New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-07-06
The Trolley Society Plan.

more than half go.
The Trolley Society Plan
At the present time the association ac-
cepts cities Of 10000 or more Inhabitants
as being within its field Of work Mr..
Mclean considers It proved beyond
doubt that even the smallest OF these
cities is able to pay for the fun time
OF n trained worker. and the number
Of INQUIRIES about organization in these
smaller communities Is constantly IN
creasinG.
Mr. Mclean is interested in develop
ing the Idea of a trolley society for
villages and towns connected BY interurDau
lines. lie Is not ready 20 prophcsy Just
how such n scheme will work out In
practice. but wants to see the expert
rncnt made in the smaller isolated COM
munities.
Speaking Of the cvcrprescnt nec"s-
sity FOR follow up" work. Mr.. Mclean
said:
Even when group Is apparently
started along the right road OF organi-
zation, they pick up queer idea from
somewhere before one knows ii. and the
work has TO be done all over again. one
little city Of 5000 got hold Of an "N-
tremely complicated plan for central
council and has not yet been entirely
looscd from the ontangling moshcs. In
some places organizations have to he per
suaded 20 give up partly institutional
features which have been slowly drag
ging them down. Many a society on los
Ing a good secretary will try 10 econo-
rnlze on the next one, thinking that since
the movement Il we'll started IT viii go
along steadily and well.
Improved sanitation. better housing
and the prevention Of tuberculosis, IRE
problems that every new society finds
awaiting IT, Sometimes there IL. an ac-
tive Health Department already in the
forefront Of the fight. but oftener these
departments are weak and inefficient. and
the cause OF such a condition is usually
the lack Of an adequate appropriation. |
have come TO believe pretty firmly that the
proper support of an efficient Health
Department IS one Of the most impor-
tant things that faces tho small city
society. city administrations and the com
nnunities back Of them should lie shown
that the Health Department is fully as
necessary as the Police or Fire Department
and that 10 reduce tho appropriations 20
practically negligible amounts is a pub
lie crime The best Health Department
cannot cost as much as the Fire and
Police departments side by side with it,
Health Officer Himself Contributed.
I'VE found ono extreme case in Mis-
souri, Valley city where a well-to-do man
had been made chief health officer. The
appropriation for tho work was so entirely
insufficient that the health officer paid
hundreds of dollars out of his own pocket
I'm order to get any results at all.
az am quite sure that the mission OF the
charity organization movement In this
direction is very real one. There Is al
ways need for constant improvements In
such departments and where no health
department exists and public opinion has
10 be educated TO the need OF one, the re-
sponsibillty Is very great. AS rule
charity organization has deeper and
more intimate knowledge or conditions
than would other types OF societies. such
as women's clubs, and 1t would not be
open to the suspicion Of personal ambition
which IS often entertained when such
movements are pushed forward by medi-
cal associations | am firmly convinced
that the progress of public health reform
in tho smaller communities is closely con-
nected with our movement. and since our
field Investigations have revealed tho
chaos existing in the public health field
I would emphasize the double Importance
OF such work"
The secretary has observed in his vari-
Gus studies the prevalence OF neglected
families Of American stock.
Whatever may be said regarding the
effect OF foreign immigration upon our
problems" he declared, everywhere
have found the neglected American fam
fly: not SO often in the larger cities, but
with increasing frequency in the smaller
cities away from the Atlantic Coast, and
such families constitute one of the most
difficult OF all our problems"