78 PUBLIC HEALTH 



fulness in industrial pursuits is greatest, and it can be amply proved 

 that the cost of their care and cure would be small indeed in com- 

 parison with the loss the community suffers by being deprived of 

 their services. Money spent in erecting and maintaining sanitariums 

 would be saved in almshouses and orphan asylums. 



Even when such places of reception for consumptives are afforded 

 in anything like sufficient measure, there will still be a large class 

 of infected wage-earners who cannot leave their regular occupation 

 because their earnings are needed to support dependent members 

 of the family. For all such the sanitary authorities must exercise 

 greater care. This is one of the great objects in improving the 

 conditions of labor, the ventilation and sanitation of factories and 

 workshops, and the improvement of the tenements in which people 

 of this class are forced to live. Equally must the conditions sur- 

 rounding child labor be the subject of still further investigation 

 and regulation. 



Development of the cognate science of vital statistics is highly 

 important in the study of methods for the prevention of disease. 

 It helps to measure progress and point out the next steps neces- 

 sary. But its aim is of course far wider than this; the record ob- 

 tained by this registration system are of basic importance not only 

 to the sanitarian, but to the student of sociology in all the rami- 

 fications of his work, in political economy, geographical race dis- 

 tribution, education, etc. Add to this their importance in private 

 affairs, where they are often the final arbiters in disputes over titles 

 and inheritance, and we have ample reason for using the pro- 

 ceeds of taxation liberally in developing the work of the vital statis- 

 tician. 



In no respect have the powers and responsibilities of boards of 

 health developed more in the last generation than in the regula- 

 tion of public nuisances. I refer particularly, of course, to the regu- 

 lation of nuisances in cities, because the increase of population in 

 restricted areas in cities has in itself created new sources of nui- 

 sance and brought new problems for solution by the sanitarian. 

 The greater demand for comfort in city life, and the realization 

 that the public health is in large measure dependent upon a re- 

 striction of many things which in the past have made for discomfort, 

 have led to the institution and enforcement of a new body of sani- 

 tary ordinances of a scope not dreamed of even as recently as twenty 

 years ago. These have almost revolutionized sanitary practice 

 and have added enormously to the powers and duties of sanitary 

 officers. 



It is noteworthy that the public demand for relief in this direction 

 has greatly expanded the list of nuisances which have been placed 

 under sanitary control. To the duty of protecting the public health 



