Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-04-09
STATE HOUSE,
March Number of Sanitary In
spector Issued to Public.
Old Home Week Association Will
Meet in Augusta, April 10.
Notes From the Military Department and
Other Capitol News.

The March number of the Sanitary In.
spector, has been issued by Sec. A. G.
houhS or the State Board of Health NJ ,
lts contents are of interest and value. 4
| NUMBER OF notes, touching ON sanitary
ana other subjects appear in the first
pages. The Inspector says:
In these days when SMALLPOX has bo,n
50 prevalent in the adjoining province
aiiu state, east and west of Us, and is
me country. the diasnostic points OF
smallpox should not lie allowed to he
come hay. They are given in Circular
no. " Every board OF health should
naNe hXed IN mind distinctly just wha :
should be done if Il case of snallpoS
should appear in their midst.
In speaking of some recent legislation.
under the head in Memoriam," the In
spector says:
The result of the effort made by the
state Board OF Health and by the local
boards to have the LEGISLATURE cstahl;sh
help and safety of the whole Stat. a
properly equipped meteorological and
enc mlcal laboratory has resulted only in
4 reference to the next Legislature How
unfortunate a further utlay is in GEL
ing what IS essential a help in public
health work is well known. not only by
every physician, but should be under
stood by every citizen whose readin.; has
Kept him any where nearly in touch with
the better phases of human progress in
the last decade. believe also that it
may truly he said that but few OF the
members of the Legislature fail to real
ize the need of the laboratory. Ii is due
the legislative committee also to whom
the bill was referred. 10 say that more
than one member of that committee has
said that every member of il recognizes
the urgent need OF the laboratory ana re-
SrctS that the commit zee felt constrained
to do as il did.
The whole trouble is the cry Of econ
cmy. The Statc is just now too poor.
Poor, indeed. is a state that must lag be-
hind her neshboring states in maxim.
provisions for guarding its people against
prevo ntable ma ladies and needless NOR
tdlity. We now 1--we in The only New Eng
land state which has not provided its
State board with laboratory. Many of
the other state and provincial boards are
properly equipped in this direction and
size add greatly to the usefulness Of their
health departments by giving them the
help Of laboratory facilities. For the
yearly RAINING expenses of its laboratory
the New Hampshire board has 5000. the
Vermont board has $1,000. Our board
asked for only $30o0 and, by restrc ing
itself to the work which is the most ur-
gently needed in the state, hoped to do
much good with this small fund.
Before meeting Of Academy Of Med
said sgie hat if State laboratory should cp
to save five children yearly from death
with diphtheria it would amply pay for
itself. Yes. SAID one legislator TO WhOm
this REMARK was mentioned. ii il saved
one child and the child was mine, it
would amply Justify itself.
The State Board of Health understands
full well the need. of an economical ad-
ministration OF the affairs of state, bat IL
is not alone in believing that so-called
economical moves in some directions
constitute the rankest kind of waste.
Parsimony in the garb of economy some
times imposes a burden tenfold more
grievous than the one which il promises
to tighten.
In the city of 4Iailowe.. says the In
spector, there now exists a good illustra-
ton of the urgent needs of laboratory.
a sudden outbreak of 90 cases of maliG-
nant typhoid with four deaths thus far
has occurred There was an urgent need
for the help of well equipped labora-
tory but it was not available. 1t was
found that three members of family
early in the winter, had typhoid in an
other part of the city ard that, before
their convalescence. they had moved INTO
the tenement later infected. These cases
were not reported to the local poard Oh
health as the law requires.
The Inspector reals fully with the Ell
forts toward the establishment of Maine
State SanitoriuF