The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-12-23
THURSDAY, DECEMBER %, 1915
Efficiency and ECONOMY.

The big demand in the world today
is for efficiency. Great industrial con-
Germs spend millions of dollars annu-
ally just to make the men in their en-
ploy efficient. Municipal boards have
been declared not to be nearly as eff
Gent as the organizations made by
men promoting private enterprise.
Efficiency and economy have been a
sort OF slogan to conjure by but in
few places has the slogan been realiz-
ed. Uncle Sam makes some mighty
close Investigations some times and the
census bureau at Washington has just
given out a report which shows that
Ken0sha is one of the first cities of
the nation to combine efficiency and
economy in the handling Of its prob
lens of public health. The name Of
Kel osha is known throughout the ma
tlon because Kenosha. has an efficient
health Department. department that
really does things--a department that
shows results in cutting the death rate
to minimum. Now the government
gives Kenosha new record This is
the record of reaching the highest eff
cheney with pretty close to the mini
mum OF cost. All Of which goes to
show that it is not always the expend-
iture of money which brings the great
est results. Efficiency is to be obtained
through efficient officials rather than
hu i1,1io aE
Kenosha has a lower death rate
than any city of it's size in Wis
consin if not in the United States and
yet Kenosha spends less for the main
tanning Of health departments than
any city Of its size in the state. Mad
ison only little larger than Kenosha
spends more than seven times as much
per capita for maintenance of it's
health department Milwaukee spends
more than ten times as much per cap
tia than Kenosha, Racine spends moro
than twice as much. Tt is possible
that the Kenosh1 appropriation for
the defense of the public health is low.
We have argued in the past that the
fund of $4,000 annually set aside for
this greatest work Of the community
should be more but the fact that Ke-
nosha has succeeded beyond other
cities with the small appropriation
shows the one thing and that is the
efficiency of the men who have been
called upon to handle the business of
the department. Money can not bring
health nor can it fight off disease.
Efficient work can fight disease eff
GENTLY and bring healthful conditions.
With larger appropriation it is pos
sible that the wor,. of the Kenosha
health department could be made even
more efficient. Multiplication of Off
cial positions as has been done in many
cities can not bring results. A force
should be large enough to do efficient
work and when it is larger it becomes
a municipal waste even if the waste is
in the name of public health. Some
of the appropriations made by cities
for the defense of the public health
are staggering to an economical Keno
sha alderman. Madison gives SAT 900,
Superior $4,000, Racine $4,000,
Green Bay $4,000. When it is con-
sidered that Kenosha with an approp-
ration of but $4,000 gets results which
all of them are seeking but which none
attain the statement is one for pardon
able pride. The loyalty of men who
serve on the Kenosha health board,
the hard work of the officials who
draw the few salaries paid are directly
responsible for this result and they
are entitled to every possible credit.