Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State For the Home Department, from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an Inquiry Into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain; With AppendicesChadwick, Edwin
History
Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State For the Home Department, from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an Inquiry Into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain; With Appendices
Chadwick, Edwin
Housing -- Great Britain; Public health -- Great Britain
Thus, the average mortality in Dundee, during the last seven years,
was 1 in 32 annually. * * * Here, then, in Dundee, the deaths annually
are at least one-fourth more than over the rest of Scotland, Glasgow
excepted, which seems to surpass Dundee in the waste of human life. If
the deaths are a fourth greater, those diseases which are its
harbingers must be many times greater than the deaths; and to this
extent, at least, it was in the power of human means to have provided
a remedy,—to have abated by one-fourth the physical suffering and
mortality of Dundee, saved 2,952 persons from fever, and 328 persons
from premature death, and reduced by a fourth part the pecuniary loss
incurred during the last seven years,—in other words, to have saved
43,919_l._, or 6,274_l._ annually, to the profit and loss account of
this city in the single item of fever.
“The statistics of small-pox in Dundee might be added to this bill of
charges. It is sufficient, however, to allude to it. Last year, the
deaths by small-pox were 77. In 1838, they were also 77; and in 1837,
they amounted to 126. The number of cases, of course, must have been
many times the deaths; by far the greater number under age and
unvaccinated,—a neglect no longer confined to the Irish population.
* * * * *
“Though I am no medical authority, yet I am sure that I have every
medical authority with me when I connect, as foremost amongst the
causes of the enormous Fever Bill of Dundee that monstrous Tavern
Bill, which last lecture I showed you was the worm in the bud of the
happiness and well-being of its working classes. That Tavern Bill,
according to the mean of three different estimates, amounts to
21,234_l._ a-year in my parish alone, and to 180,000_l._ a-year to all
Dundee. In vain we cry out against the taxation of Government. While
the words of complaint are on our lips, here is a vice of continual
tasting and tippling in strong drink,—a private self-imposed tax, but
heavier far than any public tax. It is this besetting sin that has
been not only devouring the substance of the poor, but every year
sowing the seeds of that enormous Fever Bill which for the last seven
years has been taxing us, not only in purse but in person,—compelling
every tenth man in Dundee during that period to pay the wages of six
weeks’ labour, and to suffer all the langour, sickness, and oppression
of six weeks’ fever, besides the bereaved widows and orphans, and the
fatherless and motherless children it has left in Dundee.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account