CONVICT LABOR FOR ROAD WORK. 95 



Voiding Excreta on the Surface of the Ground. 



At three of the camps inspected no toilet f acihties whatever were 

 provided. The reasons given by the officials were: (1) That the 

 camp was moved so often (every two months); (2) that this method 

 was as good as any other; and (3) that it was what the convicts were 

 used to, and that the health of the men showed that the method was 

 all right. 



This method is neither safe nor cleanly, and it is because of care- 

 lessness of this sort that typhoid fever, dysentery, Asiatic cholera, 

 hookworm, round-worm, pin-worm, and tapeworm diseases persist 

 and are transmitted from person to person. Officials who are charged 

 with the safe keeping and reformation of law breakers should, when the 

 opportunity presents itself, endeavor to inculcate clean methods of 

 living. 



It should be perfectly apparent that the camp may be contam- 

 inated by excreta on the surface of the ground; that such excreta 

 may be carried to the camp by the feet of men and animals, by flies, 

 and by rain. Danger through contamination of the water supply 

 and the food, or through direct infection, is ever present where such 

 methods are permitted. 



The Sanitary Privy. 



A sanitary privy should afford privacy and comfort to the user and 

 have a water-tight receptacle to receive the excreta. This receptacle 

 should be protected to prevent access of flies or animals to its con- 

 tents and so arranged as to be cleaned easily. 



In order that the sanitary privy may serve its purpose, the inmates 

 of the camp should be rigidly prohibited from voiding their excreta 

 at the outskirts of the camp rather than making use of the privy. 



Privy seats and floors should be scrubbed with soap and water 

 each day. Toilet paper, with fixtures to prevent its becoming scat- 

 tered, should be provided. Rigid rules should be made and penal- 

 ties imposed for their violation. A bucket of clean water, soap, and 

 a couple of basins should be placed in a conspicuous position near 

 the privy, and the waste, after washing the hands, should be emptied 

 into a receptacle provided for the purpose. Excreta find no more 

 direct passage into food, drink, and human mouths than by hands 

 soiled by accident or by carelessness. 



As already pointed out, guards and ''trusties" usually are pro- 

 vided with insanitary privies, or they are permitted to pollute the 

 surface of the ground. The following device, described by the 

 United States Public Health Service ^ is a simple way in which to 

 make conditions sanitary. 



' Public Health BuUotin No. 08, "Safe Disposal of Uuman Excreta at Unsewered Homes.'^ 

 53577°— Bull. 414—16 7 



