The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-31
MECHANISM WAS PERFECT
THE MINNEAPOLIS MEDICS ON THE
BOARD HAVE 1T THEIR
WAY.
DIR. WESTBROOK's BACTERIA.
Board VIII Not Tell the Public
About Them Until 1t Gets
Ready.


after an informal ballot, received the
unanimous vote Of the state board Of
health yesterday afternoon and was
elected as secretary of that body to
succeed DR.. c. N. Hewitt. The session
Of the state board was without excite
ment or incident of moment In fact
the whole procedure showed the cut
and dried appearance which the
G o e told of before Dr. Reynolds
had been confirmed, of indicating that
the reorganization of the board was a
political move to Gust Dr.. Hewitt and
foist DR.. Bracken into the eX-secre-
tary's shoes.
The b was the first paper in
the state to enlighten the public upon
the inner workings Of the deal which
was to rob the citizens Of one of the
ab4est health officials in the country
merely to satisfy the political within of
governor and appeaSe a certain class
of individuals who had reason to smart
under the able administration of affairs
as conducted by Dr. Hewitt during the
past twenty-five years. The whole
meeting was cut and dried. Those pres
ent were President Franklin Staples,
AA' L., IL Jill w lAOIldy duO OOClOTS It'll
ry Hutchinson, vice president st. Paul;
F. F. Westbrook, of Minneapolis, state
bacteriologist; c. F. McComb, of Du-
luth; H. M. Bracken, Minneapolis; Hen
rik Nissen, Albert Lea, and M. H. Rey-
nolds, Of st. Anthony Park. The latter
is the new member of the board ap-
pointed to fill the vacancy caused by
the expiration of the term Of DR.. Hew-
lit. Soon after the meeting was called
it was moved that an informal, ballot
be cast for the purpose of selecting a
successor to DR.. Hewitt, who had acted
as secretary Of the state board. The
law provides that the secretary shall
be a member of the board The motion
was carried, and DR.. Bracken received
the entire vote, showing how nicely the
whole thing had been arranged, and
how abjectly the members Of the board
were following the behests of the po-
litical machine. DR.. Bracken was Of
ficially declared the secretary OF the
board, and it was all over.
The report of DR.. Hewitt for the years
1895 and 1896 was then read.
In one portion of his report the ex-
secretary says: Until the afternoon
of Jan. II, 1897. did not know that my
term as a member of this board had
expired. The governors secretary in
formed another member of this board
that it had and that 1 had not been
reappointed. This. then, is my last
report. 1 have been secretary of the
board since its organization in 1872 I
have helped and watched it's develop
ment from the beginning to the present
time. The t4h of next March the board
will have completed it's first quarter of
a century, SO that my service as secre-
tary has been within two months of
twenty-five years. The best Of my life
and effort have gone into this work.
1 have spared neither time, labor or
thought to make it what it ought to be.
Such as it is, the record is made and
closed. I resume tomorrow the active
practice Of my profession with the sin
cere wish that the public health serv-
ice of Minnesota may maintain and ad-
vance the position which it has won
among similar organizations in other
states. I am still more anxious that it
continue to serve the whole people in
the future as it has in the past
Continuing with the report, Dr.
Hewitt gives an interesting resume
Of the work of the board during the
past two years. The public health
service of the state consists of 1882
local boards, 48 of which are in cities,
three in boroughs, 355 in villages and
LAOS in townships All but twenty
two Of the boards have made reports.
Dr. Hewitt reports the progress Mime
sofa has made over other states and
says the surrounding comm OnwealthS
are gradually catching up with Mime
sofa. During the years 1856 eighty
seven reports were received from TWEEN
ty-one states regarding the presence Of
small poX. But the greatest danger to
Minnesota from without has been the
importation of infectious diseases in
the clothing, baggage and persons Of
immigrants coming from beyond the
United States In 1886 the board made
vigorous efforts to secure the seaboard
notification from New York harbor, but
failed. In 1891 the immigration
bureau of the treasury department was
established. Secretary Hewitt immed-
lately made a request through the
Marine hospital service to the secre-
tary Of the treasury for the service,
and June a. 1891, the first notification
of infectious disease from the general
government to the board of health OF
an interior state was sent to Mime
SUI Ii OIIl ANSW 1OIh, ana the service
has gone on ever since. A similar serv-
ice was arranged with the Quarantine
department of the Dominion of Canada
AS a result of the service, IS notifica-
tiCnS were received from New York
Z from Canadian quarantine, and two
from other seapOTts of the states were
received during the years 1856, cover
ing 464 persons who had been exposed
to infectious diseases. The form and
nature of the disease and the destina-
ton in Minnesota Of the person infect
ed, was always given in the kilograms.
The secretary recommended that the
service be made more complete.
Dr. Hewitt recommended that the
laws be changed to provide for the ap-
pOintment of members of township
boards to serve one, two and three
years. which would always leave two
experienced men on the board at the
same time. OF the population of the
state 406 per cent reside in cities Of
over 1000, 81 per cent live in the cities
Of Minneapolis and st. Paul, and 9.4
per cent of the population in cities of
over 5000 population. The cities Of
Minneapolis and st. Paul have health
commissioners, SO other cities have a
board of health with a medical man
acting as health officer. OF the 355
villages and boroughs in the state, 2S3
have boards of health, all but 81 having
physicians as health officers, and the
laymen are serving in the "a for tho