The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1914-06-20

WANTED-By the State Board of
Health, on and after July l,
1914, ten deputy health officers,
graduates of medicine and
"trained in sanitary science and
hygiene.
On the date mentioned the new
Board of Health laws passed by the
recent General Assembly go into eff
feet. DR.. John S. Fulton, in addition
to being secretary of the State Board
of Health, will become the State
health officer. The State will be di-
vided into 10 sanitary districts, each
with deputy health officer in charge,
and the power and authority of the
health officials will be greatly enlarg-
ed.
So sweeping are the powers confer
red upon the State Board of Health
and its officials that should these pow
ers be used arbitrarily and unrea-
sonably the general objection that
might result would, in the opinion of
some, cause a reaction and do mucn
to defeat the object of the new laws.
For Exceptional Cases Only.
Such a use of their wide authority,
however, is very far from the ideas of
DR.. Fulton or the members of the
board. They need and want extensive
powers, to be used, perhaps, in excep-
tional cases and for the moral effect
upon those who would obstruct their
work, but they understand that to get
the greatest success In health and
sanitary reform such powers must be
exercised with tact and moderation.
Speaking of this, DR.. Fulton said:
"One of our chief objects is to per-
give them-cleanliness and health
The first six months under the new
system of having district sanitary off,
GERS will be very interesting. 1t will
be too late in the season to accom-
plish much in the way of results this
year, but if the deputies work with
skill and tact, | expect to see great
Improvement next year, IN the mat
ter of typhoid, FOR instance"
Some of the Provisions.
There were three so-called health
bills introduced by President Price in
the Senate and passed by the Legisla-
ture late in the session. The first of
these provides, among other things:
That the secretary o. the State
Board of Health shall be the State
health officer. with an increase of sal
ary to $4,000 year.
That the State shall be divided into
ten sanitary districts, fo-.owing county
lines, each district to have a deputy
health officer stationed therein, whose
duty it shall be to represent the board
and to have supervision and control of
all sanitary and health matters in the
district under instructions from the
State health officer and the board; and
That the board through its deputies
and agents shall be granted additional
powers, such as the right to enter up
on and inspect private property and
abate any nuisance found upon such
property; the right to summon wit
nesses and administer oaths.
Whole Time to State.
The deputies must be skilled in
medicine, sanitary science and hy-
glene; they may not practice or en-
gage in any other work; and they are
to be paid not less than 1900, nor
more than So, 800 a year each. DR..
Fulton says that he does not think the
board will pay any one of them the
maximum salary or anywhere near it
at first. His idea is to grade the sal
aries according to the Importance of
the work Of each district, make the
force mobile one, so that the mem
bers may be promoted from one dis
trict to another for good work, and let
the salaries depend upon the quality
of the work accomplished.
The deputy health officers will have
no fixed term of office. They are to
serve indefinitely during efficiency and
good conduct; but the board may at
any time discharge any one of them on
written charges of inefficiency or other
good cause.
Governs All Fcod Supplies.
The second of the health bills gives
the board authority over all concerns
where food is manufactured, as can
neries, bakeries, slaughterhouses, etc;
where it is prepared for eating, such
as hotels and eating houses; and where
is packed, stored or said The board
of health has heretofore had super
vision over all food products to see
that they are pure and wholesome,
but the new act gives it authority to
see also that food products are prepar-
ed in clean place and by clean people.
The third of the health bills, known
as the Sanitary Engineering bill, has
been called the "SiXteen-inch Gun" of
the trio. 1t gives the State Board of
Health almost unlimited control of
all the waters of the State, springs,
streams, ponds, the Chesapeake Bay
and its estuaries, and even that por-
tion of the Atlantic Ocean within the
borders of Maryland; it gives the
board control over all the watersheds
and water supplies of the State, and
cver all the sewerage disposal, not
only of the city of Baltimore, but of
every town, village and county, and
even of all the water supplies and
sewerage disposal arrangements of
property owned by corporations or
individuals.
Wide Powers Over Towns.
The board may order sanitary i'm
proVements in town, or county, and
may enforce the same, the law itself