IN THE PHILIPPINES. 65 



Hundreds of artesian wells have been bored in different parts 

 of the islands. In many sections in which artesian-well water is 

 exclusively used, the death rate has fallen one half. 



Beriberi, which in former days caused frightful mortality in jails 

 and public institutions, has been brought under control through a 

 governmental order which prohibits the use of polished rice in public 

 institutions. This fact is gradually coming to the attention of the 

 masses, and there is reason to hope that in the future the number 

 of deaths from beriberi among the general population will be con- 

 siderably reduced. 



Modern sanitary market buildings constructed of reinforced con- 

 crete have been built all over the archipelago. These have been a 

 great factor in the cleanly and economical distribution of food and at 

 the same time an important source of municipal revenue. 



It is the frequent comment of travelers that Manila is one of the 

 cleanest cities of the world. The streets are swept daily. Garbage 

 is collected every night. Largely as a result of these two measures, 

 Manila is almost a flyless city. Plague has been eradicated. By 

 making available safe water and by active educational propaganda, 

 the spread of amebic dysentery has been checked. Laws are now 

 enforced for the proper laying-out of cemeteries, and for proper 

 burials. Streets and alleys have been cut through the congested 

 districts of the city. Many thousands of residents have been re- 

 moved from low swampy lands to higher sites. Modern, danger- 

 ous-communicable-disease hospitals have been built in Manila and 

 elsewhere, and the people, educated to an appreciation of such in- 

 stitutions, now willingly avail themselves of their use. The govern- 

 ment has built a hospital for the insane, where at least the more 

 violent cases and those urgently in need of care can receive atten- 

 tion. A large general hospital, with a capacity of 350 beds, has been 

 built in Manila. It is one of the most modern in the Orient. A 

 nurses' training school, with over 300 young Filipino students, men 

 and women, is in successful operation; its graduates are already 

 rendering most important service. A medical school, with modern 

 laboratories and the latest equipment for teaching by whole-time in- 

 structors who are specialists in their respective branches, was organ- 



