Evening star., 1915-01-08
their inhabitants suffered from typhoid

fever.
AS yet the problem OF making sanitary
has been barely touched. and the magni-
tude of the task be.ore federal and state
health authorities is appalling. 1t is a
federal question because infection Is no
community where infection exists is a
menace to every city to which 1t sends its
products. Realizing the national import
ance of rural sanitation. the United
set about aiding the states in every way
to clean up their rural communities.
The Rockefeller Foundation. which is
combating the hookworm in the south. is
also dealing with the question of rural
sa anitation in broad and effective man
ner But the efforts OF these agencies
seem almost Insignificant when the i'm
mense territory to be dealt with and the
considered The solution of the problem
depends upon the country dwellers them
selves; and what Is needed now is propa-
ganda that will bring home to them the
necessity for concerted action.
X
There can be no doubt but that the
average farmer will make greater ef-
forts to safe
Livestock First guard il
and Family Second. lirestoc,z li, than
that of his family 1t is absurd To say
that he cares more for the livestock, but
for some reason there is a prevalent ten
dency to regard human health as some
thing in the hands of Providence, while
the illness of animals is seen in its true
light, as a matter of cause and effect.
That Is why so many farms Will be found
with splendid sanitary barns, but no ade-
quate safeguard against infection for the
inmates of the house.
This fact is illustrated by the case of
tapeworm, d parasite which has Its
larval stage in the muscles of cattle
and hogs, whence it gets into the hu-
man body, where it attains its full de-
velopment. As soon as a farmer finds
this parasite working havoc with his
live stock he can be persuaded to adopt
sanitary measures which seemed ut
terly unreasonable to him as safe
guards of human health.
This apparent Indifference to prob
lens of sanitation as they affect hu-
man beings is one of the fundamental
difficulties encountered in cleaning up
the rural districts.
Another great obstacle to effective
sanitation in the country is the lack of
health organizations. Rural communi-
ties are much poorer than cities, and it
maintain health organizations because
of the way the population is scattered
A board of health that could care for
10000 persons in city would reach
only a fraction of that number in the
country.
The unit Of organization in the coun-
try is generally the county and usu-
ally ca ach
County Health county has
Officers Poorly Paid. ameas - can
orally he is a busy practicing physi-
clan who is paid a merely nominal sal
ary. The average salary of county
health officers in the United States is
probably not more than 800 year. No
trained man could afford to give any
considerable portion of his time to the
work for such a reward. In cities of
from ten to fifty thousand health Off
GERS are, paid from 5000 to 5000
year, devote all of their time to the
work, and have assistants and inspect
ors besides.
The public health service is advising
the maintenance of a county health or
ganization consisting of a health Of
ficer, who Is to give all of his time to
the work, and a sanitary inspector.
The latter official must be q man of
tact and personality, for rural dwellers
pervision as are city people, and they
resent suggestions unless made with
the utmost tact.
The difficulty in maintaining such an
organization Is that in many counties
the people will not vote the extra taxes
necessary to raise the money. The
problem has been met in Maryland by
law recently passed by the state legis-
iature, which divides the state into
twelve sanitary districts, each of them
under the authority of q health war
den,' who is a physician, giving all of
his time to the work. and receives from
$500 to $1,000 ~ year. Thus adequate
sanitary supervision is provided, re-
gardIess of the county organizations.
which are, however, encouraged to CO.
operate with the state officials.
Despite the numerous difficulties in
the way, however, effective rural sani-
tation is perfect
Good Sanitation ly feasible. The
Perfectly Feasible. made as safe
from infection as model municipa lity.
This was first demonstrated by the
public health service in the lease of
North Yakima, Wash, town of a few
thousand Inhabitants in the center of
particularly rich county. The case
of this community is typical. both as
showing how insanitary conditions be-
come prevalent in rural districts, the
attitude of the people toward them and
how they may be overcome.
Yakima county is probab bly, one of the
richest in the United States. much of
the land being covered with u sort of
volcanic ash, which makes it extremely
productive when irrigated. Much of
the land is worth as much as $4,000 an
acre and following the opening of
several irrigation projects there, the
populat ation increased in ten years from