The Washington times., 1910-07-25
In the Mail Bag
Inspection Crippled.

To the Editor OF The Washington Times.
Having read with a great deal Of in
terest the article by T. w. oyster in
( The Times, in regard TO the Sums in
this city, and having worked in those
Sums myself while an employe OF
the Health Department. and knowing
the working Of that department Doth
inside and OUT. which has the care Of
the sanitary conditIons existing in these
places venture to give public facts
which the public and the present Com
nissioners should know
The Health Officer himself knows bet
ter than anyone else in this city the
exact conditions in each and every alley.
ana should demand that he be allowed
SUFFICIENT men Inspectors to combat
the many UnsanitaTy conditions which
do e0ist
There are. or at least were, about a
year ago, eight sanitary districts into
which the entire District Of Columbia
is divided There is one man whose pay
may range from 500 10 SI,201 per year.
in charge OF each district Out Of this
small salary he is expected 20 pay all
Of his expenses. and also provide trans
portatiou dozen times a day so that
he may do about half the work which
IS put upon him There is so much work
placed upon the shoulders Of the in
spectors that il is impossible, from a
physical standpoint. for any one Of
them 90 more than half try TO fight the
sLum evil, and the unsanitary conditions
which create the breeding places OF all
kinds Of disease
T. ". Oyster states I'm his letter that
there are too many selfish interests
involved This is true, but with a
strict enforcement Of the health iSWs
these interests would become nil. There
are good laws IN this city. and the Sums
could be made sanitary and the Health
Department could do a hundred times
more work If the Health officer would 90
to the Commissioners and to the COM
fnl-teeS OF Congress which have Jhls
city BeaUrlfEl' III their hands and
demand more men with more pay and
r'-Jper transportation 50 that they might.
HISlr get over more ground and. sec
clu, do their work in such a manner
That IL would be lasting good and not
The reason. and know whereof I speak
that the death rate OF this city COM
Dares uufaEOTably with other cities IS
because ia all the large cities there are
more Inspectors with better pay and
tFarsu 0r-ati1u furnished. so that they
do not have 90 use half Of their time
lu L-lLUlU- from place TO place but
can make Two or three CalSl while the
men iu This city are making one
j. making these few observations. /
am not iu any way rejecting upon the
men iu the local Health Department.
They are. and 7 know from personal
association with them. men OF ability.
ard 7 have never met men In any
health department who are more capa-
BILE
The Commissioners could very easily
look into these statements and ind that
they were true, for I know the c0ndi-
tOns have not changed within the last
year Let them cali for the trGusp0rta-
ricI books. and see j u is not true
that most OF the sanitary inspectors are
only allowed two car tickets q day, with
which they are supposed TO cover miles
Of territory
Let the Health officer request more
men and better pay. and give those men
who often work hours overtime day
and night simply because there IS more
work than any one man can do during
Office hours. chance to advance. and
you VIII have some long way toward
ending the uEslulLlry conditions OF the
slu-ls.
with extra inspectors, furnished with
proper t-a-Eurr- alton. all Of the places
can be inspected and made sanitary
Let also the Police court iiidSes see that
the laws-a-e enforced, and when the
owner or tenant Of ulssuitary premises
is brought into court by the health in
S1rCr0rs for creating a menace 20 tho
public health me such persons heavily
In that way i- would not take long 10
make this. indeed. a "Cttv Beautiful.
AN OLD INSPECTOR