Proceedings of the Sanitary Association of Scotland : with papers read at the annual meeting held at Perth, July, 1890 / edited by James Christie.

  • Sanitary Association of Scotland. Congress 1890 : Perth, Scotland)
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Proceedings of the Sanitary Association of Scotland : with papers read at the annual meeting held at Perth, July, 1890 / edited by James Christie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    which, if we wish to succeed, we must bear constantly in mind and therefore I have no sympathy whatever with the outcry raised by the owners of unsanitary dwellings at what they maintain to be an infringement of the rights of property, in the enforcement at their expense of such structural improvements, or such limitation in the number of tenants allowed to be housed, as may be required to bring the property which they own and control up'to a good sanitary standard. And I have still less sympathy with tenants who complain of being harassed and perse- cuted because they are so dirty or so careless that they will not comply with the most obvious dictates of order and cleanliness. In a civilized country no man has a right, through his property or his actions, to constitute himself a danger and a nuisance to the health and well-being of the community among whom he dwells, and if he cannot be prevailed upon to do all that in him lies to promote the health of his neighbours by a conviction that, compliance with sanitary requirements pays, he must be reached by convincing him that at all events neglecting them does not. pay. When this lesson was taught to the skippers of whom I have just spoken, far from resenting the interference and advice of sanitary officers, they became eager to obtain their suggestions; and when you shall have succeeded in inculcating the same lesson on those concerned on shore, the same beneficial result will be obtained. I am quite aware that there are certain plague spots in our sanitary system which can only be got rid of by consider- able expenditure of public money, and I should be the last to grudge public money judiciously expended for such a purpose. But to render its expenditure any better than waste, it must be expended with a sole view to the great object for which the expenditure has been incurred, and it must be expended with a constant regard to the susceptibilities of mankind. And a long and close observation of the matter has convinced me that it is owing to neglect of these fundamental doctrines that the enormous expenditure of public moneys which, within the last score of years, has in the United Kingdom been made on sanitary objects,, has not achieved much greater results than those of which we can yet boast. There is a tendency in central administrative departments to lapse into unintelligent routine, ignoring alike the advances of science and the most notorious peculiarities of human natiire; and in local administration for departments to launch into costly experiments with which the name of some prominent citizen can be associated, often ignoring the main con- sideration for which they have been undertaken, and neglecting matters of the highest moment to the health of the communities, concerned, which could be set right at a mere nominal cost. To illustrate the dangers to which T have called your attention, in connection with central administration, look at the pase of small-pox—a disease the suppression of which falls particularly
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