51 



make it embrace the whole county, and to do' this without in- 

 creasing our expenditures. To include the whole county within 

 the scope of the Commission's activities without added expense 

 will be possible by reason of our policy, lately adopted, of 

 requiring much of the work of relieving conditions tO' be done 

 at the expense of the offending property owner. The mieans we 

 intend to employ is that provided by the State Board of Health 

 in its regulations which became effective June i, 191 6, the sixth 

 of which provides as f ollows : 



''Regulation No. 6. No^ person or private or municipal cor- 

 poration shall maintain or permit to be maintained any pool, 

 pond, ditch, stream or other body of water, or any cistern, privy 

 vault, cesspool, rain barrel or other receptacle containing v/ater 

 in which mosquito larvae exist. 



"The penalty for violation of this regulation is a fine of not 

 less than $25 nor more than $ioO'." 



Bad conditions and breeding spots are often found in public 

 parks, city yards and other places directly under control of 

 municipalities, municipal boards and o>ffi)cials; and, strange as 

 it may setm, our efforts to prescribe and apply a remedy have 

 at times been met with opposition and indifference. 



A; certain amount oi conflict with private owners must be 

 looked for, and often an owner resents some action wjiich he 

 considers an arbitrary interference with his rights of owner- 

 ship. Recently we were sued for a large sumi claimed for tres- 

 pass and damage to property fronii which we eliminated a 

 troublesome breeding place, a swamp. We were able to con- 

 vince the jury that our; men had the consent of the man who 

 posed as the owner of the premises and also that our work 

 changed a swamip hole into g'ood building land. 



In the past our Commission has expended considerable money 

 in ditching and otherwise relieving conditions on private prop'- 

 erty, and then has had its work undone by the owner allowing 

 dumping upon the premises. At times the owners allowed con- 

 ditions to become worse than before ouir money was spent. 

 With the power to enforce obedience to our requirements by 

 making complaints under the regulations above quoted, much 

 of this trouble with property owners will be avoided. 



