Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1919 — STATE NEWS ITEMS [ARTICLE]

STATE NEWS ITEMS

The Doings of Hoosierdom Reported by Wire. KNOCKS OLD OAKEN BUCKET Indiana Health Officer Baye the Avarage Rural Well la Pool of Death and Warne Touriata to Ba Careful. Indianapolis, April IL—The average well, from the stand(M>lnt of tha health officer, is a public scandal* It was declared by Dr. Harry E. Barnard, chief chemist of the Indiana state l>oanl of health and head of the food and drug division, before the Indiana Sanitary and Water Supply association in session here. “We lustily sing “The Old Oaken Bucket,’" continued Doctor Barnard, “a mass of sentimental twaddle, which if the facts could be set down In cold figures, would be proven to be responsible for hundreds of cases of typhoid annually. “City folks accustomed to drawing water out of faucets, love to think of the days of their childhood. "Moss-cohered buckets, stone-walled wells, the cool temperature of the water drawn therefrom, have an appeal which breaks down the wall of caution which surrounds their life, and it so happens that many cases of typhoM follow excursions into the country, the place where pure water is supposed to be obtainable everywhere, but Is in fact the place where the thirsty traveler takes his life in one hand while he draws water out of a portioned well with the other." “Is the time no% soon to come in Indiana when the health officer, knowing as he now does, that more than 60 per cent of the surface wells are polluted will take definite, posplve and final steps toward closing them, and compelling the community to use the public water supply of guaranteed purity? ' asked Doctor Barnard. In conclusion the state chemist referred to the precautions taken to safeguard the water supply furnished American soldiers in France, and he said they will qpon their return. It is to be hoped, demand that similar precautions be taken to safeguard their families, at home."