USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Attleboro > Reports of town officers of the town of Attleborough 1910 > Part 3
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Dr.
Committed
$566.26
Interest
1.40
$567.66
69
ANNUAL REPORT.
Cr
Collected
$536.08
Abated
31.58
$567.66
Taxes for 1910.
Dr.
Committed
$289,554.60
Added taxes 1,745.90
Interest 357.03
$291,657.53
Cr. .
Collected
Uncollected
$269,763.10 16,366.04 5,528.39
Abated
$291,657.53
Excise Tax.
Dr.
Committed $2,350.71
$2,350.7I
Cr.
Collected
$2,350.71
$2,350.71
.
70
ANNUAL REPORT
Concrete Betterment Tax.
Dr.
Committed $750.71
Cr. $750.71
Collected
$420.56
Uncollected
325.15
Abated
5.00
$750.71
Curbing Betterment Tax.
Dr.
Committed
$1,715.25
1,715.25
Cr.
Collected
$ 692.65
Uncollected
1,019.50
Abated
3.10
1,715.25
Taxes Collected in 1910.
Dr.
1906 Tax $ 9.68
1907 Tax
244.82
1908 Tax 1,173.62
1909 Tax
17,375.14
1909 Emory Street Drain Tax 583.37
71
ANNUAL REPORT
1909 Betterment Tax. 595.22
1909 Sidewalk Betterment Tax. 536.08
1910 Tax 269,763.10
1910 Excise Tax 2,350.71
1910 Concrete Betterment Tax. 420.56
1910 Curbing Betterment Tax. 692.65
Cash on hand at last report.
2,950.50
Bank interest
3.20
$296,698.65
Cr.
Paid Treasurer, as per vouchers ... $293,400.00 Cash on hand. 3,298.65
$296,698.65
Briefs.
Original 1910 levy, $289,000.00.
Collected in 1910, $296,000.00, or $7,000.00 above the warrant.
In the years of 1906-7-8-9 there remain but $641.59 uncollected.
Never in the history of the town, before, have the tax- payers established such an enviable record,
Respectfully submitted, SAMUEL M. HOLMAN, Collector of Taxes.
Examined January 26, 1911, and found correct.
BENJAMIN F. LINDSEY, W. L. ELLIOT, FREDERICK L. LeBARON,
Auditors.
72
ANNUAL REPORT
Table of Percentages, Showing Collections, Plus Abatement Orders.
1906
Tax
50%
1907
Tax
88%
1908
Tax 95%
1909
Tax
97%
1909
Emory St. Drain Tax. 100%
1 909
Betterment Tax. 96%
1909
Sidewalk Betterment. 100%
1910
Tax
94%
1910
Excise Tax. 100%
1910
Concrete Betterment. . 57%
Curbing Betterment. . 40% 1910
This report completes thirteen years I have served you as Collector of Taxes.
In that time I have collected and paid over to the Town Treasurer, promptly and correctly, nearly three millions of dollars.
A review of this year's percentage table will show that the taxpayers in 1910 have established a new, high water mark, thereby breaking all previous high records.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
BOARD OF HEALTH
OF THE
TOWN OF ATTLEBOROUGH
For the Year ending December 31, 1910
Annual Report of the Board of Health
To the Citizens of Attleborough :
The Board of Health respectfully submits herewith for your consideration, its annual report for the year ending Dec. 31, 1910, including such suggestions and recom- mendations as are deemed of interest to the public.
At the annual meeting of the Board, on April 22, 1910, Dr. C. S. Holden was elected Chairman, and Dr. W. O. Hewitt, Secretary. Dr. R. P. Kent has been the third member. Seventeen regular meetings have been held during the year, and nine special meetings.
General Work of the Board.
The investigation of alleged nuisances, differing wide- ly in character, has taken a considerable part of the Board's attention during the year. With few exceptions, where complaints have been made, nuisances have been found to exist as stated, and they have been abated promptly: Many of these complaints have been in re- gard to cesspools. It is expected that there will be less trouble of this nature after the installation of the sys- tem of public sewers, now under construction.
The enforcement of the statutes in regard to the pre- vention of the spread of contagious diseases, as well as the report of them to the State Board of Health, and the care and maintenance of needy cases ; the regulation and licensing of the business of slaughtering; the inspection of meat and milk, the inspection of plumbing, the issuing of burial permits, and the proper tabulation of deaths,
76
ANNUAL REPORT
are also matters that have received careful considera- tion.
Contagious Diseases.
A list of diseases declared by the State Board of Health to be dangerous to the public health is given herewith, and the attention of householders and physi- cians is called to the fact that the statutes provide that immediate notice in writing shall be given of their oc- currence, to the local Board of Health. It is the duty of the householder, when a case of any of these diseases occurs in his household, as well as it is obligatory upon the attending physician, to furnish the local Board with the proper name and address of the patient, in order that the local Board, as required by law, may report the case to the State Board of Health within twenty-four hours : actinomycosis, asiatic cholera, cerebro-spinal meningi- tis, diphtheria (including membranous croup), glanders, hookworm, hydrophobia, infantile paralysis, leprosy, anthrax, measles, ophthalmia, scarlet fever, small pox, tetanus, trachoma, trichinosis, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, typhus fever, varicella (chicken pox), whooping cough, yellow fever.
Diphtheria. ·
Three cases of this diesase have been reported during the year, with one death. The Board keeps a. supply of culture tubes and of antitoxine at a local drug store, where the physicians may conveniently obtain them free of charge. The Board pays the express on these cul- tures when they are sent to the State Board of Health. Cultures are taken of suspicious throats for diagnosis, and in cases quarantined, a negative culture must be ob- tained before the case is released. We believe these pre- cautions have something to do with the fact that there were only a few cases reported during the year, not more than one in any household, and not more than one
77
ANNUAL REPORT
in any one month. The single death recorded was in an infant.
Scarlet Fever.
Nineteen cases of this disease have been reported. Of these, seven were reported in March.
Typhoid Fever.
Typhoid has been prevalent in Massachusetts during the year, and also in the neighboring cities of Provi- dence and Pawtucket. Attleborough has had twenty- two cases reported. All but four of these cases have occurred since the first of August, there having been five cases reported in September and six in November. The Board of Health made an investigation of this outbreak, assisted by the State Inspector of Health. The cases, with two exceptions, were widely scattered, the milk supply was from different sources, and it was impossible to determine that there was any common source of in- fection. The exceptions noted were in a family on North avenue, where the whole family of four was infected, and another family on Falmouth street, where a husband and wife both had the disease. In the latter case, the disease probably spread by contact infection. In the North avenue cases, infection may have been by contact or by direct infection from an open privy vault. One death occurred in each of these families, and these two deaths and one other in April were the only ones re- corded from typhoid during the year.
The Board of Health intends to visit each case of typhoid fever reported, and to ascertain, if possible, the source of the infection. Cases of this disease, un- less a competent nurse can be secured, who thoroughly understands the precautions to be taken in preventing the spread of the infection, are, we believe, better cared for in a hospital.
78
ANNUAL REPORT
For the instruction of families and attendants in the prevention of typhoid, the Board has published the fol- lowing suggestions in a circular which is sent to fam- ilies where the disease is known to exist.
Prevention of the Spread of Typhoid Fever
Typhoid fever is a contagious disease, and it is spread by the dejections from the bowels, by the urine, sputum, and vomitus of the patient, and by bed linen, unclean hands of attendants, and the eating utensils.
. In its prevention the following measures should be observed :
I. Keep the patient in a room by himself ; the com- plete isolation of the patient is necessary for many rea- sons. The attendant upon a typhoid case may infect himself or others by touching food or drink if the hands are not cleansed after handling the patient or bed clothes. A disinfectant solution should be kept in the room for this purpose. Cleanliness in and about the sick room is most important to prevent the spread of this disease.
2. Protect the mattress by a rubber cover or sheet. If the pillows are apt to become soiled protect these in a similar way.
3. Dejections and urine should be received in a bed pan containing a solution of carbolic acid (one to twenty) or chloride of lime; then more carbolic acid so- lution or chloride of lime should be added, mixed thor- oughly by shaking, and the liquid thrown into the hop- per. If there is no water closets the dejecta should be immediately buried, and never thrown into a vault.
4. The sputum, vomitus, and other excretions from the patient should likewise be immediately disinfected, and treated as above.
5. Change the bed and body linen daily. Change the bed clothes at once when soiled. Avoid shaking these articles.
79
ANNUAL REPORT
6. All body linen, towels, sheets and all bed clothing should be wrapped up in a sheet, and soaked in a solu- tion of carbolic acid (one to forty) for six hours ; they should then be boiled for half an hour, and washed with soap. Rubber sheets and covers should be soaked as above, then rinsed in cold water, dried and aired. The spreads and blankets should be well aired.
7. Eating utensils used by the patient should be thoroughly cleansed in boiling water immediately after using, and it is better for the patient to have his own private utensils.
After a patient has been sick with typhoid fever the bedstead and floors should be washed with a solution of corrosive sublimate (1-1000) and the mattresses aired every day for a week.
Measles.
This disease 'has been quite prevalent during the months of March, April and May, in particular, when many children were affected.
Although the law was rigidly enforced in regard to the exclusion of children from the public schools, 183 cases were reported. There were two deaths from this disease.
Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
This disease we have always with us. There were thirty-four cases reported during the year, and nine deaths. It has been necessary for the Board to furnish aid to several cases at their homes, and to obtain admis- sion for others into State Sanitoria, where their board was paid by the town.
We note with much satisfaction, that a fund has been raised from the proceeds of the sale of Red Cross seals, for the care of tuberculosis cases in Attleborough. It is believed that a society or committee will soon be formed
80
ANNUAL REPORT
to expend this money, and to obtain more funds for this deserving cause.
The question of how best to care for, and how to pre- vent the spread of this affection among our townspeople, is an economic and social problem that should demand more and more of the support, and of the intelligent co- operation of the citizens of Attleborough. In other places, notably in Worcester, the manufacturers have aided many of their employees ill with consumption, and we have noted a similar sentiment here, among a few of the manufacturers. We trust that an anti-tuberculosis society will soon be able to further this work, and assist the Board of Health in controlling the spread of this dangerous but preventable disease.
Infantile Paralysis.
There has been some prevalence of this disease in the Commonwealth during the year, a few epidemics in neighboring cities, and considerable publicity has been given the disease in the press. The State Board of Health has added this affection to the list of reportable diseases. There have been three cases reported in At- tleboro during the year, with two deaths. These cases occurred in different parts of the town, and presumably could not have been carried from one to another in any way.
Although little is yet known as to how this contagion is spread, the Board has quarantined every case rigidly, and has disinfected after death or removal.
Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis.
There have been no cases of this disease reported. and no deaths from it during the year.
Whooping Cough and Varicella.
Only a few cases of these diseases have been reported, although probably other cases occurred, that were not
81
ANNUAL REPORT
attended by a physician. We wish again to call the at- tention of householders to their duty in reporting such cases to the Board of Health.
Collection of Garbage.
All persons engaged in the collection of garbage are licensed and registered by the Board of Health; they are furnished with a number to be placed on the wagon or receptacle used by them, and a fee of fifty cents is charged for the license. Thirty such licenses have been issued during the year, and the collection of garbage has been made in a fairly satisfactory manner, with few com- plaints. We would request householders to provide suit- able metallic, covered receptacles which should be con- veniently placed for the collector, and which should be scalded out occasionally to keep away flies.
Licenses to Slaughter.
In April, notices were sent to the owners of slaughter houses to submit applications for the renewal of their li- censes. An inspection was made of the premises of the applicants. Two licenses to slaughter cattle, and one to slaughter swine, were issuel during the year. One of the applicants was required to put his premises in a more sanitary condition before a license was granted.
Caleb E. Parmenter was reappointed by the Board as Inspector of Meat. Mr. Parmenter has had considerable experience in this work, and we believe he has performed his duties faithfully. Charges against one of the licensees, alleging that he has violated certain of the statutes in regard to slaughtering, and preferred by the agent of the. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, are now pending in the Courts.
Inspection of Milk.
In accordance with laws enacted in May, 1909, placing the inspection of milk under the jurisdiction of
82
ANNUAL REPORT
Boards of Health, the Board has appointed an Inspector of Milk. The same act gives the Board of Health power to make rules and regulations governing the production and handling of all milk sold in the town. the Board has adopted rules and regulations to this effect. No definite salary has as yet been fixed for the milk inspector, but this will be done as soon as a special appropriation can be obtained for the purpose.
The duty of a milk inspector should be to see that the people of Attleborough receive a supply of milk that is clean and healthful. Formerly, milk could be legally sold in Massachusetts if it contained a certain percentage of butter-fat, regardless of the amount of filth and dirt it contained. Now we believe that a proper percentage of butter-fat is important, but clean milk is vastly more important; this, one can easily prove, if one takes into consideration the fact that the common summer diarrheal diseases of children are due very largely to impure milk; that about seven-eights of of all infants dying of these diseases are bottle fed : showing that a pure food supply is an essential to the needs and to the health of the average infant.
These suggestions are not intended to imply that we need to make radical changes in the way milk is pro- duced and handled at the present time in Attleborough. but it is implied, and we do need to insist on cleanliness of stables and stock, clean milkers, and reasonable care and cleanliness to be observed by all persons who are employed in handling milk.
Clean milk is milk with a low bacterial content, and the way to know absolutely what kind of milk we are using, is to have specimens of the milk taken by the milk inspector from the dealers and to then have the percentage of bacteria in these specimens determined. If, now, the reports of these examinations of milk are pub- lished, the dealers will be anxious to co-operate and make changes whereby clean milk can be produced.
83
ANNUAL REPORT
At present there is little incentive for a dealer to attempt to produce clean milk, since his neighbor is allowed to receive the same price for dirty milk. In other words, the farmer who keeps a clean, well ventilated stable, and a clean, healthy herd of cows, who provides a well equipped milk room, and dairy with aparatus for cooling milk and sterilizing bottles, cannot, under present condi- tions, compete with the man who does not follow out any of these ideas.
A proper system of milk inspection will reverse this order of things and make it difficult for the dealer who is careless and who does not have clean milk, to sell his wares.
A system of inspection embodying some of the prin- ciples suggested, with a paid and trained milk inspector, will, we believe, assure the residents of the town a milk of good quality, produced under sanitary conditions.
Plumbing.
The Board, in June, appointed Arthur B. Read and Joseph M. Seagrave inspectors of plumbing, and fixed the rate of compensation at two dollars per inspection. Mr, Read, since his appointment, has, without extra charge or compensation, acted as agent of the Board to approve applications and issue permits. His report is appended.
Mortality Report.
There were 204 deaths during the year. Of these, ninety-six were males and one hundred and eight females. This is the largest number of deaths during any one year yet recorded.
There were forty-one deaths under one year and sixty- nine were under five years. There were sixteen who died at the age of eighty or over, this number being the
.
84
ANNUAL REPORT
same as the year before. There were twenty-four deaths from pneumonia, eleven from cancer, twenty-five from heart disease, and eight were caused by accident.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
Receipts.
Appropriation $2,500.00
State Board of Charity $12.50
Fees for garbage licenses 15.00
Fees for licenses to slaughter cattle. 3.00
From individuals for board and care
63.00
93.50
$2,593.50
Expenditures.
Contagious Diseases :
North Reading State Sanatorium
$.146.53 .
Lakeville State Sanatorium. . . .
326.21
Rutland State Sanatorium 142.37
City of Fall River 1.80
Medical attendance
150.25
Nursing 60.40
Rent
49.50
Groceries, food and supplies.
23.18
Board and care
52.00
Clothing
25.95
House cleaning and janitor
service
36.15
Material destroyed
18.62
Medicine
5.80
Fuel 7.75
Burials
69.00
Disinfections
47.50
85
ANNUAL REPORT
Fumigators
2.50
Vaccine shields
1.00
Sputum cups
16.00
Visits to take cultures
13.50
Express on cultures
7.35
Transportation
6.50
Express
5.04
$1,214.90
Salaries :
C. S. Holden, Chairman. $100.00
W. O. Hewitt, Secretary 200.00
R. P. Kent 100.00
Henry H. Wilcox, Inspector of
Plumbing
380.00
Arthur B. Read, Inspector of Plumbing 43.40
Joseph M. Seagrave, Inspector of Plumbing 52.00
Caleb E. Parmenter, Inspector
of Meat and Milk.
350.50
Incidentals : $1,225.90
Printing, stationery and office
supplies
$69.85
Postage and telephone charges.
9.83
Office rent for Inspector of
Plumbing 35.00
Vaccinations
19.00
Legal advice
2.00
Signs
15.00
$150.68
$2,591.48
Unexpended balance $2.02
.
86
ANNUAL REPORT
Cases of Contagious Diseases Reported to the Board of Health, 1910.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Total
Diphtheria
. .
1
. .
. .
1
. .
1
1
. .
3
8
Scarlet Fever
1
7
1
. .
2
1
1
3
3
19
Typhoid Fever
1
2
. .
1
1
5
3
6
3
22
Measles
12
15
44
73
26
9
. .
. .
.
7
34
Varicella
3
1
.
2
6
Infantile
Paralysis .
2
1
. .
3
Ophthalmia
Neonatorum
1
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
4
183
Pulmonary
Tuberculosis
3
2
3
7
7
3
2
..
. .
1
Deaths by Months, Sex and Ages. (Still Births Excluded.)
·
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June |July
Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Totals
M
FM
FM
M FM
FM FM
FIM
F M
FM FM
FM
FM
F
Under one year . .
2|1
11
1
.13
1
1 54
43
14
1|2
24
24
17
From one to two years . .
1
1
2
11
21
4
1
1 .
:2
3
7
13
From two to three years .
.
2
1
3
1
From three to four years .
1
1
1
2
1
From four to five years.
1
1
1
1
2
From ten to fifteen years. .
1
1 .1
1
1
1
4
From twenty to thirty years ..
2
1
1
11
2
11
1
I
5
8
From thirty to forty years .
2
1 11
2
1
1
1
2
8
5
From forty to fifty years.
.
.
1
1
2
2
1
11
2.
1
1
1
7
7
From sixty to seventy years .
1
11
1
22
21
2
1
11
13
2
11
11
From seventy to eighty years.
1
31
4
21
11
1
1
12
1
·
. 1
21
22
10
20
Eighty years and over . ..
13
1
3
1
31
1
7
9
Unknown age.
0
Totals.
8
8 13
8 6 14 7 8 9 7 6 4 5 15 8 12
6 6 10
8 5 6 13 12
96 108
Totals 1910.
16
21
20
15
16
10
20
20
12
18
11
25
204
1909
12
7 |
23
9
15
16
16
22
20
18
13
18
189
.
.
.
.
.
.
2
1 3
2
11
1
1
31
1
7
9
ANNUAL REPORT
.
.
1
. 1
.
·
1
1
From five to ten years . .
1
.
.
.
1
From fifteen to twenty years ..
..
1
1
. . .
1
87
.
.
. .... 1
1
2
.
..
From fifty to sixty years . ..
88
ANNUAL REPORT
Table Showing Causes of Deaths in the Town for the Year 1910.
(Alphabetically arranged.)
(Causes of Deaths, Continued.)
Accident
8
Acute Indigestion
2
Alcoholism I
Angina Pectoris
I
Anterior Poliomyelitis
2
Appendicitis
I
Arterio Sclerosis
2
Asthma
I
Brain tumor
I
Bronchitis, chronic
2
Broncho-pneumonia
6
Cancer
II
Capillary Bronchitis
I
Cerebral Haemorrhage
8
Cerebral Softening
I
Chloroform inhalation
I
Cholera infantum
2
Cholera morbus
I
Chorea
I
Cirrhosis of liver
2
Congenital syphilis
I
Convulsions
2
Diabetes mellitus
I
Diphtheria
I
Eclampsia
I
Endometritis
I
Enteritis
2
Entero colitis
5
Fibroid tumor
I
Gastric ulcer I
89
ANNUAL REPORT
Gastro enteritis 4
Gastro-intestinal intoxication
3
Haemetemesis
2
Haemorrhage of the new-born
I
Heart disease
25
Ileo colitis
3
Improper feeding
2
Inanition
I
Influenza
4
Malnutrition
I
Marasmus
I
Measles
2
Meningitis
6
Myocarditis, chronic
I
Nephritis, acute
2
Nephritis, chronic
IO
Oedema of lungs.
3
Peritonitis
I
Pernicious Anemia
I
Pneumonia
24
Premature birth
5
Rheumatism
I
Scarlatinal nephritis
I
Senile debility
2
Septicaemia
5
Suicide
I
Tubercular adenitis
I
Tubercular meningitis
2
Tubercular peritonitis
I
Tuberculosis, acute general
I
Tuberculosis, miliary I
Tuberculosis, pulmonary 9
Typhoid fever
3
Uraemia 2
Whooping Cough I
Deaths
204
90
ANNUAL REPORT
Still births II
Total
.215
CONCLUSION.
In conclusion, we invite the attention of the citizens of Attleborough to the constantly increasing cost of main- taining persons in indigent circumstances, who are ill with contagious diseases, and who are now cared for by this department. These expenses which were formerly borne by the Poor Department, have been recently further augmented by the addition of diseases which are now officially classed as dangerous to the public health, which were not formerly so classed. Undoubtedly many of these cases could have been better cared for in a local hospital. If we have fortunately been quite free from epidemics of contagious diseases in the past, it does not follow that we may at any time in the future find our- selves without the means of controlling epidemics and of preventing the spread of communicable diseases.
Another matter of great importance in this connec- tion of disease prevention, is the establishment of a bacteriological laboratory, which might well be a part of the contagious disease hospital. At the present time, the bacteriological work for the town is done by the State Board of Health. While the State Board of Health examines diphtheria cultures, sputum and the blood in suspected typhoid cases, free of charge, and while the local board pays the expense of transportation to Boston, it is nevertheless a well-known fact among physicians that there is much delay in obtaining reports. A local laboratory would obviate much of this delay, and reports could be made promptly.
There is an annually increasing demand for laboratory diagnosis here ; forty-seven diphtheria cultures have been examined during the past year. The medical inspector
91
ANNUAL REPORT
of schools would probably double this number if local facilities were provided.
We earnestly recommend that a local hospital and laboratory be established in the town. It may be ex- pensive to maintain such an institution, but it may prove to be more expensive for the town to care for cases that may occur because of the lack of one.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES S. HOLDEN, RALPH P. KENT, WILLIAM O. HEWITT,
Board of Health.
92
ANNUAL REPORT
.
REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF MILK AND MEAT TO THE BOARD OF HEALTH
.To the Honorable Board of Health of the Town of Attleborough :
Gentlemen :- I herewith submit my second annual re- port as Inspector of Milk and Meat for the Town of Attleborough, for the year ending December 31, 1910:
Whole number of carcasses inspected: cows, 191 ; calves, 188; swine, 219.
Condemned at time of slaughter, 12 cows and 2 swine as unfit for food, from various causes.
I have sold this year 127 milk licenses.
Respectfully submitted,
C. E. PARMENTER,
Inspector.
93
ANNUAL REPORT
REPORT OF THE INSPECTORS OF PLUMBING TO THE BOARD OF HEALTH
Board of Health, Attleborough, Mass.
Gentlemen :- We herewith submit our annual report as inspectors of plumbing for the Town of Attleborough for the year ending Dec. 31, 1910:
The total number of permits issued during the year was 164. There were three convictions for violations of the plumbing ordinances.
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