THE ^VORE OF BOARDS OF HEALTH 239 



kind of understanding is indispensable between neighboring states for 

 some forms of sanitary control, such, for example, as the purity of 

 water supplies, the management of epidemics and the regulation of 

 milk and other food products. Likewise the management of quaran- 

 tine, a subject of importance to large portions of the population of the 

 nation, should not be left to the regulation of any particular locality, 

 but should be managed in accordance with laws which are general for 

 the common welfare. 



First and foremost among the defects and needs of public health 

 administration must be placed the want of adequate knowledge of the 

 principles and practises of public health work on the part of officials 

 having jurisdiction. It is a deplorable fact that special professional 

 qualifications are not as a rule required of health officers in the United 

 States, 



If there is any department of municipal government which should be 

 taken out of politics and put upon a high plane of professional efficiency, 

 it is public health work. Generally, in the United States, appointment 

 upon a health board means a thankless and gratuitous service performed 

 for the sake of the small honor which is supposed to go with it. Where 

 a salary is connected with the position the office is too often a reward 

 of political rather than professional merit. 



Until the need of high-class health work is demanded, appreciated 

 and properly rewarded by compensation in money and honor, men will 

 not be prepared by the schools for a life-work in the public health 

 service, and the most needed improvement in the work of boards of 

 health will not be made. 



