health

Wardens  are doctors or are men of much education; that

few of them neglect their private affairs;  and that all are con-

spicuous  as ward politicians, and that they are not wanting

in their admiration of the City Inspector or  in promptness in

collecting their salaries.   But it is said to be generally believed  '

that as Health Officers they  are  for the  most  part  utterly
worthless.*                                                J

  An  examination  of the  New-York tax levies, as author-
Z^JT-of Mr*MulIigan'iu the Appe«st^ *«*
as to thgie officers; 
2t
ized by the Legislature,  for a few years  past, will show a
gradual reduction in the sums paid to the Board of Heaith
since the subject of a new Metropolitan Board of Health has
been agitated.   It is yet very suggestive of the corruption of
the whole existing system, that the " Board of Health," (that
is the Mayor, Aldermen and Councilmen,) have continued to
draw their salaries, though it is as notorious as it is disgraceful
that this Board Jias never  had a  meeting since  1863; nor
have the Commissioners of Health, as a body discharged any
duties worthy  of mention for years.  The following are  the
figures as they appear in the session laws :
                                                     Health
                                                      Coji'us.
Laws 1859, p. 1125, salary of Board of Health.......$45,000
  "   1860, p. 1017 and 1019, salary of Board of Health.  35,000    $4,250
  "   1861, p.  666 and  669,  "   "      "     "     35,000     4,250
  "   1862, p.  860 and  861,  "  "      "    '•     6,000     4,250
  "   1863, p.  407 and  409,  "  "      "    "     6,000   *  5,345
  "   1864, p.  940 and  943,  "   "      "    '•     5,000     5,345
  In 1862, when the salary of the members of the Board
were reduced from $35,000 to $6,000, the danger of a change
in the law was  regarded  as considerable; and the  further
reduction  to $5,000,  in  1864,  indicates that  its friends had
gained still greater strength.
  The salaries of Health Wardens, Assistant Health Wardens,
and  sundry other  pretended  Health  Officers in  the City
Inspector's  Department are  covered by the  comprehensive
term " contingencies" which abound  in all New-York  tax
levies.  Perhaps  those   officers   read   with  pleasure such
entries as these in tax levies :*
  1862 p. 861, " salaries City Inspector's Department "........-.$119,228
  1863, p. 409,'' salaries City Inspector's Department "........ .  119,227
  1864, p. 943, " salaries City Inpsc ctor's Department"........  138,160
  1864, p. 941,i: contingencies City Inspector's Department ".. .. 15,000
  It appears, therefore,  that, during the very years that-the
greater scrutiny  of the public has secured  a  considerable
reduction in the  amount avowedly p^id  to  Health-Officers-- -
  * Further details as to expenses may be found in the Appendix, under
the head of " Abstract of Health Bill" 
22
who do nothing, there has been a very large increase secured
by indirection to another class of those officers, under the
head of  "contingencies,"  and  aggregate  salaries for the
Inspector's Department.   Vigilance  surely' is  not less the
price of economy and honesty than of liberty?.
   Such is a brief view of the laws relative to public health in
the great city of New-York, and such are a few of the obvious
features of the manner of their administration, so far as they
are administered under municipal authority.
   There is, however,  a  branch  of  the  health law applica-
ble to New-York, not yet  referred to, which deserves a pass-
ing remark.   In  1857, the condition of the police law and
force of the city were about as deplorable  and alarming as
that of the health authorities  at the  present time; and the
Legislature, in April of that year, created a Metropolitan Po-
lice   District and  Board  of  Police Commissioners.   The
present code of police.laws and that admirable force which is
the pride, hope and security of the city, have been the happy
result.  Upon that  Board certain health  powers have  been,
from  time to time, conferred, partly by reason of its peculiar
ability to  execute  them, and partly  by reason  of the utter
want of confidence in the regular health authorities of the
city and their shameful neglect of their duties.
   For example, the 29th section of the Police Act of the 10th
of April, 1860 (Laws 1860, ch. 259),  declares it shall be the
duty  of the Metropolitan Police Force to "guard the  public
health."
   The exercise of that power is further declared a duty in the
29th section of the Amendment to the Police Act, passed on
the 25th of April, 1864; and the Police Board is further directed
" to remove nuisances," and to " enforce any ordinance or re-
solution, &c, applicable  to  public  health."  And sections
61, 52, 53, 54 and 55 of the last- named Act go much further
and authorize  the Police Board to create a " Sanitary Police
Company," and certain limited sanitary inspection is directed
to be made  by  the members  of  this  company.   Police, 
te
surgeons are also provided for, and a limited sphere of duty
is assigned these  surgeons, mainly relating to the inmates of
the buildings  and to  the  men under  the charge  of the
Police Board.
  It will be noticed these recent provisions create an addi-
tional depository  of power in the city over the subject of pub-
lic health, and  some of  the powers conferred are of the same
nature, and are to be exercised  in  the  same places  and in
like manner as those  still possessed both by the City Inspec-
tor and by  the Board of  Health.  Were it not for the ineffi-
ciency of the two latter, and that public distrust, which would
deprive them of support if they interfered with the Board of
Police, the confusion might be increased and serious collision
of authority might result.
  It is well known that the exercise of health powers by the
Board of Police has been far more vigorous, prudent and ef-
fectual  than by any other authority.  And that  Board has
ample facilities, through its large force, for executing most of
the orders of a Board of Health, and with the least confusion
and expense.  During  the past year,  the  Police  Board has
cleansed more than 2,500 filthy bouses, or has caused their
owners to cleanse them.   So much has not been done in five
years by the City Inspector and Board of Health.
  Many subjects that come before  a  Board of  Health de-
mand the consideration of men of scientific and experimental
medical skill, as well  as the aid of persons of practical execu-
tive talent.   This fact is  understood to be fully appreciated
by  the  members of the Police  Board.  Executive business
talent  can  best devise effective practical  regulations, most
promptly remove nuisances, secure the purification of prem-
ises and districts, and most efficiently execute orders.   But a
different kind of  experience and  knowledge is  needed to de-
tect the hidden causes of miasmatic and contagious disease, to
guard  against  the spread of epidemics and the exposures of
contagion*
  The true  composition of a Board of Health in a great city 
u
would therefore seem to be found in a union of administra-
tive ability and executive experience with scientific sanitary
and medical knowledge, united with skill and practical expe-
rience in  the  treatment of disease.   The Police Board, m a
high degree, embodies the former requisites, and members of
the medical profession.can.best supply the latter.
  By a  union  of the two elements, the  proposed new Metro-
politan  Board  of Health has been formed.
  To prevent  a predominance of either element, and to avoid
jealousy, the two elements are equally united—four doctors
with  the  four members of the Police Board.  The Police -
Board is made up.of equal numbers from the two great politi-
cal parties; and  it is  perhaps fortunate that the proposed
medical members of the new Health Board are equally divi-
ded between the same great parties.
  It is certainly desirable to  utterly exclude  politics from a
Board of Health.
   It is  also highly fortunate that all the eight members of the
new Board of Health are willing to serve the public in so
noble a cause without  compensation.  That public spirit of
the members of the Police Board, (sustained with some effect,
doubtless by a natural wish to get  rid  of the vexatious an-
noyances of the heterogeneous health authorities of the city,)
which has thus secured their unpaid services, certainly de-
serves the thanks of the public and  the high appreciation of
the Legislature.   And though the  medical  profession  has
rendered of late so much disinterested and uncompensated
service  in the great cause of public health  and morality in
the city of New-York,  that it is hardly a matter  of surprise
that greater sacrifices are still offered, yet it is none the less
an occasion of congratulation that  four distinguished mem-
bers of that profession, in full maturity of their great abilities
and experience, now consent to undertake, gratuitously, so
great a labor and responsibility, as to serve on this commission
must involve  provided only the Legislature will  overturn
the present disgraceful and  inefficient authorities, and  eon- 
%
fer the proper powers for the protection of life and health
in this metropolitan city.  It need  only be added, (what is '
generally well known even beyond New-York,) that the four-
medical men named in the bill are alike  in what adorns per-
sonal character or  distinguishes  professional  name and  po-
sition, the foremost in the city and State, and among the first
of the nation and age.   They are fortunately able to devote'..
some time towards  removing those great evils of the city with
which they have  become so painfully  familiar.   And  fre-
quent visitations of the  neglected poor in garrets and in'  cel-
lars—long and varied practice in hospitals and  in families of
every class  and condition—familiarity with the highest lite-
rature of their profession, and with the writings and doings of
the enlightened Boards  of Health which have so much hon-
ored and improved European cities,  together with their well-
known practical ability—would seem to qualify these men to
inaugurate  the great work of sanitary reform  in New-York,
and to afford-a guaranty, that what  they shall write and what
they shall do, will  (in marked contrast  with the present ad-
 ministration of our Health Laws and with the Reports hereto-  ■
 fore made), secure  reasonable safety to  public  health and be
 creditable to the science and learning of the State.
   If a Board of Health, thus organized, can be clothed with
the  requisite  powers, it is believed  that their  administration
will soon.give New-York, and the State the blessing of wise
 health regulations; and that, infancy, now so fearfully deci-
mated, and all classes so needlessly  exposed, both in the  city"'
and the county,  will soon feel the salutary effects of a great
sanitary reform.
   The provisions  of the proposed  Health Bill are believed
 to be well adapted to existing laws, and  adequate to secure
the.public health.
   Its title expresses a leading feature of its provisions.
  .They are intended not only to preserve public health in
 and about  the city of New-York, but also u.to prevent tile*
spread of disease therefrom into other parts of the State." It
     4 
26
is well-known how readily all infectious and contagious dis-
eases are spread from.the city into other parts of the State.
  The leading  provisions and  principles of the bill  are the
following:  '
  (1.) It creates a Metropolitan Sanitary District, co-extensive
with the Metropolitan Police District.
 ' (2.) It makes the four Metropolitan Police Commissioners,
(for any time being.) together with, the four medical  gentle-
men named in the bill, a Metropolitan Board of  Health ; and
all the members are elective for like terms, and are removable
in the same  manner as the  members of the Board of  Police,
under, existing .laws.-  All the members of the Board of Health
serve as such willwid compensation.
  (8.) As the Board of Quarantine Commissioners has prin-
cipally to deal with  shipping and foreign commerce, and a
Board of .Health is principally concerned with  internal and
domestic relations, it was thought best that each should be
master of its appropriate sphere, and be independent of the
other ; but that each Board should be authorized to co-operate
with the other for the promotion of the general public health ;
and such are the provisions of the bill, as follows:
  (4.) The powers and duties  relative to public health, now
by law conferred or imposed upon airy officer or board in the
city .of  New-York, are,-exclusively, hereafter to be exercised
and performed by the new Board of Health ; and these powers
are, in general, the measure of the powers of the new Board,
but  various  additional  duties  are imposed  upon the new
Board.
  (5.) But as it was understood that representative or influ-
ential bodies or  officers of  Brooklyn, and other parts of the
district,  were not  in favor of having the  powers of their  re-
spective health authorities materially interfered with or super-
seded, the alleged  wishes of the people of such portions of
the Metropolitan  District  have  been respected,  and  such
health authorities  can continue  the discharge of their func-
tions after the law is passed, as before. 
a?
  There are strong reasons why all the densely populated re-
gion along the Bay of New-York should be under the super-
vision of one Board of Health ; and (in case of pestilence) it
may be more than now the subject  of regret that there ap-
peared to be a necessity to sacrifice the real demands of pub-
lic health, out of respect to the alleged local feeling prevailing
in portions of the new district.  But the Brooklj-n Board of
Health is said to be well organized and economically adminis-
tered.
  But certain important general powers, of a kind not inter-
fering with local  Boards,  are, by the new Board, to be exer
cised throughout  the Metropolitan Sanitary District.  These
appear in  the -12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 22d  sec-
tions of the bill.
   And it is a noticeable feature of the bill  that it contains
provisions calculated to secure co-operation between all the
Health  Boards of the State for the dissemination of informa-
tion concerning the causes of  disease, and the means of their
removal.  The 17th and 18th sections furnish illustrations.
   (6.) The Board  is to register births, deaths and marriages,
without charge, by which the large fees now collected by the
City Inspector will be saved,  and which,  as wc  have  seen,
are now never accounted for.   Section 13 contains these pro-
visions.
   (7.) The subject of street cleaning is incongruous with the
duties of a Health Board,  and has no proper connection there-
with further than  this: thai, when filth is allowed to accumu-
late, it  becomes dangerous to health.   A Board of Health
should, therefore, have authority to order the proper authorities
to clean streets, when that duty is  not  performed; and this
Act gives that authority at section 26, and also the authority
to require nuisances to be removed.
   Besides, to  clean streets would require a  large force,  the
expenditure of large sums of money, and would  subject  the
Board to suspicions u^v^Tiing at paVer and patronage, which
might impair its  lu&iiis&^s as an  organization  set apart to 
28
promote the great cause of sanitary science,  humanity and
benevolence.
   There are great abuses known to exist in connection with
street cleaning,  the full  correction of which, doubtless,  re-
quires prompt legislative provision ; but all such abuses cannot
be corrected by one law, or  at. one time, and these abuses
must be left to their more appropriate remedy.
   There are, however, proper provisions in the bill to prevent
a duplication of officers and expenses in connection with the
execution of Health Laws, and for reporting duties performed
under such and under other laws.   See  section 26.
   (8.) The bill provides for the full co-operation of the Police
Board and its officers with the Health Board and its officers
in promoting public health; and provides,  also,  that the
Police Board, through its ample means  and force, shall exe-
cute the orders of the Board of  Health.   This  secures the
double  result of an  economical  organization and limited
force in the Health Board, and will also prevent collisions
between the two Boards in  the  exercise of their respective
powers.   These provisions are in the 16th section.
   (9.) The 29th section  contains stringent and effective pro-
visions for ascertaining, with promptness, any improper diver-
sion  of  the  funds of the Board, and the treasurer is to give
ample security.  See section 7.
   The treasurer may be paid a salary of $500, as provided in
the 5th  section.
   (10.)  The organization of the Board is. very simple and
economical.   Besides the  members, one of whom  is to be
president, there  may  be a sanitary superintendent, with  a
salary not exceeding $5,000 ;  sanitary inspectors, not exceed-
ing ten, with a salary of $1,500 each, and a  secretary with
a salary not exceeding $3,500; and the services of a sanitary
engineer may be employed annually, at a cost not exceeding
$o,000.   See sections 5,  10, 11 and 22.
   These inspectors are to be medical men of  several years'
experience  in the city, and,  though few in  number, it  is 
29"
tnought they will be able to make a pretty thorough sanitary
inspection of the city.   In London there are forty-eight such
inspectors, with numerous assistants.
  It is a further important provision that the Board and
these officers shall perform all the  duties  of the present health
authorities,  and that, in no event, shall the aggregate compensa-
tion of all the officers of the Board exceed two-thirds what is now
paid to the existing Health Officers.   See section 11.
  (11.) All the other expenses of the Board are strictly limited
and are placed on the basis of strict economy.  No more than
$10,000 can be paid for  clerk hire; no more than $2,500 for
rent; no more than $5,000 for stationery,  legal advice and
incidentals, unless fitting up offices the first year require that
sum to be  exceeded.   See sections 20 and 27.  The only
discretionary  power  of larger expenditure  is  in  cases  of
pestilence, and in such case no exact limit  can be fixed, and
in  that case, also,  the health authorities of Brooklyn and
New-York may voluntarily co-operate at  the joint  expense.
Section 28.
   With the single exception last indicated, the annual expense
of  the Board under this bill cannot exceed $46,000, and the
number of persons in the employ  of the  Board can hardly
exceed twenty.
   (12.) Finally it may  be added  that there are no experi-
mental provisions in the legal  machinery of the bill.  There
is hardly a section for which there is not a precedent in the
Police Bill, as  finally matured and amended in  1864.
   And it may  further be remarked, that the bill provides no
opportunities for mischief or  extravagance.  No money can
be  squandered;  no political  patronage  wielded;  no rights
invaded;  under it men of a high order of experience and
ability, with great disinterestedness are willing, uncompen-
sated, to serve the public in the highest walks of human effort.
By this law no valuable organizations are struck down, and
only useless and incompetent officers and impracticable legal
provisions are superseded. 
  1 have  said it was  not  a part of my  purpose to enttf
upon the interesting  moral considerations presented  by this
subject, or to narrate  the details of disease and death in New-
York, as compared with other cities, which have caused  so
much alarm and awaked so much interest  in  this bill.  But
they ought not to be wholly omitted here.
  Every Christian will admit it to be a solemn duty of his
religion to extend all possible relief to the exposed and the
diseased among the humble and the destitute.  No intelligent
mind will deny that there is a solemn duty resting upon legis-
lators to afford  every  available legislative aid for the pro-
tection and improvement of  the  health of the people.   Dis-
ease, filth and  crime, are always closely associated.   It will
justly be everywhere regarded as a disgrace  to the State oi
New-York if her health laws and  their administration are
not marked  by  the wisdom, disinterestedness and benevo-
lence which are exhibited, in these respects, in the other great
cities and states  of the world.  And  there is too much occa-
sion to  fear that this disgrace  has been, to a large  extent,
justly incurred ;  for, such brief means of illustration as I have
at hand, show that New-York is as far behind the great cities
of Europe and America in  her precautions  against disease as
she is before them in the appalling volume and alarming conse-
quences of filth,  disease and death, in her midst.

  London.—-Reference has been made to the organization of
a Board of Health in  London, in  1848.  Under that Board
there is a " Sanitary" Police ; and at its head is one of the most
distinguished  medical men  of the United Kingdom; and
forty-eight other medical men are subordinate to him in the em-
ployment of the Board.  The reports of this Board are valu-
able documents,  and  embody the results of the best sanitary
and medical skill and experience of England.   They  explain
the best efforts of human effort to control the causes dan°erous
to human life and health.   This Board has control  over all
the varied nuisances and employments dangerous to health. 
31
  When the. law creating this Board was proposed, politicians
and all those  who lived on the spoils of the old system, made
the most determined opposition, and, just as has been the case
in New-York, they neither  wanted funds for  bribes, a venal
press to defend their opposition, nor a. noisy, ignorant  rabble
to get up a public clamor.   A  report before me says  " they
"held public meetings and loudly declared London, for health,
" cleanliness, &c, &c,  unsurpassed."   This is  very much the
language of Inspector  Boole's Reports to  which reference has ■
been made.
  As in New-York, so in London, the friends of reform suf-
fered repeated defeat, but in the end there was a complete and
blessed triumph.   Of this great triumph of its happy results
the London " Times " says:

  " It is scarcely credible, but yet. the incontestable figures quoted by Dr.
Letheby leave it beyond all doubt, that the  average of health throughout
the city of London, is  higher than the average of health throughout all
England, taking town and country together.   The mortality in all England
is at the rate of 22.8 in  every 1,000  of the population ; in the city of
London, it is ut the rate of  22.3 for every  1,000 inhabitants.  Gradually
the mortality has decreased,  until the yearly death-roll  of 3,763 has been
reduced to 2,904 within the period of nine  years, during which the city
has been under the rule of the Sanitary Commission.  The deaths  this
year—22.3  per 1,000, or one in every forty-five of  the inhabitants—are
nine per cent,  below the general average, and represent a saving of
286  lives.   And, secondly, this gratifjing  result has been  obtained in
the face of obstacles which seemed to be almost insurmountable."

  Liveepool.—This city affords  another illustration of  the
advantages of an  enlightened and efficient Board of Health.
  When, fifteen years ago, the Board was formed, the death-
rate was one in thirty of  its inhabitants.  A gradual improve-
ment has since taken place and, in 1860, they had, by gradual
improvement,  reached  such a point of healthiness that there
was. only  one death  to forty-nine  persons.   In  1860 eight
persons died in Liverpool of small-pox, while the same year,
New-York lost by that  disease   thirty in  the week ending 
32
 June 29th.  Every one is painfully aware of the alarming
 prevalence of small-pox both in  New-York and  in  other
 parts of the State of New-York at this  time.  Liverpool is
 now one of the healthiest cities of the world.

   Paris.—This well-governed city has an admirable Board of
 Health.  " The Council of Public Hygiene and Health," &c,
 consists  of twenty-nine persons, of whom fifteen are phy-
 sicians, six pharmaceutists, and  the residue  are  engineers,
 architects and other persons  peculiarly  qualified.  Besides
 there are local Boards  in  the city.  The  police enforce the
 regulations of  the Board of Health.  The death-rate of Paris
 is reported to be about  the same  as that of London and Liv-
 erpool, which  are far lower than that  of New-York.  The
 London and Paris Boards of Health appear to have jurisdic-
 tion of a considerable section around those cities.

   Philadelphia.—This city has,  for  several years, had a
 far more competent Board of Health, with a vastly superior
 administration, than anything of the kind in the city of New-
 York.   Great  sanitary  reforms have been effected by  such
 means, and the death-rate has been so  reduced,  that Phila-
 delphia is said to be the  healthiest city  of the world of its
 size.
   No man can look over the Health Laws and  rules applica-
 ble to  Philadelphia and the reports of  its Board of Health,
 now before me, and compare them with  the Laws of New-
 York on the same  subject and with the  pretended Health
 Reports of New-York  officers, without a feeling of shame
 and humiliation.
   The Philadelphia  Report for  1863, shows  the  Board of
 Health to  be  composed of eleven persons, of whom  four
are physicians.  There .are, in addition, four executive office™,
 of whom three, if not four, are physicians.  The Report con-
tarns 08  pages of interesting and instructive  statistics, and
important and  valuable  suggestions; all of whicb  show, that 
33
the Board is vigilant and industrious in the discharge of its
duties.  Diseases and deaths are classed, and the causes of
prevailing  diseases  are  thoroughly examined ;  and  births,
deaths and marriages, are reported.   The Report is, in every
respect, unlike a New-York Report.
 :  I cannot  enter further into details.  The document must
be compared  with  a  New-York Report  to appreciate  the
difference,  and to better comprehend why New-York has a
so much higher death-rate'than Philadelphia.
   By way  of illustration, however,  a single  detailed com-
parison of  this Philadelphia Health Report may be made
with the before-mentioned gilt-edged, morocco-bound, boast-
ing New-York Health Report of the same  year;  bearing in
mind that the rates of population in  the two cities is about
as nine to six:

     NEW-YORK REPORT, 1863.         PHILADELPHIA REPORT,  1863.
  Reported Deaths...... 25.196      Reported Deaths......  15,788
     "    Marriages...  3,272         "   Marriages___   5,475
          Births......  6,426         "   Births.......  15,293

Does any one believe there were, in 1863,2,203 more marriages
and 8,867 more births in Philadelphia than in New-York ? or
is the explanation of these Reports to be found  in the fact,
that a reliable and  efficient  Board of Health  has charge of
these matters  in  Philadelphia while neglect, and  imbecility,
characterize official  administration in New-York.
   From the fact that so many more marriages  and births are
reported in  Philadelphia it  may be concluded, that  the
reports of deaths are more nearl}T complete in the Philadelphia
than in the New-York; and yet, (omitting small fractions,)
the startling fact is disclosed that in Philadelphia, in 1863, only
one person out of every forty-three DIED, while, there died in the
same year  in  New-  York  one person  out of every  thirty five.
   This  fearful excess of deaths in  New-York over  Phila-
delphia is, therefore, either to be  attributed to  more destruc-
tive natural causes  arising from  soil, climate  and exposure
  5 
u
in the  former city, or to  the defective and badly  executed
Health  Laws.    To  which  of these causes do the^ citizens
and Legislature of  New-York  feel  disposed  to have  this
fearful  record  of disease  and death  attributed ?  Can  it be
that efficient  action  will be longer delayed at  a time when,
by reason of a  spreading,  and fatal contagion, the passage of
streets  may soon be dangerous, and from fear, pupils, in  large
numbers, are leaving the public  schools ?
   The  Report of the City  Inspector of the City New-York
for 1861, (not, however,  the present incumbent of that office,)
furnishes an official answer to the question as follows :

    " The causes of this excessive mortality must be sought for in this
city, and are readily traceable to the wretched habitations in which parents
and cliildren  are forced to take up their abode ; in the contracted alleys,
the underground, murky and pestilential cellars, the tenement house, with
its hundreds of occupants, where each cook, eat  and sleep in a single room,
without  light or  ventilation, surrounded with  filth, an atmosphere foul,
fetid and deadly, with none to console with or advise them, or to apply to
for relief when  disease  invades them."  lie asks wjth great pertinency :
" How is this state of tilings, which mark?  with shame the great city of
New-York, to be  remedied?"  Let those who  believe in our present sys-
tem mark well his reply.  He fays : "The power of remedy does not rest
in me, nor in the department over which I lave the honor to preside."
    In another report he adds  what is  fearfully true at this time : " There
has been no improvement in the cleaning of the  streets, but on the con-
trary, the city, at ihis moment,  is in a more  filthy condition than has here-
tofore been  the  case at this season of the year.  As an evidence of the
effct  of thH state of th'ngs upon the. health  of the community, I  would
sta e th->t the mortality  of the city,  has been largely on the increase.
\\\iv  this increa-e of mortality the result of an ex sting pestilence or epi-
demic among us. the pubic  mind would become justly a'armed as  to the
future ; but although no actual pestilence, as such,(xists. it is by no means
certain that we are no:, preparing the way for some  fatal scourge by theno-
longer-to be-endured filthy condition of our city."
    A  late Sanitary Report adds: " It is doubtful  if there is a c'ty  in the
civi ized  world than contains within i's jurisdiction as nviny sources oftlat
class tf  dis-.-ases  known  as p-eventablj, or capable of bein? removed and
destroyed, as New-York. They are  thickly strewn  in  every street,  in
evesy  lane, and even in  every dwelling and shop.  Many of these sources 
3o
of public and1 private pestilence are  brought to light in a late foeport of
Captain Lard, of the Sanitary Company of the Po'ice:   ,...'.
    "The  total number  of tenement houses is given at 12,37J, with a
population cf 401,376, cf whom 22,095 Jive in cellars—a subterraneous
population large enough for a small city in itself.  A little more than two-
thirds of the houses, namely, 8,546, with a population of 253,901, arc pro-
vided with good means  of escape in case of fire, while 3,801 houses, in-
habited by 125,380  persons, are deficient in this respect.   The ventilation
of 4,221  houses, containing 141,168 persons, is bad."
    Of slaughter houses  we  have the following  exhibit:  The number of
slaughter-houses in  the c'.ty is 187, of which 40 are reported as in bad con-
dition.  The number of beeves slaughtered per  week is given as 2,555 ;  cf
small stock, 9,362; of swine,  13,205.  Total per week, 25,222.  (Jrand
total per year, 1,311,541.  Akin  to  slaughter-houses are those sinks of
putridity, fat bailing es'ablishments, of which th.^re are no less than 80 in
New-Yoik.  These  establishments arc frequently indicted as  mvsances,
and  are generally located in densely  populated distiicts ; but against nei-
ther can our health  officials b3 induced to proceed.

   Providence.—This City has had for some years  an  efficient
Health organization,  and has become one of the most healthy
cities of the World.   Its  Chief Health  Officer is  Dr. Snow,
who is  a distinguished physician;  and  some  statistics  fur-
nished  by one  of his  recent  reports  may be regarded  as
impartial and reliable, (even though they do not sustain the
theories  of City Inspector Boole,  nor  state  anything  very
flattering to New-York.)   He gives the following table of the
ratio of deaths to population:

                      Estimated         Deaths,         Of Population,
                     Population.          1863.            one Id.
    New-York,........  900,000         25,196            35.7
    Philadelphia.......  620,000         14,220            43.6
    Boston,...........  194000          4,698            41.2
    Newark, N. J.,.....   85.000          1.952            43.5
    Providence,........   65.000          1,214            45.3
    Hartford,..........   32,000           583            54.8

   These appalling  facts   are  further  sustained  by a  Re-
port made  by  twenty leading  physicians of the  city  of
New-York  during  the past year.   They use  the following
language: 
§6
  li Previous to establishing a good sanitary government, the annual rate
of mortality was:
    In London......................................J •" S
    In Liverpool......................................J !n i°
    In Philadelphia  ..................................  !n J*-
    In New-York, at present...........................j- }n ™ +
         Do.    average of last ten years............... 1 in 6iy2
  " The rate of mortality in the same  cities, with the  present system of
sanitary government, has been —
    In London...................................•-----1 in 45
    In Liverpool.........................................1 in 41
    In Philadelphia............................1 in  44 to 1 in 57
  " While in the city of New-York the death-rate has increased from 1 in
46 >£ [in the year  1810] to 1 in 35+ at  the present time.  ' By means of
suitable sanitary regulations, and a faithful and competent administration
of such  laws, the rate of mortality in  this city ought to be very greatly
reduced.  The experience of other great cities, and the teachings of sani-
tary science, warrant the  opinion that the present rate  of mortality may be
reduced fully thirty per cent.   Such a reduction would save from 7.000
to 10,000 lives in this city during the present year.
  " It is a medical and statistical fact that for every death in a large com-
munity there are at least  twenty-eight cases of sickness.  This would give,
in the population of our city, upwards  of two hundred  thousand cases of
preventable and needless sickness every year .'"

  With such a fearful record  staring us  in the  face, is it pos-
sible that this body should longer delay any  practical legisla-
tive remedy.   The  growth, good name and prosperity of a
great metropolitan city are in peril; disease and death, the re-
sult of  neglect, filth  and inefficiency, threaten us on  every.
hand.   In a city of  near a million of people—the  great cen-
tre of. wealth,  refinement,  elegance, medical  skill,  benevo-
lence and Christian effort of a great nation—garrets and cel-
lars are filled with contagion and death—lanes and alleys are
poisoned with  nauseous  and  dangerous emanations—sewers
and open places are filled with germs of  endemic disease-
the odors of  decaying animals and miasmatic  filth spread
along the avenues where liveried servants  drive the coaches
of the rich, and enter the churches where the humble and the
proud kneel at the altar.   No parent  or child can now visit 
$7
tne city from the interior of the State without awakening
anxious solicitude for a safe return.  Every one who enters a
stage or car is anxious lest his neighbor be a source of con-
tagion.   Years have elapsed since there has been any meeting of a
Board of Health; and measures calculated to protect life and
health are abandoned at a period of  the greatest danger; the
Mayor refuses to call  any meeting of the health authorities,
because he deems them dishonest or incompetent; the City
Inspector, though under  sentence of suspension from office
by the Mayor, spends near a million a year, and yet leaves the
streets of the city in a condition that would disgrace the camp
of a tribe of Kalmuc Tartars.   Yet such is the general leth-
argy or despondency among the mass of the people in regard to
all measures of reform, that the very officer who, in his official
Report for  1863, boldly proclaims that he " has assumed  re-
sponsibilities  unsanctioned by municipal ordinances "—an
officer who, day after  day, has been standing at the bar of a
a committee sent down by the  Senate in answer to the ap-
peal of the city against his unblushing  abuses and stupen-
dous extravagance—that officer dares, in  his Report for 1864,
to attempt, by a low and vulgar appeal to the honest but  ig-
norant prejudices of  the  large class he  hopes by his use of
public  money to control—to attempt to intimidate those gen-
erous and public-spirited men who are endeavoring by disin-
terested co-operative effort, under the name of the "Citizens'
Association," to  achieve  something  in  the great cause  of
municipal reform.
  It is no part of my  purpose to attempt any defence of that
Association, or of its  numerous members.   Some results  of
their labors will, I believe, be before the Legislature during
this session, which will speak in  their behalf.  Certainly  no
charge of the City Inspector will affect  their high standing
with the better classes in New-York.
  The  bill before us rests on no association, except that happy
association  which a wise Providence has ordered shall always
exist between disinterested Christian effort in behalf of suffer- 
ing and imperilled  humanity, and its natural fruits, which
are prosperity, health and happiness.  The need for this law
is older than any "Citizens' Association,"-and though it may
be much indebted to the support of that body, the same need
will not be diminished, even if that  " Association," should un-
fortunately falter in its great undertaking,  without accom-
plishing what it has  so worthily begun.
  It will still remain the duty of the philanthropist to labor _
in behalf of  imperilled  life and health—it will still be the in-
terest of the merchant and the banker to aid in  removing that
disgrace and clanger  which makes the traveller approach New-
York with dread—it will still be needful to have legislative
enactment to secure  in New-York that sanitary reform which
the meanest  instincts of fear, and the lowest  forms of state
pride, as well as the solemn invocations of the pulpit, and
humble prayers of mothers in cellars and garrets, at the bed-
side of children sinking needlessly to untimely graves—alike
demand.
   But it  may be  said that mere legislation changes  can-
not produce  the needed reform.  That what is demanded is
better officers,  more  disinterested public spirit in the city, and
that exercise and guardianship of the elective franchise which
would secure a fuller execution of the laws.  It cannot be
denied that if  such virtues and vigilance more  generally pre-
vailed, great reforms would follow. But  it sometimes  hap-
pens that laws are made on the suggestions of  bad men, and
that they are, without the  cognizance  of the Legislature,
framed so as to facilitate dishonest purposes.  I  think it could
be proved that such has been the fact in regard to some of
the enactments applicable to the city of New-York.
   Until after 1857, the  better class of men in  the city were
not much aroused to the necessity of watching and combin-
ing to counteract the deep-laid schemes of knaves and  pro-
fessed politicians.   Since  that date  the conservative  and
honest influences have, to some  extent,  combined  against
those two mischievous classes, and  have succeeded in achiev- 
89
ing a great triumph in the establishment of a well-disciplined
Metropolitan Police.  They  have also thoroughly  aroused
the public mind to the necessity of reform in other quarters.
The  contest for a Metropolitan Health Law has been waged
during the same period,  and though its  friends have sus-
tained repeated  defeats, they are, this year, much  stronger
than ever before.
   They are not, however, unmindful that money which (it is
believed) defeated them in 1861, and which, aided by all the
arts of intrigue, prevented a final vote in the Senate, in 1862,
may be used against them in 1865.  There are the same in-
terested  combinations—the same  officers who  draw salaries
without  performing duties—the same  specious arguments,
founded on alleged invasions of municipal rights—the same
pensioned scribblers who silence  the disinterested utterance
of portions of  the public  press—the  same owners of city
nuisances, who fear their noxious  occupations might not be
tolerated—to contend with now, who have,  every former year,
combined against  the advocates  of an  enlightened Health
Law.
   But the friends of the bill are confident that, if their argu-
ments are not fairly answered, no unworthy influence can, at
this time, prevail.
   The friends of this bill do  not invade any municipal rights.
They only aim to sustain the honor  and  to promote the best
interests of New-York—to lift into places  of power  and high
responsibility the worthiest citizens of that  great metropolis—
and regard it both appropriate and necessary to invoke  the
aid of the Legislature in such a  cause.   Disease, contagion,
pestilence, are  not bounded by city or county lines—cannot
be circumscribed  within constitutional  limits  or  political
divisions.   They travel along our railroads and our rivers—
they fly rapidly with the winds, over the hills and along the val-
leys—they are borne with the parcels from the  merchant, and
even in  the sealed missives of  friendship, to  every  family
fireside in every portion .of the State,   And to assert, for the 
40
city of New-York, the right to allow its  streets  and hotels,
daily and nightly thronged with  the precious lives of every
town and village, to become poisoned with fatal exhalations
and pregnant with disease and death, is to insult the general
intelligence of the State, and to mention that life and health
are something less sacred  than a political dogma and ought
to yield to the claims of a pretended municipal franchise.
   Is it longer  to be tolerated, that while other great cities
send forth  instructive and learned  reports, written by able
physicians, full of valuable information  and  disclosing wise
measures for the protection of life and health—reports credit-
able to science and humanity, and everywhere read and pon-
dered—the health authority of New-York shall  remain un-
exercised, or  be exerted  and illustrated only in acts and re-
ports that are a stain upon its honor, a scandal to  its science
and a disgrace to its literature.
   What is demanded is, that there should be a commission
composed of  educated, independent and practical men, deriv-
ing their power  from the State and independent of popular
suffrage in the city—men who will  have the courage, power
and judgment requisite to deal with all those causes that now
peril life and health.
   All  the Health Officers of the city now derive their author-
ity either directly from popular  suffrage or from the Mayor
and Board of Aldermen.  The Mayor  is elected for  two
years, and is  sure to be a candidate for re-election.  The City
Inspector and Resident Physician are nominated by the Mayor
and confirmed by the Aldermen.   There are seventeen Al-
dermanic Districts in the city, and the Aldermen are elected
for a term of two years.
   There are  six Councilmen, elected  annually, from each
Senatorial  District, for a term of one year.
   The men  who  keep groggeries, tippling shops, fat-boiling
establishments  and  butcheries—who own dance-halls  and
houses of ill-fame—who allow cellars  and places to be filled
with stagnant waters—who neglect drainage and purifications 
41
—who build ill-ventilated tenement houses—who keep filthy
and offensive stables—all those who, in a thousand other ways,
contribute  to  make  New-York the most  unhealthy of the
large cities inhabited by a civilized  and Christian people—
are themselves, with all their friends and dependants, vo'.ers—
the constituents of these Aldermen and Councilmen—are, in
all probability, the most active politicians of their respective
wards, whose support or opposition makes or unmakes some
city father. The Police Justices arc, in a similar mariner, de-
pendent on the same class of men; and convictions before
them, for nuisances, are known to  be of  rare occurrence.  Is
it supposed that the officers whom  such  men have elected
will, when in  office,  interfere with the doings of their most
active constituents—proceed against  the very  premises a?
being a nuisance, or dangerous to  health or morality, in
which, perhaps, the political caucus  was held  that secured
their nomination?
   No one  who knows anything of New-York municipal ad-
ministration, will expect anything of the kind.  These officers,
if public suspicion be correct, are, some of them at least, much
more likely to be the champions  and the  apologists of the
offences and offenders against public health in their respective
 districts; and those who should be punished,  are quite likely to
be on the long sinecure pay-rolls of the City Inspector, side by
side with the hireling scribblers for a portion of the city press,
who receive so much public money for palliating  official delin-
quencies, that they are enabled to  serve their literary employ-
ers at rates most agreeably moderate.  It   may be that that
class of writers may sometimes be kind enough even to report
the doings of this Honorable Legislature on the like moderate
terms, and, forsooth, include therewith elaborate  and pungent
abuse of all friends of reform, without additional charge.  It
is certainly convenient to  receive  a salary from  the City In-
spector, and to draw one's pay as a "reliable" correspondent,
but it might not be pleasant to have the facts made public, or
creditable to  any party concerned.   For such  abuses and
     6
I 
42
sources of corruption, there is no adequate remedy but a law
similar to the one now proposed.
  And, therefore, against every obstacle, and after every de-
feat, the friends of this great reform, relying on the justice of
their course,  sustained by a high sense of duty, which is its
own reward, are firmly resolved to persevere until final triumph
shall crown their efforts.
  In behalf of the neglected dying poor—by all. the priceless
value of life  and health, now doubly imperilled by diseased
soldiers from the army, and by a fatal contagion now disclosing
itself in so many of our cities and villages—in honorable emu-
lation of the great work of sanitary reform so much advanced
in other American and European  cities—in response to  the
generous offer of service  by those  who are ready to  execute
this high commission without pecuniary reward—in harmony
with thaj  regenerating public  sentiment which is- purifying
the national health and life—in obedience  to  all the holy
promptings of virtue and religion—by one  effective, worthy
effort to rebuke official imbecility and corruption, and inau-
gurate benevolent, practical reform in the city of New-York—
let this Legislature honor itself and bless the whole people of
the State by  enacting this  great sanitary and all-pervading
measure of reform.   Future generations  will wonder at the
opposition it encountered, while they rejoice in  the priceless
benefaction. 
                  APPENDIX.
                              m i 9 > a

NOTE  A.—ABSTRACT OF  HEALTH BILL AND RELATIVE
           EXPENSE OF OLD AND NEW SYSTEMS.

  \ ].  Makes the  Police District a Health District.
  §2.  Makes the  four Police  Commissioners and four Doctors, the sole
Board of Health in New-York.
  \ 3.  Name3 Dr. Alonzo Clark, Dr. Willard Parker, Dr. James R. Wood
and Dr. Isaac E. Taylor, as the four Doctors and Health  Commissioners,
with the Police Commissioners.
  \ 4.  Makes the terms of office, after first Board, eight years, and provides
for vacancy.
  \ 5.  Provides for election of President, Treasurer, and Secretary.
  § 6.  Defines duties of President and Secretary.
  §7.  Relates to Treasurer, and his bond.
  \ 8.  Forbids members of Board holding political office.
  g 9.  Authorizes Governor to remove members of Board.
  §10.  Authorizes Board  to create "Sanitary  Superintendent," defines
his duties and fixes his salary.
  \ 11.  Authorizes Board to appoint " Sanitary Inspectors,"  not exceed-
ing ten, fixes their  salary and defines their duties.
  § 12.  Defines the powers of  the Board, giving all (but limiting  the same
to) the powers now distributed to and through various offices and depart
ments, viz.:
     1. The  Mayor.
     2. The  Board  of Health.
     3. The  Commissioners of Health.
     4. The  Resident Physician.
     5. The  Health Commissioner.
     6. The Medical Agent of the Board of Health.
     7. The  City Inspector.
     8. The •' Sanitary  Superintendent,"  the 22 Health Wardens and 2^2
        Assistant Health Wardens, and the other numerous subordinates
        of the City Inspector's (Boole) Department.
  gl3.  Gives the Board  charge of the  Registry of Births, Deaths  an<?
Marriages. 
44
   § 14.  Prevents conflict, and provides for proper co-operation between the
 new Board, and the Quarantine Board and the State Health Officer.
   § 15.  Provides for  action of Board  out of the City, and co-operation
 with Health organizations in the  District out of the City in time of great
 peril.
   §16.  Requires co-operation with Police Board and  officers, to protect
 Health, and for the execution of the orders of the Board of Health by the
 police force.
   § 17.  Directs the Board to preserve valuable facts, and give useful in-
 formation to  Boards of Health in all parts of the State.
  § 18.  Provides for an annual  report from the Board to the Legislature,
 and for sending a copy to  each Board  of Health in the State.
   § 19.  Authorizes by-laws and directs copies laid before the Legislature.
   §20.  Authorizes clerks, but the whole cost not to excesd $10,000 ; and
 allows incidental expenses for stationery, light, fuel, &c., not over $5,000.
   §21.  Authorizes keeping of public " Complaint Book."
   §22.  May employ  Sanitary Engineering service, at not exceeding an
 annual expense of $5,000.  Health officers may inspect works, grounds and
 buildings.
   § 23.  Provides for meetings of  Board.
   § 24.   Directs Board to  aid in enforcing Health inspection laws ; to de-
 mand reports from dispensaries, hospitals, &c, kc.
   §25.   Provides that the Board shall not be required to make sundry re-
 ports, now only required by reason of  the powers over  Health being dis-
 tributed between so many  officors,  departments and agents.
   § '20.   A long sect inn, made necessary by reason of the  present confusion
 in laws, and of the Let that  the same officers who have  charge of public
 Health  proper, have ak> the control of markets, weights and  measures,
 street cleaning, &c, &c.
   These matters have no ncessary connection with Health, unless they are
 neglected, and when they arc so neglected an J thus become nuisances, power
 to order the proper authorities to perform Aeir duties is given to the Board
 of  Health by the Bill.                \
  '1 he last clause of this section requires  + City Inspector to file a report
as a check on his expenditures, and for future information.
  § 27,  Authorize rent of <,ffice at expense not  exceed'.," $2 500
  § 28   Author.** joht action between  Board of Healih in Brooklyn and
W> oik. in case of pestilence, and provides for expens >
  «29   Provdes Hie  money to pay expense of Board shall be paid into
oiale   1 reasury annua  v •  a'sn nm,.: i,, ,-
m,» hr rf T    ,   ,           P         °F *'mm*r'J examination of any
VuUa cf Pcard Vhere any divuion cf funds u charged. 
45
  § 30.  Provides for raising money for paying expense of Board,  being
the same provision that is contained in the police law.
  §31.  Authorizes the borrowing or raising of funds for first  year in an-
ticipation of taxes.
  § 32.  Makes violations of Act a misdemeanor.
  § 33.  Authorizes its records to be used on judicial proceedings.
  § 34.  Makes Act take effect June 1,1865.

           A FEW SUGGESTIONS MAY  BE USEFUL.
  1. It will be  observed that more than one-third of the  length of bill is
occupied with drawing the boundary between such powers of certain officers
and departments, as are and as  are not given to the Board of Health.  It
was certainly not proper to give the general legislative powers of the Com-
mon Council, now with the Mayor, a  Board  of  Health, nor was it con-
sistent with the duty of a Board of Health to have  charge of 1,000 men,
or $500,000 to clean streets.  It requires long  and carefully drawn articles
to define what portion of such  and various  other powers now conferred
on the same officers in the greatest confusion  shall be given  to a properly
constituted Board of Health.
   2. It was not desirable to interfere with the  efficient Board of Health in
Brooklyn, nor with the  Quarantine Board ; and yet, it was important that
the Metropolitan Board of Health should have certain important powers
throughout the district, (not before conferred on any Board, which are given
in § 14, 15,17,  18, 22, 24, 23);  and to preserve the  two Boards referred to,
and give the general powers needed, has required large space in the Bill.
   3.  Had not the foregoing fa3ts presented obstacles, the Bill would not be
half its present length ; and those facts  do not affect  the organization of
the Board, which is very simple and well adapted for prompt, harmonious
and efficient action.
     (1.) The eight Commissioners act as a single Board, of which (§ 9) five
         are a quorum, and there  is no occasion to  consult any other Board
          or officer.
     (2.) The Secretary will keep the records, and  conduct the correspond-
          ence of the Board.
     (3.) The " Sanitary Superintendent " is the chief executive officer of
         the Board, and has a general superintendence, as the Board by its
         by-laws shall direct.
     (4.) The ten '; Sanitary  Inspectors :"—They will daily  examine into
         causes endangering Health, under the charge of the superintend-
         ent.
     (5.) Any engineer the Board may for any occasion employ, in connec- 
46
          tion with sewerage or otherwise,  will attend the work assigned
          him, as the Board may direct.
      (6.) The police force will execute all orders of the Board, except such
          as the inspectors or superintendent may personally execute.
    4. It will be seen, that the expense  is reduced  to the lowest possible
 point, and may be shown as follows :

          (1.) The members of the  Board serve without pay.
          (2.) Secretary, not  to exceed..................$3,500
          (3.) The Sanitary Superintendent.............. 5,000
          (4.) Services of Sanitary Engineer...............5,000
          (5.) Ten Inspectors, $1,500 each................15,000
          (6.)  Clerk hire, not exceeding..................10,000
          (7.)  Rent of offices, not exceeding...............2,500
          (8.)  Incidentals, Stationery, &c, &c............ 5,000
          (9.)  Pay of Police Force  (not increased)........

                Total...............................$46,000
   5. The Bill everywhere follows  the  analogy of  the  police  law, and
     contains no experimental legislation.
   6. The great  difficulty in New-York was, not  to any great extent,
     the  want cf power over the subject of Health, but grew out of two lead-
     ing facts:
       (1) The Health officers are inefficient, and have not the proper quail-
          fications, and th: mode of their election -is such  that better  ones
          cannot be secured without a change in the laws.
       (2) The existing laws contain conflicting  provisions and the power
          over health is deposited in so many offices and Boards that co-opera-
          Hon or harmony in their execution has been found unattainable.
   Hence a concentration of power in proper hands rather than additional
power » the remedy sought.  But valuable additional powers over the sub-
jee  of small-pox and other pestilential diseases  have been added to the
12th sechon of he  bdl  slQCe it was first printed.  They were taken from
an efficient law long in force in Brooklyn
^Contrast this organization with the'existing organization and expen-

  The present organization is as follows :

                             17 Aldermen *\
                                and      /
      (1) Any ten of      J2i Councilmen C     „„       *a
                               and the    \       Boai'd of Health,"
                               Mayor.    J 
4?
       (2) The President of the Aldermen,  \
           The President of the  Councilmen./       constitute a second
           The Health Officer,               ^>    Board called "The Com-
           The Resident Physician,          \     missioners of Health."
           The City Inspector,               J
       (■)*
       (3) The  City  Inspector—This  officer claims and  exercises  at this
             time nearly  all  the authority over  Health,  (now practically
             known in  the City,) tinder Tit. 3, Chap. 275  of the Laws of
             1850.
       (4) The Health Officer.
       (5) The Resident Physician,    )  appointed by the Mayor, with the
       (6) The Health  Commissioner, )      consent of the Aldermen.
       (7) The Agent of the Board of  Health,  appointed  by the Board
             of Health.  The same person is said to be at  thi3 time both
             Resident Physician and Agent of the Board of Health, and
             to draw  salary in both capacities.
       (8) The Health  Wardens, twenty-two in num. \  They are appointed
             ber.                                    /  by the City Inspec-
       (9) The Assistant Health  Wardens,  twenty- (  tor with the consent
             two in number, (a)                      j  of the Aldermen.
      (10) The " Superintendent of Sanitary Inspection," a  subordinate of
             the City Inspector.
      (11) " Registrar of Records and Statistics," another subordinate of
             the City Inspector, (b)
      (12) The Mayor.
      (13) Numerous Clerks of the sundry Boards and officers above mem-
             tioned. (c)
   8. Expenses of present system.   It  is not easy, owing to the reticence
      of officials and the method  of making up reports, to get at the salaries
     of the foregoing Health Officers.  As  to some there is no  doubt, and
     as to the residue a pretty  close  approximation  and something  like
     certainty maybe readily reached.
----,---------------------..----,—,—,------,-----,———-—-----,,»------_^.
   (a)* The Corporation Council has decided, and it is generally believed, so far as there is
any harmony, of opinion on the subject,  that each of the two  Boards has the same authority,
and as there are 41 Councilmen and Aldermen, of which any ten, with the Mayor, make a
Board of Health, it will be seen that those two bodies furnish material for four Boards of Health
tn addition to that made up of the Commissioners of Health.
   (a) See affidavit attached as to the qualification of those officers  and the influences that se-
cure their appointment.
   (b) This officer gets up the bulky reports from the City Inspector's Department, and is put
forward as one of the chief Health Officers of the City ; though In fact he is a mere cltrical
officer and  has no authority worthy of mention.
   (c) It may be remarked that it i3 a groat question with the citizens of New-York whether
thi3 "Begistrar," the " City Inspector," the "Resident Physician," the " Health Commis*
sloner," or the " Agent of the Board of Healthy" is the grealer of the aforesaid officers, but if
one doctor holds two of these office!, as is reported, he would seem to be clearly entitled to prece-
dence. 
48
     (1) Board of Health proper, (that is sums  paid Aldermen,
         Couucilmen and Mayor as a Board of Health.) (a)......$35,000
     (2) Board of Commissioners  of  Health ; their  salary as a
         Board, the writer has not satisfactorily ascertained, but
         estimates it at....................................  -»
     (3) The City Inspector................................  °>000
     (4) Health Officer, unknown.
     (5) The Resident Physician..................•.........  1>250
         Same person in capacity of Agent  of  Board of  Health,
           estimated $4,000................................  5-250
     (C) Health Commissioner..............................  3>500
     (7) Agent of Board of Health, as above.
      (8) Twenty-two Wardens from $1,000 to $1,200 each......25,000
      (9) Twenty-two Assistant Wardens, $1,000 to $L,200 each. 25,000
     (10) Superintendent Sanitary Inspection, (estimated).......  5,000
     (11) Registrar of Records, &c, (estimated)................  4,000
     (12) The Mayor, (unknown.)
     (13) Clerks,  (estimated)...........:.................... 10,000
     (14) Rent, incidentals,  sundries,  &c, &c,  (estimated not less
         than)........................................... 15,000
                                                             $151,750
  It will, therefore, be seen, even if the entire salary of every officer  who
performs any other duties than those under Health laws proper, be rejected,
and if no salary at all be  allowed the Commissioners of Health as a body,
and if the Salary of the Board of Health be only the sum appearing in the
Statute of 1864 ; and if the  incidental expenses estimated for, (which are
believed to be far too  small,) are reduced by half; that after  all these deduc-
lions are made, the expenses of tlie present  system will yit  be shown  to be
nearly double the amount required under the new law  proposed.
  For proof that  the present expensive organization is utterly inefficient
and is incapable of reformation, see the extracts from the report of Mr. Del-
avan, late City Inspector, printed in this Appendex.

           NOTE 5.—DELEVAN'S  REPORT FOR 1861.
   The following extracts from  the report of the late City Inspector, Dele-
 van, the immediate official predecessor of the present Inspector, (F.  I. A.
 Boole,) afford a most significant answer to most of the representations of
 the  latter  officer and  of his subordinates, and confirm the allegations of
   (a) See Law3 1360, p. 1017 and 1019, and Laws 1861 p. 608 and 059, where that sum is so
appropriated, though in 1864 it was apparently reduced to $5,000, Laws 1864 p. 940 and 043,
by r«asou the efforts to obtain a new Health Law. 
49
 the friends of the ponding bill, as to the distressing need of reform and the
 hopelessness of any relief under the present system.   The report quoted is
 Mr. Delevan's official  report, as City Inspector, (a  pamphlet said not to be
 easily obtained at the present City Inspector's  Office  just  now,)  dated
 January 13th, 18.02.   Having read these remarks  of Mr. Delevan, (for the
 frankness of which he perhaps lost his office,) a mere correct  estimate can
 be formed of the consideration due  to the allegations of  Mr. Boole now
 .before the Legislature;  which seem to  imply that  his department is a
 model of efficiency—that the Health organization of  the City  is wonder-
 fully efficient—that the  laws are  beautifully harmonious—that the health
 of the City of New-York  is  admirably protected—that  the  Board  of
 Aldermen and Councilmen  are the most disinterested, the best instructed
 and the most independent bodies  that could possibly be selected to appoint
 Health officers and devise and enforce Health regulations.  Is it not strange,
 indeed, that a man with  such  plans and opinions as  Mr. Delevan  should
 have been compelled to give place to Mr. Inspector Boole and his theories ?
   Speaking of  the   defects  of  the  registering  of  births,  deaths  and
 marriages, Mr. Delevan says, " Nor can this defect be remedied unless by
 legislative interposition,  and by the  passage of new  laws with suitable
 penalties for non-compliance, which shall  compel an obedience, heretofore
 reluctantly yielded, and frequently refused."   Page 9.
   " But this  accuracy, easily attained as regards ihe death record, cannot
 possibly be reached as regards the record of the  births and marriages, in
 consequence of the defects in the present statute to which I have adverted.
 Thus  one of the principal objects for which the  Bureau of Records  and
 Statistics was  instituted  is defeated, and  the  usefulness  of that branch of
 the department seriously impaired."  Page 10.
   Speaking of the unhealthy and neglected condition vf the City, he says,
 " 1 refer to the under-ground apartments, the hot bed-* of  febrile disease,
 where it exists in its normal condition, ready for all subjects that are placed
 within its reach.   Nothing can be more idle than to expect that those who
 dwell in these vaults of sickness can  remain in the  enjoyment of health.
 The Medical Faculty, with one accord, join in this opinion,and the question
 is  forced upon as whether it shall be permitted to landlords to let such
 tenements to lodgers."  Pages 23  and 24.
   At page 25, he says, "  In the upper part of the City, where the popula-
 tion is rapidly increasing, the fatal effects arising from the miasma of sunken
 and unfilled lots  from  the pools of stagnant water with which many of
 them are filled, are to be seen in the records of our annual mortality."
   Again, page 25 :  " I refer  to  the system of tenement houses, which has
Bprung up so gradually  among us, that its increase has hardly been noticed.

      7 
50
An estimate has  been made which places us in  possession of the informa-
tion, that the mortality of those occupying these  abode3, including infants
 and children, is  as one to twenty.  There  seem3 to be  no doubt of the
 correctness of  this estimate, or, if  there be any error, it is that the propor-
 tion of deaths is larger than herein described."
   Again, page 26 : " It is  frequently the case that these, buildings cover
 whole blocks, and such are the imperfections for the admission of lisjht and
 ventilation, that, in some places, the sun is  almost entirely excluded, and
 t'to air finds .admission only from the doorway or the narrow passages lead-
 ing to the rooms."
   Speaking .of the necessity of new legislation, he says,  pp.  56 and  57:
 "It is interesting aud  instructive to  trace  the . movements of the City
authorities after  their first earnest attempts to protect the Health of the
 City, and their efforts  in  a new vocation; in which  the predominant trait
seemed to bo an  utter want of knowledge of all the principles and laws which
form  the basis of  sanitary success.   But if their movements were uncertain
and their success limited, there is nothing  strange in  such a condition of
things, for  a  moment's  consideration musl convince  us  that  qualifications
necessary to conservators of the Public Health, are rarely, if ever dreamed of in
the selection of members of our City Councils.  However just may be their in-
tention, or, with whatever zeal they may be disposed  to dedicate themselves
to th'S incidental but mo3t important branch of public duty, what pension of
thi community ever dreams in their selection of their qualifications for the most
responsible trust of guarding -the Public Health  ?  So little can be  expected of
thenj  iu the discharge of this branch of their duties, that it  would be almost
unjust to condemn them for a dereliction of those duties, delicate and vital as
they are, the performance of which never entered into the minds of those who
elected them.  It may be  safely said, that  the selection of candidates for our
City Councils, on  the ground of their fitness for the preservation of the Health
of the City, is a thing almost unknown.   Other tests, whether on  partisan
grounds, or on higher grounds of the welfare of the City may  be required,
but this  test  surely  not the least important, has  been  and  will  remain
unhealed.  If  then, the operation of Ihe total inability of our local legisla-
tors to handle a subject, the details of which have never engaged an hour of
their lives, be admitted, the charge of dereliction  of  duty on their part in
the hour of  danger should not be harshly made,  and there should be no
disappointment of expectations on that score, for   no  such expectations
were ever entertained by those who placed them iu  power.  From the very
nature of our  elections there  can be no improvement expected in the present
stale of things as regards the Public Health, so far as the  Common Council
are concerned;  and the remedy apparent  to every one  must consist in the 
61
adoption of laws  transferring the pmver of sanitary regulations to  some
other authority, of a different order of instruction in sanitary science"
  And, farther, at page  58 to 60, he says :
  " The Common Council, first acting in one capacity, as legislators, under
the disadvantages to which I have called your attention, those advantages
become doubly apparent when they are resolved into an exclusive body, to
act on one subject alone, and the whole process becomes characterized with an
 inefficiency  which  would  be regarded as ludicrous, were it not that the subject
is of too vital importance to be lightly deilt with.   When the matter has
thu3 been bandied about, it  comes up for the third time in the body where it
originated—the circumlocution having run its  round—and ready for a new
start, to travel in the same circle  where it began, having, in the mean time, not
made the slightest advance towards the preservation of the Health of the City—
the  warding off impending,  or allaying actual pestilence.   Such is the con-
struction of the Board of Health, one branch of our sanitary system; and
the other, the Commissioners of Health, is open to equal objection, from  the
manner of  its organization  and the want of a sufficient power.  This  body
is composed of six persons,  besides the Mayor, who i3 a member, ex offizio.
It consists  of the President of the Board of  Aldermen, the President of
the  Board of  Councilmen, the Health  Officer, the Resident Physician, the
Health Commissioner, the City Inspector.   It will  be seen that  the  Com-
mon Council  is here again represented by two of its members, and that the
Board has  the benefit of  three  medical  officials, but, not having conferred
upon it the full powers possessed by the Board of Health, it cannot, in many
instances, carry into effect the measures deemed by it necessary for the preser-
vation of the public health.
  "  The Board of Health, from the 1st of January last, down to the present
day, has not held  d single meeting to consider the sanitary, necessities of ilie
city.  With such a system, can there be a wonder that  the sanitary condition
of the  city is not improved, or that the City Inspector if crippled in  his power
of action in this respect  ?  Nor must the consideration be kept from  view,
that the  members  of the  Common  Council, the Board of  Health, and
Commissioners  of Health are all, from  the manner of their appointment,
subject to partisan influence.   To expect a perfect sanitary system under such
a condition  of things is  to expect an impossibility.  The first grouudwork of
reform, in the opinion of the undorsigne.l.w to bestow upon  some other  body,
differently constituted, all p wer  over the sanitary affairs of the city y and
Until this is done,  a'l other proposals of reform wi'l be deprived if their es-
sentially benefidalfe 'tares.   To escape present complications is the first  grc-t
point to bz g.iimd;  and, this point secure I, simplicity, promptness a:id effi-
ciency muj be  substitute! for  inefficiency, complication  and delay." 
52
   Again, at page 63, he says :
   " As an additional measure of reform, I v?ould recommend the abolish-
ment of the present  system of Health Wardens, and the consolidation  of
these offices in the Visiting Physicians of the Dispensaries, who are to re-
ceive, as compensation, the pay now allowed to those Health Wardens.  In
effecting this change, the city will have the safest security that its interests
will be attended to, with promptness and efficiency, by a body of men in all
respects qualified for their  duties."
   Again, at page 67, he says :
   " It can hardly be questioned, that even the  members  of  the  Common
Council would gladly be relieved of a burden that  does  not legitimately
belong  to  their legis'ative functions—a responsibility from which, while
they cannot  shrink,  they  yet feel incompetent to assume;  which  brings
with it no rewards  for duties well .performed, and  is almost sure to bring
condemnation when  those duties  have been imperfectly discharged, not-
withstanding they may have been so  discharged  with the best motives."
NOTE C—MULLIGAN'S AFFIDAVIT.

         HEALTH WAKDENS.--1864.
                     Names.                     Occupations.
1st Ward........Michael St. George...........Liquor Dealer.
2d   "   ...... Charles A. Lamont............Refiner.
3d   "  ........John J. Taylor...............Warden.
4th  "  ........Daniel  Leamy................Notary.
5th  "  ........James Lawrence......  .......Warden.
6th  "  ........John Donnelly................    "
?th  "  ........Jaines  Kennedy. ............    «   Ship Caulker.
8th  "  ........George Cox..................Oyster Saloon.
9th  "  ........Alva Terhune................Warden.
                Roderick T. Entwistle........Liquor Dealer.
10th
11th  4i  ........Alois Ludwig.................Warden.
12th
13th  "  ........Samuel 0. Donuell............Warden
14th  '
.James Hope..................Liquor Dealer.
John Cavanagh..............Liquor Dealer.
15th  "  ..'.....Elwood T. Jones............Mason.
16th  ''  ........Peter Welsh..................Carpenter.
17th  "  ........John Forney  ...............Warden.
18th  "  ........JohnH. Fornian.............Surveyor.
J91}1  "  ........Patrick  Carroll..............Liquor Dealer.
20th     ........Joseph Bren nan..............Warden
21st  "  ........Patrick  Dee..................   «
22d   "  ........Thomas Higgins......'.'.'.'.'.".'. Liquor Dealer: 
53
                     ASSISTANT HEALTH  WARDENS.

                          Names.                    Occupations,.
    1st Ward........Andrew Carey___..........Warden.
    2d   "  ........Walter Joyce...............    "
    3d   "  ........John J. Crotty........   ....    "
    4th  "  ........John S. Roche___.....    "
    5th  "  ........James 0. Hall............  ..    "
    6tb  "  ........Terence Foley ..............Liquor Dealer.
    7th  "■  .......James Lee     .............Liquor Dealer,
    8th  "  ........Ralph Bogert...............Trunks.
    9th  "  ........Thomas Culkin..............Warden.
   10th  "  ........Asa H. Bogart..............   "
   11th  "  ........Henry Wolthman............  "
   12th  "........Isaac Vermilyea.............   "
   13th  "  .......James Davison..............  "
   14th  "........Patrick Barnes...............Clerk.
   15th  "  ........EpesE. Elleryl..............Paints.
   16th  "  ........John Ready................Liquor Dealer.
   17th  "  ........Patrick Brady...........Warden.
   18th  "  ........Ananias  Matthews............   "
   19th  "....... .Philip Fitzpatrick............Liquor Dealer & Builder.
   20th  "  ........Herman Eivisch.......... Warden.
   21st  u  ........William Reynolds............   "
   22d   "  .......Alexander Wilder............Notary.


  The following persons have been appointed for this year, 1865 :

                                                  Occupations as found
                                                      in Directory.
21st Ward___Jeremiah Crowley,___Warden,.......Mason, 170 East 34th St.
 8th  "  ___Ralph Bogert,........
loth  "  ___William Stevenson,...    "    .......Soap, 186 Laurence St.
21st  "  ... .John Murray,........Ass't Warden,
20th  "  ... .James Casey,........Warden,.......Deputy, 335 10th Av.
 3d   "  ___James McClosky,.....    "    .....-..Boots, 257 GeeenwichSt.
20th  "  ___Adam Moser,........Ass't Warden.                      ") !zj

 r ,.  „      wi.  nrv        w^         I Cor. Worth & West   !m
 5th  »  ... Michael McManus,... .Warden......j-   g,^ Liquors      f f.

16 th  "  ___Charles Warwick,.  ... Ass't Warden.                      J P*

County of  New-York,  ss.
  James Mulligan being duly sworn, deposes and says : That he resides in
117th street, between  1st and 2d Avenues, in the 12th Ward  of the City
of New-York, and has for over sixteen years resided it) said .Ward ; that
the foregoing list of Wardens and Assistant Wardens  of New-York, for
the past and'present year, and  of their occupations,  he believes to  be

correct.
  That many changes take place during  the "year,  and he cannot state the
length of time said persons held  the  office.  That he has made  personal
examination and inqniry as to nearly all  said persons, and has ascertained
said persons, so  inquired of, now hold said office, and believes  all of  theon
bo indicated now hold said office, except as hereinafter mentioned. 
54
   That those  mentioned as " liquor dealers," are keepers of stores or cel-
 lars where liquor is sold at retail, and as to some of them he knows, and
 as to all he believes, they personally and regularly attend to their daily and
 nightly customers at their  stores or cellars.  These places are known in
 New-York as " corner liquor stores," and are the resort of large numbers of
 intemperate persons.
   And deponent further says, that it is commonly reported and understood
 in New-York, that liquor dealers obtain and retain  the position of Health
 Wardens or Assistants  by reason of  their influence on such of  their cus-
 tomers as are voters.
   That James D. Hall, Assistant Health Warden  of the  5th Ward last
 year, is put down in  Valentine's Manual as residing at 179 Church street,
 and ongoing there, deponent finds 179 Church street to be the house of 27
 Hose Company, and said Hall  reported to be a " bunker " and exempt
 fireman of that Hose Company, (that is, he resides  and sleeps in the  en-
 gine house, though not on  the list of  active firemen.)   His name is not
 given in the City Directory.
   Patrick Brady, named in said list, was Assistant Health Warden last
 year, (and is at  the present time,) in the 17th Ward, and  reported  by the
 Chief Engineer to be a member of Hose Company No. 17.
   That deponent is informed and believes  that Philip Fitzpatrick, named
 in said list, as Assistant Warden in the 19th Ward, during 1864, built a
 row of houses, running from 48th to 49th street, on Sixth Avenue, and, as
 such builder, he could control a large number of votes.  That it  was cur-
 rently reported  at the time of his being made an Assistant Health War-
 den, that he was made such to secure  for the Aldermen  of the Ward the
 votes he could influence, and deponent has reason to-believe, and does be-
 lieve, such to be the fact.  In the City Directory for 1865, said Fitzpatrick
 is  designated as builder and  liquor dealer.   That one James Smith is  re-
 ported  as now nominally performing the duties of Assistant Health War-
 den for said Fitzpatrick.
   The  Health Warden  and the Assistant Health  Warden  of  the  19th
 Ward at this time, (unless they have been  changed within a few days,) arc
 the keepers of  the most extensive, and most frequented,  and notorious
 liquor shops and groggeries of  said Ward ; and these facts are perfectly
 notorious in the Ward.  Liquor  is sold at these places, at retail, to  men,
 women and children.   That the liquor store of Carrol, the Warden of said
 19th Ward, is at  the corner of Third  Avenue and 42d street,  and is a
second rate grog shop, and the open resort of the idle and  intemperate of
the Ward, and said Carrol is an  active politician.
  That  deponent knows the Warden and  Assistant Warden Qf  the  12th 
55
 Ward of said city very well.  The first, James Hope, keeps and person.
 ally attends a hqaor store, and the last (Isaac Vermilyea) is not, as depo-
 nent has reason to believe, in any business but politics, and is to be found
 generally at Hopes liquor store ; and daring the time said Assistant Ver-
 milyea, has held said office, he has devoted but very little, if any, time to
 the duties of Ins office, and  causes of danger to  health in said Ward are
 almost wholly neglected.
   That the liquor store of said Warden, (Bope,) is the  political head-
 quarters  of the  12th Ward,  and  (for the  years  1863 and  1864),  the
 Alderman of the  12th Ward, (Jacob M. Long,) made  Hopes liquor store
 or bar-room  the political  head-quarters  of  the  12th Ward  politicians,
 which he  represented.  That the primary elections and  meetings  in  the
 Ward were always held in Hope's parlor, over the bar-room, or in the back
 room adjoining the same.
   And deponent further states, that he has acted as secretary of such meet-
 ings, and is acquainted with the manner and  place "of conducting them in
 other Wards, and  he believes  that what is true of the 12th Ward,  is also
 true  of the other Wards of the city.
   That John Cavanagh, put down in the list as Warden in the 14th  Ward,
 deponent finds to live with a brother at corner of Mott and Murray streets ;
 which brother keep3 a second-class liquor store at the last-named place.
   That Patrick Barnes, the Assistant Warden of said Ward, is put down in
 the Directory for 1865, as a " Clerk,"  and is reported to be an active poli-
 tician.
   That James Lawrence, named in said list as Warden of the  5th  Ward,
 as appears by the official  Pay-rolls from the Mayor's Office, was paid up to
 February 1,1865,  and since  that date (that is  within the last 15 days),
 one Michael McManus has  been made Health Warden in place of said
 Lawrence in said  5th Ward, and McManus  is the keeper of a notorious
 liquor store and gin-mill at 67 West Broadway, which deponent has visited
 to personally ascertain its condition.   It is the resort  of the idle and  intem-
 perate of the Ward, and is reported by the police as a low  gin-mill.
   That in place of William Reynolds, reported in Valentine's Manuel for
 1864, as Assistant Warden in the 21st Ward for that year, it appears by a
 report from the Mayor's Office, made  this day, that one Bernard McCabe
 has been put in the place  of said Reynolds.  Said McCabe is reported in
 the City Directory for 1865, as  keeping a liquor store at 391 3d Avenue in
 said city.   And said McCabe is a well-known active politician.
   And it is reported by the police, that during some  portion of the past
or present  year, one  John Murray has been Assistant Health Warden iu
said 21st Ward. 
56
   That, in the 22d Ward, one Lawrence Morri3ey has, during the present
 year,  been made  Assistant  Health Warden  in  the  place  of James A.
 McCormick, which latter has been made Warden in said Ward.
   That said  McCormick was known  as  a. sporting man and politician in
 said Ward, and had no active  business,  as  deponent is informed and be-
 lieves.   That the police report said Morrisey as a bar-tender, and deponent
 has reason to  believe that, for  years  before hi3 appointment, he was a bar-
 tender in a liquor and vitualling house much frequented by car-drivers, at
 the corner of 49th street and 8th Avenue in said city.
   That Terence Foley, the Assistant Warden in the 6th Ward, keeps and
 personally attends a liquor store at 41 Elm street, near the Tombs of said
city, which is a celebrated head-quarters not only of the politicians of said
 Ward but of the city officials generally.
   Deponent further says, that it is generally understood,  among those
 knowing the facts, that  the appointments of Health and Assistant Health
 Wardens are,  in a large measure, made to  reward  political  service or to
 secure political influence, and  from  such reason there  are many changes
 occurring during the year.
   That it is the custom  iu the  city that Health Officers, and other officers,
 should pay a portion of  their salary  to  support the political expenses of
 their party, and such is now  the fact.
   That Vermilyea, the Assistant Health Warden in said 12th Ward, has
 generally been an Inspector of Primary Elections in said Ward, and also
 an Inspector on regular election days.
   That the Health  Wardens  and Assistant  Health Wardens, as is gen-
 erally understood, are selected  by the Aldermen, and required to be nomi-
 nated to the Board  ui' Aldermen, by the City Inspector, and  are, for the
most part, the well-known political agents and runners of the  Aldermen of
 the respective Wards.
   That the foregoing facts can be substantiated by the  evidence of numer-
ous persons.
                                             JAMES  MULLIGAN.
   Subscribed and sworn to, before me, i
    this 15th  day of February, 1865, (
                                Henry A. Tailer,
   [Stamp, 5o.]                              Com'r of Deeds.