HON. WM. R. KERR, Commissioner of Health. DEAR SIR: Your letter of December 22d, requesting the draft of an order empowering you to recommend to the Council certain improvements, and also asking for an opinion as to the power of the Council to provide summary means for the abatement of buildings dangerous to health, has been referred this day to me for an answer. In response thereto I enclose the draft of the order requested. As to the second question I beg to say that in my opinion there can be no doubt of the power of the Council to provide by ordinance for the summary destruction of buildings dangerous to the public health. The charter of the city, paragraph 73, clause 75, gives the Council power "to declare what shall be a nuisance and to abate the same; and to impose fines upon parties who may create, continue or suffer nuisance to exist." The 78th clause gives the Council power "to do all acts and make all regulations which may be necessary or expedient for the promotion of health or the prevention of disease." The 84th clause gives the Council power "to compel the owner of any grocery or other unwholesome or nauseous house or place, to cleanse, abate or remove the same." 66 The power is thus plainly given to order the owners of such places as you mention to place the same in a good sanitary condition. Some means must be used to enforce the order. The Council may of course impose a penalty by fine for failure to abate such a nuisance; but it also has unquestionably the power to provide for the summary destruction of such buildings in the manner that you suggest. This is quite like the power of the police to destroy buildings in the hope of arresting a conflagration. To arrest the progress of disease is of no less importance than to arrest the progress of a fire. In King vs. Davenport, 98 Ill., page 305, our Supreme Court upheld an ordinance giving the city marshal authority to remove a wooden roof within the fire limits after failure to remove the same upon notification. No doubt such ordinance should provide for reasonable notice to the owner of the building either to place the same in a sanitary condition or to remove the same, but upon failure to comply with such notice I am of the opinion that the Council can authorize you, in the manner you suggest in your letter, to proceed to destroy the building. Very truly yours, EDWARD B. BURLING, DRAFT OF AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE REPAIR OR DESTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS DANGEROUS TO PUBLIC HEALTH. WHEREAS, The continued existence of buildings of an unsanitary character in the City of Chicago is oftentimes a menace to the public health; and WHEREAS, The only effective means of protecting the inhabitants of this city from disease arising from this source is by the repair or destruction of such buildings; therefore Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Chicago: SECTION 1. Any building or part thereof which, by reason of its unsanitary condition or of its being infected with disease, is unfit for human habitation, or which from any other cause is a source of sickness among the inhabitants of this city, or which otherwise endangers the public health, is hereby declared to constitute a public nuisance. SEC. 2. It is hereby made the duty of the COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH to cause an examination to be made of any building alleged to be a public nuisance for any of the foregoing reasons; such examination to be made by a Board of Survey, composed of one medical inspector, one sanitary inspector-both of whom shall be appointed by the COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH from his regular force of inspectors— and one building inspector from the regular force of building inspectors, who shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Public Works at the request of the COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH. If the said Board shall find and report that a public nuisance exists, as defined in the foregoing section, the COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH shall serve notice upon the owner of the building, or his agent, directing him to abate the nuisance and to place the building in a condition which shall not endanger the public health within such reasonable time as the Board of Survey shall recommend. Upon the failure of said owner or agent to obey said notice, the COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH shall, after the expiration of the time specified therein, abate the nuisance by ordering the demolition of the said building, or part or parts thereof, when such demolition is required by the public health of this city; and the Chief of the Fire Department is hereby authorized and instructed to furnish the necessary service for such demolition on the request of the COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH. SEC. 3. This ordinance to be in force and effect from and after its passage. DRAFT OF AN ORDER AUTHORIZING THE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH TO RECOMMEND STREET AND ALLEY PAVING AND SEWER EXTENSION. ORDERED, That, whereas, the public health is seriously affected by the unsanitary condition of the streets and alleys of the city, and by insufficient sewers, and since much sickness is caused thereby, THEREFORE, The COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH is requested to report to the City Council from time to time the condition of the streets, alleys and sewers of the city, as affecting the public health, and he is further requested to recommend to the Council the passage of ordinances providing for the paving and improving of such streets and alleys and the construction of such sewers as he shall, after due investigation, determine are required by the public health. Medical Inspection of Public Schools in Chicago with Reference to Prevention of Spread of Contagion and Infection. PREFATORY NOTE BY THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER. PRIOR to the beginning of the school year of 1896-97, the public schools were divided into eight districts,* to each of which a Medical Inspector was assigned by the following letter: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, CITY OF CHICAGO. M. D. September 1, 1896. Medical Inspector in charge School District No.. DOCTOR: It is desired to exercise a more careful supervision over the health of the pupils of the public schools than has been practicable heretofore. You are, therefore, hereby assigned to duty, until otherwise advised, as Medical Inspector of the schools named in the enclosed list, comprised in School District No.. The objects of this supervision are sufficiently indicated in the following items of inspection, to which you are requested to give attention : 1st. The work of the Public Vaccinators vaccinal status of the pupils as found by your inspection-compliance with the School Vaccination Order of the State Board of Health and City Ordinances concerning vaccination of school children, etc. Children who present "satisfactory evidence of proper and successful vaccination," in accordance with the School Vaccination Order of the State Board of Health — which order is the law of the State and the basis of the City Ordinances concerning vaccination-will not be reinspected, but their certificates will be examined and viséd by the Inspector and then returned to the teacher. All others must be periodically examined by the Inspector. If satisfactory evidence of proper and successful vaccination is found upon the person, the Inspector will furnish the necessary certificate. If such "satisfactory evidence" is not found on inspection, the teacher will be notified of that fact and advised that *Subsequently increased to nine districts. the State Board of Health requires that the child be sent home with a note to the parent, stating that the child cannot be readmitted until it has been properly and successfully vaccinated, and presents to the teacher "satisfactory evidence" to that effect. The DEPARTMENT prefers that the family physician perform the vaccination, but if the parent wishes it done by the DEPARTMENT, with the DEPARTMENT pure tested vaccine, the child may be sent or taken to any public vaccinator. The Inspector will keep a record of all such cases, and on the return of the child to school he will examine the result, and if found successful he will visé the certificate: or, in order to prevent interruption of attendance, the child may be readmitted on a Provisional Certificate furnished at the time of the vaccination and to be replaced with the regular certificate when the vaccination is seen to be successful. Teachers should retain the certificates until the close of the term, or until a child leaves a given class or room, when its certificate should be returned. This would prevent the present frequent loss of the certificates and would greatly reduce the time and labor now spent on inspection. Whenever found necessary, the Inspector should take pains to explain clearly the scope and effect of the School Vaccination Order of the State Board of Health and the Vaccination Ordinances of the city. Such information is useful to teachers in explaining to parents the legal duty of the teacher, under penalty, to exclude unvaccinated children from school attendance. 2d. Precautions against spread of the communicable diseases especially diphtheria, scarlatina and whooping cough. When pupils who are or have been in attendance in any school in your district are reported as having diphtheria or scarlatina, you will visit the room the child has been attending and, so far as practicable, ascertain if there are other cases of " sore throat" among the pupils. If any be found, refer the case to the family physician, with a proffer of the services of this DEPARTMENT in the matter of cultures, etc., or procure a culture yourself, if, in your best judgment, such is the proper course to pursue. (See page 58, Section 5, Antitoxin Report.) If any child is found too ill to remain in school, you will advise the teacher to send it home for the care of its family and family physician. If ill from a contagious disease, you will order the child home, notify the family and the Chief Medical Inspector, Dr. GARROTT, who will enforce the necessary measures of isolation, etc. |