230 THE HOUSE FLY—DISEASE CARRIER 
creased, and, per contra, the health of the people so 
easily bettered, as by the reduction of the numbers of 
the house fly to a negligible quantity. 
Boards of Health 
The health officers, both State and local, of the coun¬ 
try have their associations and organizations of one 
kind or another. Probably all of them are members 
of the Public Health Association of the United States. 
All are thus, or should be, acquainted with the work 
of all the rest, since there is a constant interchange of 
ideas at the meetings and a constant interchange of 
publications in the intervals between the meetings. But 
it is well for citizens' associations, civic leagues, wom¬ 
en’s clubs who take up sanitary matters, and public- 
spirited citizens generally, to know what an effective 
health officer or board of health should do, in order 
that they may intelligently criticise the administration 
of such matters by their own local officials in case, 
when, as it sometimes happens, these are lax; or, on 
the other hand, back up efficient officials where village 
trustees or town councils or city boards of aldermen 
are not disposed to grant the funds necessary to carry 
out proper sanitary regulations. 
This is our excuse for quoting at length the sanitary 
regulations of the District of Columbia in so far as 
they relate to the fly problem. The regulations are 
sound and the citizens of the District have no cause 
in this respect to criticise the health officer, but the 
appropriating body in this case (and it happens to be 
