604 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



The CHAIRMAN : The report of Dr. Tearson, Veterinary Surgeon 

 of the Board. 



The SECRETARY: There has been no report handed to me. 



The CHAIRMAN: Tlie report of Dr. Lee, Sanitarian of the Board. 



The SECRETARY: I have the report. 



On motion, which was seconded, it was ordered that it be placed 

 on file and be printed for the use of th^ Board. 

 The report is as follows: 



REPORT OF THE SANITARIAN. 



Br BaiNJAMix Lke. M. D.. Secretary State Board of Health. Sanitarian. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Allow me during the few moments allotted to call your at- 

 tention to the sanitary history of our State during the p'viod which 

 has elapsed since the establishment of the State Board cf Health, 

 eighteen years ago, and to a comparison of the conditions then 

 existing with those which now obtain. We shall find 'n i(", I think, 

 subject for mutual congratulation, and for serious reflection as 

 well. 



A careful student of the legislation of Pennsylvania coiaes upon 

 the curious fact that many laws have been enacted, often ')f an ex- 

 tremely valuable character, which have remained a dead letter for 

 the reason that no machinery existed or was created for carrying'out 

 their provisions and no penalty was prescribed for their violation. 

 It would seem as though they had been passed tentatively in order 

 to test their acceptability in the eyes of the people, with a view to 

 their enforcement later on if the public should demand it, or their 

 abrogation if they failed to meet general approval. This is espe- 

 cially true of most enactments for the protection of ibe public 

 health. 



The principal object in the creation of a central sanitary authority 

 in the State was evidently to infuse life into certain of these dor- 

 mant laws, and to establish an authority having both the duT;s and 

 the right to enforce them. But even this power was converted in a 

 half-hearted, hesitating way, and the Board was crippled from the 

 outset by an utterly inadequate and insignificant appropriation. 

 War was to be waged against the grand army of disease germs, 

 strongly su])ported by ignorance, ])rejudice and negligence, and 

 amply supplied with the sinews of war by avarice and greed; and 



