THE TYPHOID FLY, OR HOUSE FLY. 33 



bins or pits within any of the more densely populated parts of the 

 District without a permit from the health officer. Any person 

 violating any of these provisions shall, upon conviction thereof, be 

 punished by a fine of not more than $40 for each offense. 



In addition to this excellent ordinance, others have been issued 

 from the health department of the District of Columbia which provide 

 against the contamination of exjjosed food by flies and by dust. The 

 ordinances are excellently worded so as to cover all possible cases. 

 They provide for the registration of all stores, markets, cafes, lunch 

 rooms, or of any other place where food or beverage is manufactured 

 or prepared for sale, stored for sale, offered for sale, or sold, in order 

 to facilitate inspection, and still more recent ordinances provide for 

 the registration of stables. An excellent campaign was begim during 

 the summer of 1908 against insanitary lunch rooms and restaurants. 

 A number of cases were prosecuted, but conviction was found to be 

 difficult. 



For one reason or another, the chief reason being the lack of a 

 sufficient force of inspectors under the control of the health officers, 

 the ordinance in regard to stables has not been carried out with that 

 perfection which the situation demands. In the summer of 1896, the 

 health officer of the District, Dr. W. C. Woodward, designated a 

 region in Washington bounded by Pennsylvania avenue. Sixth street. 

 Fifteenth street, and the Potomac River, which was to be watched 

 by assistants of the writer. Twenty- four stables were located in this 

 region and were visited weekly by two assistants chosen for the pur- 

 pose. The result was that on the whole the manure was well looked 

 after and the number of flies in the region in question was very con- 

 siderably reduced during the time of inspection. 



Were simple inspection of stables all that is needed, a force of four 

 inspectors, specially detailed for this work, could cover the District 

 of Columbia, examining ever}'^ stable, after they were once located and 

 mapped, once a week. The average salary of an inspector is $1,147, 

 so that the total expense for the first year would be something like 

 $4,500. But the inspectors' service is complicated by the matter of 

 prosecution. Much of the time of inspectors would be. taken in the 

 prosecution of the owners of neglected premises. Moreover, the health 

 officer has found during the summer of 1908, in his prosecution of the 

 owners or managers of insanitary restaurants, that his inspectors were 

 practically sworn out of court by the multiplicity of opposing evi- 

 dence. This means that it will be necessary in such cases to send two 

 inspectors together in all cases, so that the testimony of one may be 

 supported by the testimony of the other. This, perhaps, would double 

 the number of necessary inspectors, making the expense of the service 

 something over $9,000. It is reasonably safe to state, however, that 



