CONSERVING THE NATION'S MAN POWER 



261 



bodies of troops are to be collected, and 

 that in each instance these surveys, of 

 necessity, covered several hundred square 

 miles. 



When it is taken into consideration 

 that in these locations cities having - a mili- 

 tary population of from 40,000 to 80,000 

 men have been rapidly created in a few 

 weeks ; that the inhabitants of these new- 

 raised cities have been brought from 

 every corner of the Union, and that many 

 of them, in spite of the utmost precau- 

 tions, carry in their bodies the causal 

 agents of disease, and that existing towns 

 near cantonments suddenly receive a large 

 influx of artisans, laborers, and their 

 families, and those who inevitably follow 

 in the train of armies, it is seen that the 

 potentialities of the sanitary situation 

 Avere very grave. In the aggregate the 

 amount of work which had to be done to 

 meet the requirements of these conditions 

 was stupendous. 



Immediately upon the arrival of the 

 sanitary survey party upon the scene, ac- 

 curate information was obtained as to the 

 purity of the public water supply, the effi- 

 ciency of the sewage system and the 

 scavenger service, the safety of the milk 

 and other foods sold to the general pub- 

 lic, the thoroughness of the prevention of 

 communicable disease, the presence of 

 disease-bearing insects, and the general 

 sanitary condition of the environment in 

 contiguity to the cantonment and those 

 areas which troops might reasonably be 

 expected to visit. Mosquito - breeding 

 swamps were carefully surveyed ; the en- 

 gineering measures coincident to their 

 drainage, oiling, etc., were carefully con- 

 sidered. In the rural districts each home 

 was visited, the purity of the well water 

 determined, and the efficiency of house- 

 liold conservancy investigated. 



A study was made of the State and 

 local health machinery at hand and the 

 -extent to which local funds were avail- 

 able for the purpose was noted. An esti- 

 mate was made of the amount of work 

 which would be necessary to place and 

 maintain the area in question in a good 

 sanitary condition. The officer in charge 

 of the survey party made definite recom- 

 mendations as to the extent to which 

 local, State, and Federal funds should be 



expended for the purpose, and the num- 

 ber and character of the personnel neces- 

 sary to accomplish the desired result. 



These surveys were made in coopera- 

 tion with State and local health authori- 

 ties, and upon their completion, if it was 

 believed necessary, an offer was made for 

 the conduct of further work. 



WEEE EQUIPPED AND EFFICIENT STATE 

 ORGANIZATIONS 



Some of the State health departments 

 were so well supplied with funds and have 

 such efficient health organizations as to 

 be able to administer the problem with- 

 out assistance, and were anxious to re- 

 lieve the general government of its duty 

 in this respect. In such instances, a copy 

 of the report of the survey was filed with 

 them, and they continued the administra- 

 tion of health affairs in the extra-canton- 

 ment zone, which is visited from time to 

 time by an officer of the Public Health 

 Service in order to observe the progress 

 of the work in hand, and to cooperate in 

 an advisory capacity should it be neces- 

 sary. 



In other zones the States were able and 

 willing to carry on the work, but de- 

 sired the assistance of experts in meeting 

 special problems. In such an instance an 

 officer was left permanently in the zone 

 in an advisory capacity. 



In the great majority of situations. 

 however, the health authorities felt that 

 it was a proper function of the general 

 government to carry on the work, that by 

 such a plan nation-wide uniformity of 

 action would be secured, and the finan- 

 cial burden borne by the country as a 

 whole, which is responsible in large part 

 for the necessitv for added sanitary labor. 

 In this connection it may be pointed out 

 that practically none of the State legisla- 

 tures were in session, and that they had 

 already made appropriations which they 

 believed adequate to meet the ordinary 

 sanitary needs of their respective States. 

 In such a situation the State Board of 

 Health, no matter how efficient and highly 

 organized, was without means of meeting 

 the extraordinary conditions which have 

 been created. 



In these places, uoon the request of the 

 State and local authorities, an officer of 



