THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 19 



Was there ever more striking evidence 

 of the immense contribution which the 

 science of sanitation makes to the welfare 

 of mankind than those figures? With 

 every element of natural conditions in 

 New York tending to promote the spread 

 of diseases, the health officer has not only 

 held them in check, but has reduced their 

 harmful power to a half, a third, a fifth, 

 and in one case to a sixth of their former 

 potency. 



Such a tremendous success in the mas- 

 tery of "catching" diseases — under which 

 term I include those that are infectious 

 with those that are contagious — forms an 

 epic in human progress. 



There are enough babies born in New 

 York City every year to populate four 

 cities like Charlotte, North Carolina, Osh- 

 kosh, Wisconsin, Roanoke, Virginia, 

 Hamilton, Ohio, or Springfield, Missouri. 

 As many people in New York die an- 

 nually as live in four cities like Elkhart, 

 Indiana, Leavenworth, Kansas, Beverly, 

 Massachusetts, or Raleigh, North Caro- 

 lina. So many births mean an unrelent- 

 ing fight and eternal vigilance to keep 

 down infant mortality. 



THE PRICE OF HEALTH 



New York has found, in the words of 

 its Commissioner of Public Health, that 

 it is possible to purchase public health. 

 He maintains that the health officer of a 

 progressive American municipality should 

 not be limited, even to the smallest frac- 

 tion, in the service or funds necessary in 

 his work any more than the builder of a 

 suspension bridge should be expected to 

 provide a safe span with three cables in- 

 stead of the four which conditions de- 

 mand. "Within natural limitations," says 

 this authority, "a city can determine its 

 own death rate. Health insurance is as 

 reliable and profitable an investment for 

 the municipality as it is for the indi- 

 vidual." 



New York's chart shows how the gen- 

 eral death rate has been hammered down 

 and down under the application of mod- 

 ern methods. In 1874, 27.90 people out 

 of every thousand died — a normal year 

 for those times. In 191 7, 13.76 out of 

 every thousand died. In other words, 

 New York is saving about 80,000 lives a 



year through the application of the laws 

 of scientific sanitation. 



Eternal vigilance is the price of health 

 in a congested community like New York. 

 No man may keep a stable without a per- 

 mit, and no permit is forthcoming until 

 thorough provision against flies and filth 

 accumulation has been made. 



The water supply is carefully watched 

 and samples frequently analyzed to make 

 sure that the city never drinks a mixture 

 of disease germs and water, as so many 

 municipalities do. Even the water-boats 

 which deliver drinking water to ships in 

 the harbor, the bottled waters that are 

 sold, the drinking waters on railroad 

 trains and river steamers are constantly 

 under the scrutiny of the department. 



The mosquito is fought as assiduously 

 here as it was at Panama. Rats are 

 guarded against ; the ordinance against 

 common towels and drinking cups is 

 rigidly enforced ; and in a hundred ways 

 the health department makes the city in- 

 hospitable to the germ army that ever 

 seeks a foothold in hapless human systems. 



The activity of the health department 

 which has the most widespread appeal, 

 however, is the work of the Bureau of 

 Child Hygiene. More than 140,000 visits 

 of the stork occur annually, and to give 

 the little pilgrims a chance to grow up 

 and become useful Americans is one of 

 the city's principal concerns. Only two 

 decades ago one out of every five of the 

 tiny kiddies lost the hard fight against 

 the diseases of infancy before it was a 

 year old, and went to tenant a tomb in- 

 stead of living to gladden a home. To- 

 day, however, with the health service as 

 its ally, the baby army goes marching on, 

 losing only one out of ten of its number. 



GUARDING THE CHILD'S MILK SUPPLY 



Knowing that the germ army attacks 

 the child army mainly through the milk 

 supply, some sixty infant's milk stations 

 are maintained, and here the mothers of 

 the children come for wholesome milk 

 and for instruction. The first thing 

 taught is that the breast-fed baby has a 

 much better chance to win its battle for 

 existence than the one fed on cow's milk, 

 and thousands of mothers are thus in- 

 duced to give up their intention of rear- 



