I CITY SCHOOLS CLOSED AFTER II OFFICIAL ADVICES ARE RECEIVED II FROM STATE DOARD OF HEALTH lfi f Orders were issued this morning by ill f the c,ty 800001 superintendent to all 1231 schools of the city that the children be i f dismissed and kept out of school un-i un-i t til further notice in order to keep ,( ! down the possible spread of Spanish it I influenza. Similar action lias been Oil I takcn throughout the county in every I placo affected by the order Issued yes-ttjfi yes-ttjfi J terday evening by the state board of Iffl i health and reported first by Standard I t bulletin service. Motion picture thc-31 thc-31 atres, public gatherings and conven-Si conven-Si tions of all natures have been called ill off. The order covers pool halls, ijl churches, Sunday schools, public 81ft schools, universities, theatres, business IjIS colleges, ward meetings, picture B shows, fraternal meetings, dance halls, Ufa private dances and public assemblages ilfl a lcmts' No report had been re-e re-e celved today that the order was bo-'JIh bo-'JIh ine vIlatec ln -he clt'' lis Says Ordr Peremptory ill A meeting was held this morning li with the city commissioners T. Sam-f Sam-f uel Browning, Chris Flygaro and Miles I U Jones; the school board of educa- tion including W. H. Williams, James i ' Riley, Dr. Edward I. Rich and Supt. H. C. Johnson; the city henlth depart-l depart-l ment Including City Physician W. R. II I Drown and Sanitary Inspector George ft Shorten and others. sanitary inspector anorien reported this morning, after the meeting, that peremptory orders were issued to the ! school superintendent by the city board of health to close the schools without further delay. I At the meeting the question was discussed pro and con. One member of the board of education educa-tion declared he did not think conditions condi-tions as yet warranted such a drastic step as closing the schools and argued that the order ought not to be issued until the last moment as the schools ' had ( started so unfavorably and lost so much time. I ' Not Defiant Supt. Johnson later declared he shared the same view but did not ar-, ar-, gue in favor of keeping the schools open If it was the desire of the board ' of health and the board of education to fe. close them. Mr. Johnson today denied that he , had defied the closing order as re- .ported this morning but said he did not wish to take unpremeditated ac-. ac-. tion on such an important step and i decided it would be better to await the action of the meeting this morning. mor-ning. ' He also declared there was not a , spirit of defiance of the order at the : meeting of the board of education last ? night, when the matter was considered. I Assembled for Orders "The city schools were merely as-. as-. sembled this morning as a means of getting Information and instructions - to the children and teachers," Mr. Johnson declared. "There was no intention in-tention of defying the order as announced an-nounced yesterday but as it came af- i ter school had been dismissed it could not bo announced then. As soon as I the exact meaning of the order was 5 understood, as learned at the meeting this morning, Immediate instructions , were given to all school principals to dismiss classes." The teachers of the city schools will meet at 9 o'clock each morning with . their principals. They may be engaged en-gaged with necessary work for sev-'.' sev-'.' eral days or until it is known definitely defin-itely how far reaching will be the order. or-der. Their salaries will be paid as though they were working. - No Hysteria Necessary The concurrent opinion of health of-'. of-'. ficials of the city, doctors and people acquainted with the situation is that there is no reason for a state of hys- terla to develop. Opinion of these same people seems to be divided as to the wisdom of the drastic closing order issued by the state board of health, headed by Dr. T. B. Beatty. Dr. Ezra C. Rich, a member mem-ber of the board, gave the following statement this morning to the Standard: "I cannot see that local conditions are bad enough to warrant the action which has been taken. I am thoroughly thorough-ly in favor of taking any necessary action ac-tion to stop the spread of the malady, but I doubt if there is a necessity for closing the schools and public gatherings gather-ings here. The disasese will be car. ried anyway through channels of business, busi-ness, where thousands of people meet daily, so closing the schools will not effectively stop its spread. "The order from the state board might justly apply to some places where the influenza is epidemic but conditions in Ogden have not yet reached such a stage. "A meeting of the slate board will be held tomorrow to consider the situation sit-uation and plans may be made there to handle the epidemic more adequately." adequate-ly." Schools Ought to Run. It is the opinion of Dr. Edward I. Rich, member of the board of education, educa-tion, that such an epidemic can be much more effectively handled, if the children are attending school, than if they are out where the school health organization cannot keep check on them. If a case of illness develops In school, the child is immediately given attention, Dr. Rich says, by the school physician and the school nurses then iomow up me casu, aim sa unit jjiuij-er jjiuij-er curative methods are employed and quarantine established. W,hen the schools are closed, disease often is covered up and it may then spread through a whole community before it Is checked. As an instance of this, the recent smallpox epidemic was cited, which was present nlmost in epidemic form before it was discovered. Serious Matter. "The taking of thousands of children out of school is entirely too serious a matter for snap judgment," said Dr. Rich. If there is sufficient need for the order, all right, but when conditions aro no worse than they are in Ogden, I question whether it is a wise step to order the schools closed. The disease will spread just as quickly through channels of business, street cars, department de-partment stores and on the sidewalk and It looks a bit inconsistent to try to stamp it out by striking merely at the schools. "I am satisfied this epidemic, or any other for that matter, can be better controlled if the children are in school instead of on the street" Discrimination Charg'cd. Many Ogden people are of the opinion opin-ion that the alleged meeting of the state board ofMiealth, when the order was promulgated, was hastily called and incompletely organized and that If a chance had been given for broader consideration the authorities would have recognized the fallacy of such an order. The local member of the slate board of health, Dr. Ezra C. Rich, was not even informed of the meeting and COnsenuentlv did not rnnresfint Dcrion and this part of the state. If the order is necessary for one community, it might be an injustice to level It on all, many of which are free from all symptoms symp-toms of the disease. Order Mere Hysteria. Dr. S. G. Paul, Salt Lake city physician, physi-cian, shares the opinion In the following follow-ing interview: "The general closing order," said Dr. Paul last night, "is mere hysteria. There is no occasion whatever for closing down any business, and certainly cer-tainly no good reason whatever for closing down the public schools. "As far as I have been able to learn, the state officers have not even bothered both-ered to ascertain from us how many cases of Spanish influenza there are in the city. Yesterday morning Dr. Beatty Beat-ty telephoned to this office and ordered order-ed our chief inspector to keep our Inspectors In-spectors out of houses in which the disease has appeared. Our inspectors will continue to make investigations and report cases. "I have just received, In the afternoon after-noon mail, the latest United States public health service bulletin, issued from the office of Surgeon General Ru-1 pert Blue, and In It I read as follows: 'The avoidance of street cars and crowds Is to be urged during an epidemic, epi-demic, but the disease is too mild to make It advisable to stop all the activities activ-ities of a city.' Deplores 'Hysteria.' "Likewise I have before me an article ar-ticle by Dr. W. A. Evans, vice president presi-dent of the American Public Health association and former health commissioner com-missioner of Chicago, who, writing In the Chicago Tribune, says: 'Spanish influenza kills less than 1 in 200 of those whom it attacks, and a disease which kills less than 1 in 200 of Its victims is certainly not one to get into a funk about.' "Becoming hysterical over this matter mat-ter is certainly not going to help the situation, and I question whether the closing of- the schools will in any way aid ln preventing the spread of the malady, as the children will mingle as much out of school as in it. "The opening of street car windows; the avoidance of contact, with those who have been directly exposed to the disease, as, for instance, in attending the funerals of victims, where one comes ln contact with the surviving members of the family, and personal precautions, together with the supervision super-vision of our nurses and inspectors, will do more to stamp out this epidemic epi-demic than the closing of the schools." Dr. Beatty's Order. As head of the state board of health, Dr. T. B. Beatty late last night gave out the following statement: "The state board, consisting of Dr. Fred Stauffer, Dr. F. S. Bascom and' Dr. A. F. Doremus of Salt Lake, and Drs. H. K. Merrill of Logan, Dr. Ezra Rich "of Ogden, and Dr. C. E. McDer-mid McDer-mid of Castle Gate, consider the measure meas-ure justified by the threatening conditions condi-tions prevailing in the state. The order is in lino with the recommendations of the federal authorities. "Reports from many towns in the state Indicate the disease Is spreading rapidly, and all health officers should report immediately to the state board, by telephone or wire, the appearance of the malady in their community, giving giv-ing the number of cases from daj' to day. "The local health officers in each community are expected to act forthwith forth-with to make effective the order of the board. We believe it to be better policy to grapple with the problem of suppressing sup-pressing this epidemic right at the start, rather than to wait until the malady becomes more widespread. Says Situation Is Urgent. "The urgency of the situation may be understood from the fact that thirty thir-ty patients have already been taken from the University of Utah vocational training school to ttio pest hospital at Fort Douglas. When the Judge Mercy hospital Is ready for use we propose to ask the several hospitals in the city not to accept influenza cases, because of the, danger of infecting the nurses. All such cases should be sent to the Judge Mercy hospital when it is opened open-ed for the reception of patients. All undertakers have been notified not to hold public funerals for victims who succumb to the effects of the ailment, as there is great danger that friends attending such funerals may contract the disease from the Immediate family of the victim." Sixty-three- new cases of Spanish influenza In Salt Lake were reported to the city health department yesterday, yester-day, according to tho records. nn