SANITARY PRIVY. 13 
PRIVY CONDITIONS ON SOME AMERICAN FARMS. 
The privy on the American farm possibly has not received the at- 
tention that its importance deserves. Some American farms have no 
privy at all. This means that some farm families are being need- 
lessly exposed to sickness and death. It means that these families are 
following a custom which not only needlessly increases sickness and 
death, but which decreases the value and productiveness of their 
farms. ‘The warmer, more moist, and more shaded the locality, the 
greater is the danger resulting from lack of sanitary privies. 
City health authorities are gradually awakening to the dangers 
connected with the supplies of milk, fresh vegetables, and fresh fruits 
from insanitary farms; hence not only from the standpoint of pre- 
serving the health of persons living on farms and increasing the pro- 
ductiveness of the farms, but also from the standpoint of marketing 
farm produce, it is important for farms to be provided with sanitary 
privies. 
DIFFERENT KINDS OF PRIVIES. 
The popular idea of the purpose of a privy.—To the popular mind a 
privy (as indicated by its name) is a structure to which a person 
may retire in private when responding to the daily calls of nature. 
In the minds of most persons modesty and privacy are the chief con- 
siderations which lead to the construction of a privy. As such 
privacy may be secured by a clump of bushes or a grove of trees, 
some persons consider a privy unnecessary. 
Modesty and privacy are laudable objects, but all must agree that 
they are of infinitely less importance than the great object of saving 
human life by preventing the spread of disease. 
The essential parts of a privy—A privy should consist of two chief 
parts, namely: First, a receptacle for the excreta; secondly, a room 
to insure privacy. 
The essential problems in constructing a privy—F rom the foregoing 
it is clear that the two great problems to be held in mind in con- 
structing a privy are: First, to protect the receptacle for the excreta 
in such a way that the germs can not be spread; secondly, to con- 
struct the entire outhouse in such a way that persons will seek to 
use it and not to avoid it—in other words, not only must it insure 
privacy, but it must not be a disagreeable place in which to be pri- 
vate. This latter point is especially important in warm climates, 
for many a privy is so disagreeable in warm weather that people, 
especially men, very frequently avoid it. Still another point must be 
considered, namely, the cost of construction and maintenance must 
be brought within the purse limits of the poor as well as of the well- 
to-do family. 
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