CHAPTER XXVI 

 HEALTH OFFICERS 



1. What are the duties of health officers? 



2. What sort of ordinances should a city pass 

 in order to protect the health of its citizens ? 



When people are living together in communities, it is 

 necessary for all to cooperate in order to look after those 

 matters that affect the public health. This work is in- 

 trusted to a group of men called the board of health, or to 

 one man called the health officer. 



Amount of money spent. Our American towns and cities 

 have given altogether too little attention and money to the 

 very important work of looking after the health of the com- 

 munity. The work of the boards of health is greatly handi- 

 capped by lack of funds. An investigation made of the 

 amount of money spent by various cities in maintaining 

 the work of the board of health showed that in cities of from 

 30,000 to 50,000 population, an average of only twenty-seven 

 cents per capita was spent annually. This is altogether 

 inadequate to provide for the maintenance of an effective 

 health board; at least twice this amount should be spent. 

 In cities of 20,000 population and over, one man should be 

 employed to give his entire time to the work. And in the 

 case of smaller towns, several towns may unite to employ 

 a man. 



Politics and health. One thing that greatly hinders the 

 work of looking after the public health at the present time 

 is the fact that the appointment of the officers is too often 



2E 417 



