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SANITARY OFFICERS 



Long before cities were invented, with their ela- 

 borate schemes for making life possible under 

 unnatural conditions, Nature had her sanitary- 

 commission at work to keep the earth sweet. It is 

 still in existence ; but owing to most of us having 

 lived under urban conditions all our life, we fail 

 to recognize the officers as such when we see them, 

 and in most cases take offence at their presence. 

 In the majority of cases we have only ourselves to 

 thank for their visits, which are due to our having 

 some nuisance or other on our premises or adjacent 

 thereto. Looked at from Nature's point of view, 

 if we may so express it, everything that is dead is a 

 nuisance and a menace to the living ; so it must 

 be cleared away as soon as possible and reduced to 

 an elementary condition in which it can be used 

 over again in the processes of the universe. 



Yes, says the citizen, but we have provided for 

 all that in our splendid scheme of civilization. We 

 have magnificent sewerage on which we have 

 spent millions, scavengers and orderly brigades 

 in the streets, house-to-house collection of refuse, 



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