PAPERS OX MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 297 



d to take the responsibility of public health service 

 will treat that appointment somewhat as a side issue and 

 not as the issue." 



The great objection to the employment of full-time 

 men has been the supposed inability to pay a requisite 

 salary. This objection is overcome in the State of Illi- 

 nois and in several other States by the adoption of the 

 law wherein two or more towns can join together and 

 form a public health district and levy a small tax for 

 the maintenance of the health department. If this is 

 properly presented there should be very little difficulty 

 in securing public health departments in any number of 

 communities, for the benefits conferred are far greater 

 than can be had by any other investment. To nullify as 

 much as possible political influence, the law of Illinois 

 provides that appointments should be made from a list 

 of eligibles from the State Department of Public Health, 

 and this list is made up by a competitive examination. 



The law that I refer to was caused to be placed upon 

 our statute books by the late Mr. F. W. Matthiessen of 

 LaSalle, a man of remarkable vision and fortunately as- 

 sociated with it the ability to determine its expediency. 

 He endowed the Hygienic Institute for LaSalle, Peru and 

 Oglesby with sufficient funds, the income of which pays 

 the necessary expenses. The Hygienic Institute is a 

 corporate body operating solely for the benefit in pub- 

 lic health service for the three cities mentioned. The 

 Institute employs a Director who is Health Commis- 

 sioner of each city and a member of the board of health 

 of each respective city. The Hygienic Institute is con- 

 trolled by a Board of five Trustees and is perpetual iu 

 character. Besides the Director it employs necessary 

 assistant Health Commissioners, Bacteriologist and 

 Chemist, three school Xurses and an Infant Welfare 

 Nurse, a Veterinary for inspection of dairies. Stenog- 

 rapher and assistant Technician, and owns and operates 

 one of the finest Isolation Hospitals for contagious dis- 

 eases. All of these at its own expense, and the price is 

 not prohibitive to any community of our size. Our 

 records prove that our morbidity and our mortality and 

 our longevity are of a better percentage than communi- 

 ties who do not operate with a full-time health officer. 



