New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-03
Dollars Against Lives.


In an effort to achieve economy AS
semblyman Human, majority leader OF
the lower house of the Legislature, has
introduced five bills which would change
drastically the health law and the health
policy of the state. What would result
If these bills by any mischance should
become law would not be economy put
case of purblind peDuy-squeezlng' Inc
state would avoid the expenditure OF sew
eral thousands Of dollars. Some compe-
tent men now In the states service, giving
splendid work at salaries lower than they
could earn in private practice, would be
forced out. And the present successful
efforts to lower the death rate-in 1913
the highest Of all the states, save Mary
land, In the registration area Of the United
States-would almost certainly be checked
The state would save some money. 1t
would lose lives, at rate which would
be to its lasting shame
Public health is purchasable" has long
been the motto of the New York City
Health Department, and the city spends
about 100000 a year in backing that
belief. The city death rate, consequently,
is far lower than that Of the state outside
the metropolis, where, until the reorgani-
cation of the State Department Of Health
in 1918, there was no coherent, consistent
. policy of fighting or preventing disease
; Then, as the result of investigation by a
% Public Health Commission appointed by
Governor Sulzer, new law was adopted
and a new policy put into effect.
The Public Health Council, with DR..
Biggs, the Health Commissioner, at its
head, and eminent specialists for its men,
bers. was formed. A sanitary code was
adopted based on the best modern,
scientific practice, and the state was d.
vided into twenty districts, each with q
sanitary supervisor in charge to enforce
the code. The aim of the council and the
department, under DR.. Biggs, was to re-
duce the death rate at least to that of
New York City-a saving Of 10000 lives
year, which would mean, experts figure
prevention Of 100000 cases Of serious
illness each year.
There was decrease last year-fully
1000 lives in the state outside New York
City. The department carried on an ex'
tensive educational campaign in the care
of babies and the handling of baby dis.
eases. This for lack of funds, could not
cover the entire state. In those places
where this work was done there were over
a thousand fewer deaths of infants thar
had occurred the previous year; where
the work was not done the death rate FOL
infants remained constant.
The Human bills would cripple the Law
and the policy which is accomplishing
these splendid things. The most vicious
of them would require approval Of tn
sanitary code by the Legislature before 1
could take effect-in other words, woult
submit the expert recommendations o
some of the most eminent medical men II
the state TO the Legislature for the gra
cious approval of lawyers, farmers, car
penters, bricklayers and bankers.
Another would reduce the number 0
sanitary districts from twenty to ten, an
the salaries Of the supervisors to $3.50
year, piling up an amount Of work whic
no conscientious man would undertak
and no properly qualified man would thin
of at such a salary. Others would lowe
the standard Of qualifications now de
manded for places requiring expert know
LOO and would permit the abolition o
Missions of Child Hygiene, Publ
" Nursing, tuberculosis, Vital Sta
tistYcs, Communicable Diseases, Admins
tration. Health Education, Sanitary En-
cheering Laboratories and Research.
The appropriation asked for by tn
Health Department this year is only abou
100000. What would it profit New Yor
State to save every penny Of that if
relapsed TO IT'S old death rate? Would no
ths expenditure of that sum be we'll wort
while if it only saved the lives of a thou
sand babies. as the departments work las
year assuredly did?
This is a question Of lives against dol
lars. The state must not put the dolla