The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1914-10-30
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MANkATO FREE PRESS

habitants or more should have one
whole time health officer devotinl
himself not to municipal housekeep
ing. cleaning streets or collecting
garbage, but TO the prevention of di
| seAse and death. or course, garbage
collection, street cleaning, etc, are
Important municipal enterprises
but they are matters calling for ad
ministrative business ability, not the
technical training of a medical man
In the origin and methods of spread
of contagion. Through what form Of
imbecility we're our forefathers led
to believe that the ability to dis
tinguish typhoid fever from typhus
fever, training In the use Of the
microscope or knowledge OF the
period during which scarlet fever
Is Infectious were prerequisites to
organizing a gang OF scayengers to
make reasonably good time from
the householders' garbage can to the
city dump? Nuisances also must be
regulated and abated; but these are
pure police duties. An intimate
knowledge OF human anatomy, physi
ology, and pathology Is not a prere
quisite to finding out whether OF
not the smell from a rendering plant
causes complaint amongst the neigh
bers. Poorest of economies Is II To
use teaspoons for driving nails. Why
train a man at great expense over
long years to do one thing we'll and
then set him to do badly something
he has never learned? The whole
time health officer should therefore
have no such occupations to district
him. Communities Of less than 90.
900 may be united to provide
amongst themselves a similar Off
cial.
Conception Is Growing.
This conception OF health depart
ment work Is growing everywhere
but the tendency Is to hand this
work over to the state, because OF
the difficulties the smaller com
munities would have in getting to,
gether satisfactorily on n choice. In
New York, Maryland. Wisconsin in
this country, in Ontario and Quebec
across the line, the state government
has number of such experts each
with his own district to look out
officer, but helping him, doing the
things he now leaves undone, follow.
ing up mild, unrecognized and con-
cealed cases as he cannot or will
not do.
This we hope to see in Mime
sofa. We are asking for twenty such
men in our eighty-four counties out
side Ramsey and Hennepin. The fed
eral government expert who recent
ly investigated Minnesota health
work has strongly recommended this
plan In his official report and we
hope to find you gentlemen con-
vinced and strong supporters of It.
"0ne OF the best brief accounts
of the handling of infectious d.
seases which has recently appeared
Is In the Health Department Bulle-
tin Of Duluth for September, 1914,
and have appended 1t here for your
information, at your further leisure.
But please remember that the whole
meat OF health department Is in
doing t.: and no amount of regula-
ton, advice or wisdom recorded in
your ordinance amounts to prevent
ing a single case of chickenpox IN
less II is done. not merely talked
about Of written"
Appointed Committees.
J. S. jerks of St. Cloud, president
OF the league at the session held
at the armory building late yester-
day afternoon, announced the ap-
pointment of the following commit
tees:
Special committee to look into the
matter of organizing cooperative
municipal engineering bureau for the
instruction of city and village Of
ficials in civic engineering problems,
s. A. Siyerts, mayor of Morris; C..
Fl. West, city engineer, ST. Cloud;
II. ]. Frundt, mayor of Blue Earth.
Question box, Jacob Nicholson,
city attorney OF Austin; r. J. Mon
tague city attorney of Virginia; p.
]. Seberger, mayor of st. Cloud.
Resolutions, E. d. Burlington, city
attorney, Saltwater; William Nc
Craig, mayor of Bemidji: p. o. Hol-
land, alderman Of Mortified.
Auditing, c. S. Palmer, auditing
committee. Duluth; r. G. Price city
clerk, Moorhead; Charles r. SVEN.
son, recorder, Kasota.
Why City Planning Pays.
Harold s. Buttenheim, editor of
The American City, New York, read
a paper yesterday afternoon on why
City Planning Pays" Minnesota and
City Planning for Housing Reform"
was the subject Of a thesis by
Phelps Wyman, landscape architect,
Minneapolis. Oscar Davis, secretary
of the committee on housing of the
Minneapolis Civic and Commerce as
ISOLATION, led the discussion, and
laid a great deal Of stress on the
point that cities should do some
thing to keep up the health Of their
people, and not depend on the fresh
streams of immigration from the
country to keep up the strength and
virility OF the community. Mrs. Condo
Hamlin spoke of the repeated at
tempts made by club women OF st.
Paul to have a commission appoint
ed to take up the matter of laying
out plan for the future develop
ment OF the city. She said Il was
only lately that this had been ac-
complished, although the club won.
en- had been asking for II for as much
as twenty years.