RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 241 



Much of the work now being performed by the medical officer 

 of health should be undertaken by the sanitary engineer. The 

 medical officer has full scope for his skill and energy in fields 

 which are essentially his own, and much of the municipal and sanitary 

 engineering work he is doing is a burden of which he would rather 

 be relieved, and which would be more efficiently ]>erformed by proper- 

 ly qualified engineering officers giving whole time service. 



But until there is a skilled municipal department in each province 

 to advise and help local authorities with engineering advice we cannot 

 expect satisfactory improvement in the status of the municipal 

 and sanitary engineer nor effective local administration of public works 

 and sanitation. 



In our Universities, too, we want to see an awakening to a more 

 vital interest in civic problems and in the science of land development 

 and industrial organization. Professor Geddes claims that the Univer- 

 sities in all countries in the passing generation have been strongholds 

 of Germanic thought, with its mechanical and venal philosophy. 

 "The re-awakening movement of the Universities has been slow, timid, 

 blindfold because lacking in civic vision."* 



Enough, but not too much, has been said in the preceding pages 

 on the subject of land speculation. It may be added, however, in sup- 

 port of the above recommendations, that this speculation has not only 

 been injurious in its legitimate forms but that it has been accompanied 

 by much dishonest dealing which has caused hardships to numerous 

 purchasers and destroyed a great deal of confidence in real estate in- 

 vestment in Canada. The governments have a special obligation, as 

 the original vendors of the land, and in view of the far-reaching 

 effects of immoral practices in connection with its sale, to employ 

 special means to protect purchasers from such practices. There 

 are numerous obvious steps which should be taken in this respect, 

 including the registration of those engaged in real estate operations 

 and the application of adequate safeguards to protect purchasers. 



Government control of land development and the system of 

 assessing and taxing of land should have regard to its use, its non-use, 

 and its abuse as an instrument of production. The economic use of 

 land must be encouraged, the non-use of land hindered, and the abuse 

 of land prevented, by government policies; unless we intend to con- 

 tinue to sacrifice the surplus fruits of production — the only source 

 from which increase of real wealth is derived — for the plaything of 

 speculation. 



*The Sociological Review, May, 1917. 



