Smallpox and Politics: The City Hall Power Struggle
A simmering dispute between the Seattle Board of Health and the City Council leaves a smallpox patient isolated and a doctor without a salary.
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A likelihood of a falling out exists between the city health board and the city council regarding the smallpox question. When a smallpox case was discovered Monday and moved to the pest house, the board asked the council for an appropriation to care for the patient. The council ruthlessly pared down the items, denying funding for a resident physician, a cook, and an ambulance driver. Consequently, Dr. Sparling was notified he was working without pay and left his post. A new suspect was discovered at the St. Charles Hotel, but due to the lack of an ambulance and physician, the patient was left at the hotel. During a heated meeting, Dr. Holmes argued that the board, not the council, should hold administrative authority over health matters, while Dr. Miller suggested the board should simply wash its hands of the affair.
“I believe whether there is one patient or ten at the pest house there should be a resident physician in charge.”
The friction between civic boards and elected councils over public health funding remains a perennial feature of city life. This 1897 standoff illustrates how the 'pest house' era prioritized austerity over contagion management, mirroring modern debates about the adequacy of public health resources during crises.
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