The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-10-09
1--WE Suffer From The Bad
Citizenship of Good Men. y
Josiah Strong
Our Dairy Inspection

thrown our diaries into the lme-light. Twenty
seven cases of a dreadful and unnecessary dis
ease resulting from the mismanagement of one
dairy is enough to arouse the indignation OF the
public and to justify the demand that we make
inventory of our health department to see II
we have been asleep on the task OF protecting
ourselves against epidemcs suffering and death
Such state of affairs also warrants the city
calling it's dairy inspector the carpet to ascer
tain if he has been negligent of his duties. The
man who carries the health of city in his hands
has no slight responsibility and must not resent
being called to account when evidences point to
remissness on his part. He cannot expect the
indulgence of the public when a too easy policy
in scoring darymen results in the serious illness
and perhaps death of little children.
But after all there is another side to the dairy
story and which it will be well for us to take
into account. The local health department does
not work in vacuum but has to deal with actual
conditions and with wills and interests of
their These difficulties of the situation are
too often overlooked when the public sets in to
"score" the department.
There are at least four classes of dairymen to
be dealt with by the city department. One is
made up of dairymen who are ignorant. They
have little understanding of sanitation and
logs the path of progress in public health
and must be dealt with in patience and perse-
verance.
Close to this type is the Indifferent: dairy
men who know better, but don't care'' and are
willing to let the public suffer rather than make
few changes about their premises.
More reprehensible are those who, through
avariciousness, deliberately thwart just and
reasonable attempts to regulate the business in
the interests Of the public welfare. These
deserve no pity and should have short shrift
They enemies to the public good and should
be dealt with such. The man who, for selfish
purposes, deliberately jeopardzes the life and
health of hundreds of persons, most of whom are
little children, stands in the same class as all
other murderers and mansaughterers. health
department which tolerates such men is criminal
ly remss in it's duties.
But perhaps the most perplexing problem on
the hands of health department is the poor
dairyman. He would install the right equipment
if he could He means WELL but lacks the means
Poverty makes him law breaker against
his will.
To complicate the situation is the imminent
danger of a milk famine. This has become
chronic danger and must ever hang over the head
of health officer like the sword of Damoces
Even now there is not enough milk adequately to
supply Richmond markets and all indications are
that it will become scarcer still.
The dairy inspector is thus tossed on the
horns of dilemma and on the one hand fears to
be lax in his requirements while on the other he
breads lest, in becoming too strict, he shuts off
part of the supply.
Further than this the inspector is first of all
human being and naturally dislikes being too
harsh with dairymen lest he make his relations
with them permanently unpleasant. He argues
himself into believing that by being patient with
them he succeed in leading them to make i'm
provements to which they never could be driven
Because of this and because of his fear of a
shortage he carries poor and unfit men along and
carefully guards from public scrutiny his rec
ords. To publish the shortcomings of man
would be to ruin his trade and drive him from
the business. In order to help him get himself
in shape the inspector will tolerate evil conditions
and risk the public health in the interests of the
publics demands.
To handicap the department further is the
constant shortage of funds. Richmond spends
but two cents head for public health each year
if we may trust the comptroller's records and
this amount as one at glance. is Woe
fully criminally small. Dayton spends eighteen
cents person and yet is far below the average
We cannot expect competent health department
If we are unwilling to furnish it with the neces-
sary funds.
Because of the shortage of funds it must per-
force do its work with an inadequate equipment
II would be enough to ask an Inspector properly
n attend to the diaries alone, but we crowd on