The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-07-05

and then proceed TO lnIect the A'Ou
supply in the neighboring stores.
Few cities have dealt effectively with
this situation but we are passing be-
yond the stage where the representa-
tive men deprecate the discussion OF
these conditions on the ground that 1t
is bad for business" For seeing men
realize that a low death rate and
well earned reputation as city OF
homes" is a good asset for 2 commun-
ity.
Democracy itself seems to be an
obstacle to sanitary progress. 1t Is
in those cities where there are miles
and miles Of small houses owned by
workingmen in which there is the
greatest difficulty in meeting health
needs. A low tax rate becomes In
them a fetch, and every public ex-
penditupe is scrutinized most closely
so that public officials are loath to
take any action that imposes upon the
electorate additional expense.
The false cry for ECONOMY" which
is so popular, and which is usually a
cry for false economy, threatens to
set back most seriously sanitary and
social progress. 1t is due largely to
these conditions that we have in no
city dealt effectively with our alley
problem. The alley is both a blessing
and a curse. AS a. means of letting
light and air into the interior Of city
blocks, it is a gain, but generally 1t Is
an evil AS a minor street hidden
away the alley becomes the dumping
ground for the cast off material of
humanity The privies are generally
close to it and surface drainage COW
ers the alley with slime. Often it is
the sole outlook upon life that the
poor get from the windows of their
homes,
The alley must be treated as a
street. 1t must be paved, cleaned,
lighted and policed and not left to the
care of the abutting property owners.
The city must assume official RESPONSE
bility for 1t.
tuberculosis is thought to be about
to vanish, but sober vision indicates
that 1t will be years before we see 1t
disappear. Although we have been
taught that tuberculosis is a house
disease" which thrives in dark, UNI
cannot live in strong sunlight yet in
how few cities is the speculative build
err restrained from adding new dark
rooms. In growing western cities,
where space is plentiful and land cheap
new tenement houses are built with
half the rooms dark. In no city have
we progressed 50 far as to prohibit in
private dwellings and public buildings
rooms without direct outside light and
air.
1t seems premature, therefore, to
talk of establishing garden cities"
and zone systems" These ideals
must wait until we can bring our
selves to attend to the elementary
principles Of sanitation and commune
ty living. 1t is as IL the doctor at
tending a patient desperately i'll with
typhoid were to concern himself before
the crisis had passed with the patients
diet during the convalescent stage.
Underlying all Of these evils Is our
failure to develop sanitary inspection
as a vital adjunct of municipal admin
istration. In most cities it is still UNI
explored territory. With two excep-
tions, New York and Chicago. no city
in American has as yet evolved a
system Of inspection worthy of the
name. In practically all our health
departments we placidly await as we
did years ago, citizens complaints, as
Stunning that by attending to these we
shall have done all that is needed,
With the. mass of our working popu-
lation made up, more and more of the
peasantry of Europe, ignorant of our
language and customs and living in
foreign colonies" we can no longer
look to any such methods for discov-
ering and remedying sanitary evils
whatever may have been the case
when we were a homogeneous nation
of American citizens.
Many Of the poor in our large cities do
not know that there is a board of
health. Even If they knew where to
find its offices and can afford the time
to travel TO them to complain, for the
great mass are too illiterate to send
written complaints, they know from
bitter experience that if the source of
the complaint is discovered eviction
by the landlord is sure to follow. So
the worst conditions remain undis-
closed. Coupled with inspection to
discover sanitary evils there should go
a system Of instructive sanitary in
spection" by traind women. Though
1t sounds paternalistic. the inhabitants
OF our large foreign colonies must be
taught how to live. They often fail
to realize that the methods of waste
disposal which were satisfactory to
them in sparsely settled country dis
tricts of rural Europe may not be
safely followed In our urban commun-
tiles.
Why should American cities be so
far behind the enlightened standards
of sanitary science? Partly because
we have drifted along choosing the
line Of least resistance. The. more
fundamental cause, however, is that
we have hitherto not been civilized
enough or intelligent enough to be
willing to spend money for the pres
ervation of health. In hundreds Of
cities, still, the health commissioner
receives no compensation. In every
city the health department is terribly
undermined. The health officials
have done their part as best they
could but we have been SO stupid and
careless that although we grant annu-
ally large sums for the support Of
police and fire departments to protect
property, we have grudged mere pitt
tances to our health officers for the
protection Of human life.