The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-29

and that the state board of health of Alabama is an irresponsible organization. Let us see if the facts justify the state ment
 Public health administration is one of the police powers of the state. The leg islature. v ltf the consent of the governor, Is vested with the constitutional authority to administer this police power for the
 people in the manner best approved by
 itself. and through such machinery as it
 sees fit to create. The legislature, with the consent of the governor, created the board of health just as it created the board of trustees of the Bryce Insane hospital, and more recently the board of control (See chapter 9. article 1, code of Alabama. 1907. Vol 1.)
 "The legislature, with the approval ot
 the governor. enacts from time to time certain laws through which public healtl, administration shall operate and has
 charged the Medical association of the
 state of Alabama, which Is the state
 bcard of health, with the administration of the jaws The legislature can with
 draw all authority and power thus dele gated whenever 1t is apparent that 1t Is
 being abused or not being faithfully ex- ercised.
 Tn other words, the state board of health belongs to the people and not to the doctors, as is so frequently stated, anu it's functions can be placed in the hands of the sheriffs of the state, or
 the state politicians for administration, if the legislature is minded so to place 1t, bus it must be placed somewhere. If the legislature takes the administration of its health laws out of the hands of the doctors, in whose hands should it be placed to obtain better results? Give it 10 the people is a phrase to con1ure with. but what is the plan? Where is the or ganization Who will do the work?
 Among the duties with W hich the state beard of health is charged is that of clecting the state health officer. who is the executive officer of the board. The Alabama inethod of efecting health of icer had fer it's sole purpose the re- uoval of Luf1ic health administration from state politics. The experience ot other states has demonstrated the un- wisdom of putting the office upon the port;cal pie counter every four years. The legislature, in its sovereign capae- i.y. deliberately chose this Inethcd with the obvious intent of removing it's state bcart cf renlth as far from st. te poli- ties as F ssible, just as the adn,inistra- tiou Of the State university and the Bryce hospital was removed from state poli- ties The state health off ger is not a state officer within the meai.ing of the constitution, because the office Is not irc rtioned in the constitution. He is a statutory officer as the superintendent CT t..e Bryce hospital is a satutory of fircr. and as such is anicnatlt to all laws applying to officehot in.s. but does rot enjoy many of the rights and priv ileges belonging to constitutional of ficer. The statement that he is not re- sponsible to the laws of the state that govern all other officers is to presume ;,>t. nf hA a make the proponent ridiculous. He is under bond for twice the amount Of money that Is in his possession at any one time. He is required by law to give an itenized statement of the items for which the money appropriated has been expended. The legislature prescrioes every item for which the money can be expended and requires that a report be made to the governor once year. (See article l, chapter 22, section >73s. code of Alabama, 1907, volume 1.) An itemized statement of the amount expended, of every dollar ever appropriated to she board is on file in the office. and 1t Is a source of pride to us that not dollar ever allowed by the state health officer has ever been disallowed by the state ex- aminer.
 asked because the board had raised the health officers salary during his term of office. If he had been constitutional officer and not statutory officer this could not have been done No other point was ruled on.
 "In the case of Harrington it was con- tended that Harrington, not being cit ixen of Jefferson county, was ineligible to b. county health officer of Jefferson county. The court ruled again that Har- ril gton could hold office because he was statutory officer and not constitu- tional officer. No other point was ruled on.
 Tt was not decided in either case that Sanders and Harrington were not of- ficers. It was only decided that they were not the kind of officers which were included in section 2S1 of the constitution or in section 1467 of the code The court distinctly said that the words officer and office were susceptible of more shades of meaning than, perhaps, any words in the English language. and in deciding these cases the court ruled that section 2S1 of the constitution did not apply to pr. Sanders or to the office which he filled, and in the case of Har- ringtor it was decided that section 14sl of the code did not apply either to pr. Harrington or to the office which he filed. The fact that quo warranto pro- ceedings applied to Harrington is prima facie evidence that the court held that he was an officer, and the custer pro- ceedings instituted against Sanders was admission in law that he was an officer and filled an office.
 ..It was stated repeatedly in the opin- ion in both caees that they would be and undoubtedly were included within the meaning of the words officer" and "office," as used in other constitutional provisions and statutes. It was expressly stated that the place of all-time health officer might be included within the meaning of of the phrase public of fice' as is used in the quo warranto stat ute, section 545s of the code.
 "The courts have never held that the state health officer was not amenabie to the laws that operate against malfeasance or misfeasance in office. In fact, the ef- feet of the ruling is to make him amen- able to quick and summary action should his removal fnom office become neces- sary.
 Tt Is contended that the health of fcer is not responsible to ths gover- nor because the governor cannot remove him from office. This statement would imply that the governor can remove other officers. The governor cannot re- move the secretary of state, who IS a state officer. nor the auditor. nor sheriff or . probate judge. even though he may have appointed the two latter to office. They are state and county of ficers within the meaning of the consti- tuition and are entitled to trial by the courts before they can be removed from office. The governor cannot remove the pr esident of the State university, nor the president of the Alabama Polytechnic in stitute. nor the superintendent of the Bryce hospital. The health officer can not be removed fnom office by the gov ernor, but he could be dismissed at once by the board on complaint of the gover-