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The Board of Health

About This Item

  • Title: The Board of Health
  • Date: 11 July 1857
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.00742
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 11 July 1857: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
  • Contributors to digital file: Kellee Forkenbrock Kaylen Michaelis Samantha Gilmore Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "The Board of Health." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 16 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.00742.xml (TEI)
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THE BOARD OF HEALTH.

From the report of the proceedings in the Board of Health yesterday afternoon, it seems as if the discovery of Messrs. Walsh1 and Preston's interested leiniency has driven the remainder of the the Board into the other extreme; and that for fear of their honesty being suspected, they are going to be extra severe against all parties who may now be complained of. While it is better that a dozen manufacturies should be shut up than that one life should be lost by pestilence, some regard should be paid by the Board to the fact that the presence of these establishments has a very beneficial effect on the trade and prosperity of the city. They employ a considerable number of laboring men, and are the means of drawing here a large amount of capital. It is clearly the interest of the community to foster and encourage them, and not condemn them to rule or stoppage, unless it is very clearly proved that their existence is incompatible with the good health of the locality in which they exist. The action of the Common Council on the Atlantic street steam matter, proves that we have some men in our public bodies who would drive every vestige of commercial prosperity out of the city sooner than that their delicate nerves should be in the slightest degree affected, even by a little noise and smoke. We recommend to this class the advisability of laying down thick matting in the streets, to prevent those horrid carts from making such a clatter on the pavements.

Notes:

1. Thomas C. Walsh served as an alderman for the 16th Ward. He went missing on December 18, 1870 and was never found. At the time of his disappearance, he was a member of the printing firm J. W. Orr $ Co., and he had been in poor health for several weeks. [back]

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