USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1912 > Part 24
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During the year the Board has given its approval to applications for licenses to board infants or children as follows:
St. Johns House for Children, 18 Claremont Avenue; Mary E. Hallice, 45 Teel Street; Georgianna Fouquet, 51 Teel Street; Sarah Scanlan, 41 Teel Street; Emma L. Hill, 17 Cottage Avenue; Mina Lovering, 58 Teel Street; Martha Forsyth, 15 Henderson Street; Jennie M. Rourke, 63 Teel Street.
In granting these licenses the Board requires the Plumbing Inspector to first visit the premises and to see that the same are in sanitary condition. No licenses are approved until the con- ditions are satisfactory to the Inspector. The Law governing the licensing of parties to board infants merely covers places where two or more infants are to be boarded, and as will be seen the Board has no control, or knowledge, of places where but one infant is boarded. An effort has been made during the past year to so alter these conditions that the Board would be familiar, at least, with the conditions existing in places where all infants are boarded.
SMALLPOX CASES.
On January 29, 1912 smallpox cases were discovered in a house at 13 Lowell Street, by the Town Physician, Dr. Webb, who called in Dr. Stickney. The cases appearing to the physicians as being of a serious nature, Dr. Morse of Somerville, the district inspector of the State Board of Health, was immediately notified and requested to investigate the cases. Upon the arrival of Dr. Morse, and in consultation with Drs. Webb, Stickney, and Chase, the cases were pronounced unmistakably smallpox. This Board immediately reported the cases to the Selectmen, and in con- sultation with them, it was determined that the strictest quarantine should be instituted and maintained. At this time there were six persons infected and numerous others had been exposed,
387
BOARD OF HEALTH
including the children at the Cutter School and the people who attended a meeting at a church at the Heights.
By orders of this Board, the children at the Cutter School numbering about eighty, who had been exposed, were vaccinated. The school was closed and fumigated. As a further measure against the spread of this loathsome disease, the Board ordered the parties residing in the other half of the house, No. 11 Lowell Street, to vacate in order that the premises might be used as a detention house. The family occupying were vaccinated and vacated the premises. A nurse was secured and those who were sick and those who were exposed were separated in numbers thirteen and eleven respectively. The police department was called upon to provide officers to prevent any entrance or exit to or from the premises. Dr. Sanger of the Board was installed as attending physician and devoted his entire time to these cases. The Board is pleased to announce that through the stringent measures taken the spread of the disease was checked, and was confined to the immediate family of the parties first infected, numbering nine in all. It was found upon investigation that. each and every one of the parties infected had no legal settlement within the State and were, consequently, State charges. It is also interesting to note that not one of the parties infected had ever been vaccinated. Upon the refusal of the State Board of Health to recognize seven of these cases as being State charges, the Board determined to present their claim to the legislature of 1913 for reimbursement for the amount expended by the Town for the care of these cases, amounting in all to $3500.
INSPECTORS APPOINTED.
On April 1, 1912, the following appointments were made by the Board to serve for the year ending March 31, 1913.
Plumbing Inspector (under civil service), George W. Day; Sanitary Inspector and Fumigator, Charles T. Hartwell; In- spector of Slaughtering and Markets, Dr. W. T. McCarty; In- spector of Milk, Dr. Laurence L. Peirce.
The Board desires to record its appreciation of the efficient services rendered by these Inspectors during the past year.
The reports of the above named inspectors, will be found in their reports to this Board following this report.
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
TENEMENT HOUSE ACT.
By the acceptance of the tenement house act so called, accepted by the Town at the November meeting of 1912, an unforeseen obligation has been placed upon the Board of Health if the re- quirements of said Act are to be strictly enforced. The provisions of this Act provide not only for buildings to be erected, but also for buildings already existing where more than two families reside. The Act distinctly states that all changes in existing buildings, so far as plumbing and sanitary arrangements are con- cerned, must be completed within one year from the date of the acceptance of the Act. In order to meet the requirements of the Act the Board will, in all probability, be compelled to ask for a further appropriation for inspector's work later in the year.
GUY E. SANGER, M.D. LAURENCE L. PEIRCE, M.D. ALFRED H. KNOWLES.
Attention is called to the following regulations of the Board of Health and extracts from the Revised Laws:
DISEASES DANGEROUS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH. FROM REGULATION OF BOARD OF HEALTH.
SECTION 3. Upon the outside of every house in which there is a person sick with smallpox, diphtheria, membranous croup, measles or scarlet fever shall be placed a suitable placard with the name of the disease. The Board of Health may in special cases permit the placard to be placed upon interior apartments only. This placard shall not be defaced or removed by any person without authority of the Board of Health.
SEC. 4. No person shall remove or permit to be removed from any house or apartment upon which a placard has been placed, as provided in Section 3, any clothing, books or other property, without a permit from the Board of Health; nor after a house is established as a hospital, under provisions of Chapter 80 of the Public Statutes, shall any occupant of such house take up a residence elsewhere without such permit. No public or circulating library book shall be taken into any house or apartment whereon a placard has been placed, as provided in Section 3, before the authorized removal of said placard. All books, papers, toys and other articles in a room where there is a person sick with scarlet fever or diphtheria which cannot be thoroughly disinfected must be destroyed.
SEC. 5. No person living in a house or interior apartment upon which a . placard has been placed, as provided in Section 3, shall attend or visit any school in the Town without a permit from the Board of Health.
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BOARD OF HEALTH
SEC. 6. No person who has visited a house in which there was at the time a case of smallpox, diphtheria, membranous croup, or scarlet fever, shall at- tend school until the expiration of two weeks from such visit.
SEC. 7. Danger of conveying smallpox, diphtheria and scarlet fever shall not be considered to have passed until two weeks have expired after the rooms occupied by a person who has been sick with either of said diseases, and the articles used by him have been disinfected to the satisfaction of the Board of Health.
SEC. 8. In case of the removal of a child from the house where a person is sick with any of the diseases mentioned in Section 11 of Chapter 496 of the Acts of the year 1898, two weeks must elapse before such child is allowed to attend school.
SEC. 9. No case of diphtheria shall be considered recovered until a nega- tive culture has twice been obtained, at not less than three days' interval, from such patient.
SEC. 10. No case of scarlet fever shall be considered recovered until des- quamation is complete on every part of the body.
SEC. 11. No child having chicken-pox or mumps shall be allowed to attend any school in this Town.
EXTRACTS FROM THE REVISED LAWS AS AMENDED.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
Chapter 480, Acts of 1907: An act to provide for the compulsory notification and registration of tuberculosis and other diseases dangerous to the Public Health.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
SECTION 1. Sections forty-nine and fifty of Chapter seventy-five of the Revised Laws, as amended by Chapter two hundred and fifty-one of the Acts of the year nineteen hundred and five, and Section fifty-two of said Chapter seventy-five are hereby amended by inserting after the word " disease," wherever it may occur in said sections, the words - declared by the State Board of Health to be, -so as to read as follows: Section 49. A house- holder who knows that a person in his family or house is sick of smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever or any other infectious or contagious disease declared by the State Board of Health to be dangerous to the public health shall forth- with give notice thereof to the Board of Health of the city or town in which he dwells. Upon the death, recovery or removal of such person, the householder shall disinfect to the satisfaction of the Board such rooms of his house and articles therein, as, in the opinion of the Board, have been exposed to infection or contagion. Should one or both eyes of an infant become inflamed, swollen and red and show an unnatural discharge at any time within two weeks after its birth, it shall be the duty of the nurse, relative or other attendant having charge of such infant to report in writing within six hours thereafter, to the Board of Health of the city or town in which the parents of the infant reside, the fact that such inflammation, swelling and redness of the eyes and unnatural discharge exist. On receipt of such report, or of notice of the same symptoms given by a physician as provided by the following section, the Board of Health
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
shall take such immediate action as it may deem necessary in order that blindness may be prevented. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. SECTION 50. If a physician knows that a person whom he is called to visit is infected with smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever or any other disease declared by the State Board of Health to be dangerous to the public health, or if one or both eyes of an infant whom or whose mother he is called to visit "become inflamed, swollen or red, and show an unnatural discharge within two weeks after the birth of such an infant, he shall immdieately give notice thereof in writing over his own signature to the Selectmen or Board of Health of the town; and if he refuses or neglects to give such notice, he shall forfeit not less than fifty or more than two hundred dollars for each offense. SECTION 52. If the Board of Health of a city or town has had notice of a case of smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever or any other disease declared by the State Board of Health to be dangerous to the public health therein, it shall within twenty-four hours there- after give notice thereof to the State Board of Health stating the name and location of the patient so afflicted, and the secretary thereof shall forthwith transmit a copy of such notice to the State Board of Charity.
SEC. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved June 6, 1907.]
VACCINATION.
Chap. 75, Sec. 136. A parent or guardian who neglects to cause his child or ward to be vaccinated before the child or ward attains the age of two years, except as provided in section one hundred and thirty-nine, shall forfeit five dollars for every year during which such neglect continues.
Chap. 75, Sec. 137. The Board of Health of a city or town, if in its opinion it is necessary for the public health or safety, shall require and enforce the vaccination and revaccination of all the inhabitants thereof and shall provide them with the means of free vaccination. Whoever, being over twenty-one years of age and not under guardianship, refuses or neglects to comply with such requirement, shall forfeit five dollars.
Chap. 44, Sec. 6. [Revised Laws, as amended by Chap. 371, Acts of 1906.] A child who has not been vaccinated shall not be admitted to a public school except upon presentation of a certificate signed by a regular practicing physician that he is not a fit subject for vaccination. A child who is a member of a household in which a person is ill with smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, or any other infectious or contagious disease, or of a household exposed to such contagion from another household as aforesaid, shall not attend any public school during
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BOARD OF HEALTH
such illness until the teacher of the school has been furnished with a certificate from the Board of Health of the city or town, or from the attending physician of such person, stating that danger of conveying such disease by such child has passed.
NOTE. Section 139, referred to above, exempts children who present a certificate signed by a registered physician that they are unfit subjects for vaccination. Application for free vaccination by persons who are unable to pay for it, may be made to the Clerk or Agent of the Board of Health.
VITAL STATISTICS, 1912.
Total number of deaths from all causes, exclusive of still-births 174 Number of still-births 14
DEATHS BY SEXES (Still-Births excluded).
Number of deaths of males
91
Number of deaths of females
83
Number of deaths of unknown
00
DEATHS BY AGES (Still-Births excluded).
Total
Male
Female
Deaths of persons under one year
22
13
8
From 1 to 2 years
4
1
3
From 2 to 3 years
0
0
0
From 3 to 4 years
3
3
0
From 4 to 5 years
2
0
2
From 5 to 10 years
3
2
1
From 10 to 15 years
1
1
0
From 15 to 20 years
4
1
3
From 20 to 30 years
11
4
7
From 30 to 40 years
10
6
4
From 40 to 50 years
21
15
7
From 50 to 60 years
19
12
7
From 60 to 70 years
23
14
9
From 70 to 80 years
30
16
14
Over 80 years
21
8
13
Total
174
95
78
Age of oldest person, 93 years, 2 days.
NOTE. For names of persons dying see report of Town Clerk.
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
DEATHS BY MONTHS (Still-Births excluded).
1912
1911
January
16
20
February
13
11
March
16
12
April
15
15
May
18
19
June
12
13
July
12
17
August
15
11
September
18
13
October
15
14
November
9
19
December
15
24
Total
174
188
Still-born
14
8
Total
188
196
CAUSES OF DEATH (Still-Births excluded).
Phthisis or consumption
17
Scarlet Fever
0
Diphtheria and Croup
1
Cerebro-spinal Meningitis
3
Erysipelas
0
Cholera Infantum
0
Dysentery
0
Pneumonia
16
Bronchitis
2
Diseases of Heart
20
Diseases of Kidney
6
Cancer
10
Diseases of the Brain and Spinal Cord
15
DEATHS FROM VIOLENCE.
Suicide
2
Accident
16
Number of deaths from all other causes not specified above (not including still-births) 66
Total 174
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BOARD OF HEALTH
SOCIAL RELATIONS OF DECEASED. (Still-Births excluded.)
Married
66
Single
79
Widow
34
Widower
9
Divorced
0
Unknown
0
188
NATIVITY.
Nativity of Deceased (Still-Births excluded)
Nativity of Parents Father
Mother
Arlington
33
8
7
Massachusetts
61
44
39
Other New England States
28
27
27
Other States
5
6
5
Canada and the Provinces
9
12
10
England, Scotland and Wales
5
10
18
Ireland
18
34
38
Italy
6
8
6
Norway and Sweden
2
5
4
Russia
0
1
1
Other countries
4
10
7
Unknown
12
15
Total
177
177
177
American parentage
82
Foreign parentage
80
Mixed parentage
16
Unknown parentage
19
Number of non-residents having died in Arlington
20
Number of residents having died in other places
19
-
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES REPORTED
Diphtheria Scarlet Fever Typhoid Measles 1911 2 1912 1911 1912 1911 1912 1911 1912
Total
January
7
4
0
4
0 0
0
0
1
7
11
February
2
2
0
5
0
0
0
1
2
1
13 9
March
0
1
6
3
0 0
3
3
1
3
1
18
21
May
2
5
4
0
0
1
5
26
4
0
1
10
64
July August
2
0
0
0 0
0
0
10 0
1 3
1 0
10
3
September
2
4
2
6
0
1
0
0
2 1
3
6
14
October
2
0
0
3
2
2 0
0 1
0 0
0
4 4
17
1
Total
25
28 34
24
2
6
31
122
20
22
131
202
LOCATION OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
Drawing a line through the Town Hall building, and extending it north and south, the location of the above contagious diseases would be as follows:
1912 East
1912 West
1911 East
1911 West
1912 Total
1911 Tota
Diphtheria
7
18
10
18
25
28
Scarlet Fever
10
24
8
16
34
24
Typhoid Fever
1
1
2
4
2
6
Measles
15
17
42
80
32
122
Tuberculosis
10
17
10
12
27
22
REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF PLUMBING.
ARLINGTON, January 1, 1913.
To the Board of Health, Arlington, Mass.
Gentlemen: I herewith submit my report for the year ending December 31, 1912, as Inspector of Plumbing for Arlington.
This year has shown a large increase in the amount of work done in the town.
From January 1 to December 31, 1912, there have been 208
7
8 8
November
0
4
6
0 1
0 0 1
2
1
2
December
0
4
13
2
0
1 12
April
3
1
0
0
1
0 0 0
5 63
1
3
11
2
3
2
0
0 0
3
16
3
Tuberculosis 1912 1911
1912
1911
10 10
15 32
June
3
3
5
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BOARD OF HEALTH
applications made for permits to do plumbing work, 207 of which have been granted.
There have been but four cases of flagrant disregard of the ordinance, and in these the offenders have been promptly punished.
Respectfully submitted, G. W. DAY, Inspector of Plumbing.
REPORT OF INSPECTOR OF SLAUGHTERING.
ARLINGTON, January 19, 1913.
To Board of Health, Arlington, Mass.
Gentlemen: I herewith submit to you my report as Inspector of Slaughtering for the year 1912.
Animals inspected according to the B. A. I. rules and regulations. License to slaughter has been granted to Frank Bowman.
Have inspected 1750 calves and 30 pigs. Passed 1702. Re- jected 48, owing to age, weight or diseased condition.
Respectfully submitted,
W. T. MCCARTY, V.S., ยท Inspector of Slaughtering.
REPORT OF INSPECTOR OF MILK.
ARLINGTON, December 31, 1912.
To the Board of Health, Arlington, Mass.
Gentlemen: I herein submit my report as Milk Inspector for the year ending December 31, 1912. During the year there have been issued fifty-three (53) licenses to milk dealers and stores. There has been no occasion to prosecute for adulteration of milk or for finding milk below the standard. I am paying more atten- tion to the clean handling of milk than formerly, and with an instrument called the Lorenz Sediment Tester have been able to show dealers and producers exactly the amount of dirt in their product, stimulating them to a greater effort for clean milk. The most important part of the work for clean milk really lies at the starting place, that is, the farm, and necessitates visiting
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
the farms where it is produced. This means trips to Concord, Bedford, Billerica, Lexington and other outlying towns, requiring quite a little time, but is I feel absolutely necessary in order to guarantee a good clean milk supply for the town.
I am looking forward with a good deal of pleasure to the new Town Hall and the laboratory which is to be at the disposal of the Milk Inspector, as with proper facilities and equipment much better work can be done and corresponding results obtained.
Respectfully yours,
LAURENCE L. PEIRCE, M.D.V., Inspector of Milk.
REPORT OF THE FUMIGATOR.
ARLINGTON, MASS., December 31, 1912.
Board of Health:
Gentlemen: I have the honor to submit my report as Fumigator for the year ending December 31, 1912.
Whole number of cases fumigated seventy-one (71).
Twenty-four (24) cases of diphtheria requiring the fumigation of thirty-eight (38) rooms.
Twenty-two (22) cases of scarlet fever requiring the fumigation of sixty-two (62) rooms.
Thirteen (13) cases of tuberculosis requiring the fumigation of nineteen (19) rooms.
Nine (9) cases of smallpox requiring the fumigation of thirty-one (31) rooms.
One (1) case of cerebro-spinal meningitis requiring the fumiga- tion of one (1) room.
Two (2) cases of measles requiring the fumigation of two (2), rooms.
Halls, stairways, closets and public buildings whenever necessary.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES T. HARTWELL, Fumigator.
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BOARD OF HEALTH
REPORT OF SANITARY INSPECTOR.
ARLINGTON, MASS., December 31, 1912.
Board of Health.
Gentlemen: I have the honor to submit my report as Sanitary Inspector for the year ending December 31, 1912.
The work in general of this office has been about the same as that of previous years.
All complaints have been given consideration and thoroughly investigated. Where an actual nuisance or unhealthful conditions were found to exist the same have been abated.
Satisfactory adjustments have been made of all complaints.
Respectfully submitted, CHARLES T. HARTWELL, Sanitary Inspector.
REPORT OF JOINT BOARD OF SELECTMEN AND BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS.
The Joint Board of Selectmen and Board of Public Works here- with present the ninth annual report of the Board for the year ending December 31, 1912.
The Board met on March 11, 1912, and organized for the year as follows: Jacob Bitzer, Chairman; Thomas J. Robinson, Clerk.
Regular meetings of the Board are held Monday evenings at eight o'clock.
The Board is made up of three members of the Selectmen and three members of the Board of Public Works, sitting jointly.
The duties of this Board are indicated in Section 5 of Chapter 3 of the Acts of 1904, which reads as follows:
"Section 5. Upon the election of said Board of Public Works all the powers, rights, duties and liabilities of the Selectmen in said town, now existing or hereafter created by law, relating to high- ways, town ways, the laying out and discontinuance of ways, bridges, sidewalks, guide posts, monuments at the termini and angles of roads, public squares, playgrounds, shade trees, sewers, drains, street watering, street lighting, the assessment of damages and betterments, water pipes, gas pipes, conduits, poles, wires, street railways, the granting of locations, rights or licenses for structures upon, under or over highways or other ways, shall be exercised, enjoyed, performed and incurred by a Board consisting of the Selectmen and the Board of Public Works created by this act, sitting jointly as the Board of Survey."
The Act establishing this Board was accepted by the Town February 8, 1904, and the operation of the Board appears to have given general satisfaction.
APPOINTMENTS.
The following appointments were made by the Board, all for the term of one year from April 1, 1912:
Town Counsel, Philip A. Hendrick; Superintendent of Public
398
399
REPORT OF JOINT BOARD
Works, Robert W. Pond; Town Engineer, George E. Ahern; Superintendent of Wires, Reuben W. LeBaron.
POLICY OF THE BOARD.
The following votes indicating the policy of the Board have been passed :
(a) Width of Streets. At a meeting held October 14, 1907, it was
Voted, That it was the sense of the Board of Survey not to approve of plans for the laying out or construction of streets less than forty feet wide.
(b) Crosswalks. At a meeting held October 28, 1907, it was Voted, That whenever a sidewalk is changed by the construction of a new street the sidewalk, including the new crosswalk, must be relaid in as good and permanent a form as before the change, the cost to be a charge against the party constructing the street. In case the Town desires a higher cost walk than existed before the change was made the additional cost must be made by the Town in case of permanent sidewalks only.
(c) Rough Grading of Private Streets. At a meeting held De- cember 9, 1907, it was
Voted, That after January 1, 1908, no water or sewer pipes shall be laid in streets approved by the Board of Survey until such streets, including sidewalks, have been brought to subgrade satisfactory to the Town Engineer.
STREET WATERING.
Under Chapter 289, Acts of 1909, which reads as follows:
"Section 1. Any city or town may sprinkle or spread on its public ways, or parts thereof, water or any liquid or material suit- able for laying or preventing dust and preserving the surface thereof, and for sanitary purposes, and all statutes providing for watering such public ways shall apply to the use of such liquids and materials, including the appropriation of money, the expendi- ture thereof at the expense of the city or of the abutters, the assess- ment upon abutting estates, and the collection of such assessments and proceedings therefor."
This branch of the work is under the control of the Board of Public Works, and it is in their discretion to use water or other
400
ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
means of preventing dust and preserving the surface of the streets. No contracts have been let for watering during the past year owing to the increased use of tar and other preventatives.
The amount appropriated for this work for 1912 was $5000. Of this amount $2000 was to be raised by general tax and $3000 by . assessments on the abutters assessed on the basis of 2 4-10 cents per foot.
The actual cost of this work exceeded the amount of money appropriated and the excess was paid for from the Highway Appropriation, as in the judgment of the Board some portion of the expense should be properly charged to the Highway Account, as the treatment tends to preserve the surface, thereby lessening the cost of maintaining the streets, where tarvia or other sub- stances are used.
MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE.
During the year a petition was received from the Boston Ele- vated Railway Company for a relocation of the tracks of the Company from Medford Street to the terminal at Arlington Heights. The relocation was asked for in order to allow the use of the new prepayment cars. The Board had numerous conferences with the officials of the Company and the petition was granted on condition that the Company should relay the paving along and between the tracks with good paving, the same to be grouted with cement and brought to a smooth surface. This the Company agreed to do and the work progressed in conjunction with the rebuilding of Massachusetts Avenue from Arlington Heights to a point near Academy Street. This paving insures to automobile users a smooth surface and relieves the remainder of the street from the wear and tear occasioned by these con- veyances.
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