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Bearing upon the subject of spitting in public, I reproduce a leading
article from the Daily Telegraph of May 12th, 1903 :—
On the agenda paper of the London County Council for to-day's meeting
appear some most interesting suggestions for new bye-laws " for the good rule
and government of London," embodied in a special report of the Local Government
and Taxation Committee. They recommend that it be made a punishable
offence to sweep refuse into the street—whether that refuse consist of the
litter of shops and houses, waste paper and shavings, or all the heterogeneous
miscellany of domestic rubbish, which ought to be placed in the dustbin, or,
better still, burnt. The edict is to apply to newsvendors who carelessly fling
their discarded "bills" and wrappers into the gutters; to bill-posters; to
costers, whose leavings are not only unsightly, but positively offensive and
dangerous; and to the thoughtless people who cast broken bottles and glass
upon the roads, callous as to the injury they may inflict on man or beast. We
wish the London County Council and the Borough Councils much more power
to their elbows in this respect, though bye-laws of this sort are, as a rule, more
honoured in the breach than in the observance. Anything to keep the streets
of London tolerable, and to cure the heedless of their gross selfishness in throwing
their litter casually out into the streets ! If the penalties could be extended
to the throwers of orange peel and banana skins it would be better still.
Every blessing seems fated to be attended by its own special curse, and the
cheap fruit for the million which we at present enjoy has added another terror
to the streets, which is responsible for many broken bones and countless rude
shocks and narrow escapes. Perhaps the population that eats in public will
learn a little more consideration in time, but there is no trace of it at present,
and both sexes are equally guilty in the matter, not even taking the trouble to
see in what direction they fling their slippery refuse. More important to the
general health is the proposed bye-law with respect to spitting, which runs
thus: " No person shall spit upon the floor, side, or wall of any public carriage,
hall, waiting-room, or place of public entertainment, whether admission
be obtained by payment or not." By this time everyone in the Kingdom is
surely aware that spitting is the chief agent in the spread of consumption, and
that if spitting in public places could be prevented, the most practical and
efficacious step would have been taken towards checking that national scourge.
The person who is guilty of this most objectionable and dangerous practice
ought to feel the weight of public condemnation. The Committee were in
favour of extending the prohibition to pavements and footways, but apparently
the Home Secretary takes the view that there are not quite such valid grounds
for interference in the open air as in closed rooms, and is " not prepared to
allow such an extension." We do not think that he need have feared to adopt
a measure which is already in force in other countries—where, it is true, the
habit is far more common than in England—but it is the English way to proceed
cautiously. Even more efficacious, however, than a municipal bye-law
would be the sharp punishment of the habit in the elementary schools, and a
periodical reminder to the children of the peril with which it is accompanied.