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Show HEALTH DEPARTMENT BIG DIVIDEND PAYER OF CITY Is One Division of Administration Which Follows Citizenry From Birth Until Death, Always on Guard. WHhlX the various departments and j in slit u i ions comprising Salt j Lake's city government are J considered with reference to their relation to the poeketbooks of the citizens, it Is altogether likely that the health department will be found upon examination to be as big if not a bigger dividend payer as any other dc-pa dc-pa mi tent or institution. In tialt Lake, as hi almost every similar simi-lar community the country over, the citizens citi-zens are prone to look upon their municipal munici-pal government as a necessary eI, representing rep-resenting mostly a financial outlay out of all proportion to the benefits, financial or otherwise, derived thersfrom, and seldom sel-dom does il o-cur to Mr. Fiain Citizen to consider with sufficient ciosc:iess and accuracy, if at ail. the ways in which his municipal machinery earns or saves money for him. The in teres t of the citizenry seems in large measure to end when lie or she has ricpo.sit.ed. with great care, a ballot in tiie ballot box on sundry periodical election elec-tion days. Citizen Too Busy. This condition results, In large degree, from the fact tha t figures for checking purposes in municipal matters cannot be had witli out considerable effort, involving involv-ing the searching of records and an extensive ex-tensive digest of the figures revealed thereby; for all of which tho citizen cannot can-not spare the time, being of necessity too much occupier! in the attempt to corral enough additional "Iron men" to enable him to keep abreast of the upward trend of the price of pork and beans, ham and eggs and similar articles, over all of which the health department exercises a supervision that John Sm'th Is blissfully unconscious of as he devours them. The activities of the health office are such in their nature that they touch the daily lives and the poeketbooks of the people in more ways and more places than do the activities of any other oily office, but tiiis fact too often escapes the notice of the public, because of the indirect, and even remote, manner in which they are affected thereby. Always on Guard. Most of us at some time in our lives deal with every department of the city j government, but the health department hart its finger on us from the day we are born until the day when six or eight j lifelong friends draw on white cotton i gloves amid the stillness of the banked-up banked-up flowers sent either by friends of grate- I ful memory or by those whose delicacy j of judgment prevents the in f ro m say i n g they are happy to know that we have gone to our reward. The moment you are born the health office makes a note of that fact, and, it ' follows you through life with a book in one hand and a pencil in the other, ready to jol down any vital statistics that you may happen to drop en route, such, for ' instance, as if you should contract me.i:-:cs, scarlet frvcr. mumps, tuberculosis tubercu-losis or any s'mihir ailment, including pediculosis, which you misbt contract w!i:le on a plummtmr expedition. A feature of the division of vital statistics, statis-tics, the -value of hich cannot oil lie cO't.pmc'1 in terms of money, la the record rec-ord of binhs and deaths, the certiiication of whi'-h ,'i:s a letai status In the courts, and is often !ns-rumen ;al in deciding matteis of citiensifip. marriage, bequests and inheritance. The recent army draft law iliutiLrated the importance of tho records rec-ords in this division. The young man who desired to serve in the army or navy, pnd who had difficulty in convincing the recruiting of:i. r t :at he was of " age. hastened in the )u.;Uth of hoe for a certificate, cer-tificate, us did also the oilier youn:: man who appeared, old enough lo serve his country, hoi who wjjh strong for safety first. ' For" neveral we-ks last spring, about 1 lie time ot the draft r gist ration, the division of vital i-tatiHiies was fiooied wit h retue-ji s lor duplicate birth cert ideates id-eates by i-o'ili men who wished to serve and those who wished to avoid service. Gathers Much Refuse. In the sanitary division of the health oi lice a few jignre.y easily obtained will I serve to illustrate the saving possibilities possibili-ties to the public of the efficient performance per-formance of certain duties highly essential essen-tial lo the welfare of the country. Fased on a population conservatively estimated at about -1,000 families, tho health office collects and removes garbage and ashes at an annual expense of approximately ap-proximately $50,000, or $2. OS per family per year, whereas in other cities, where private scavengers are employed for such work, the average cost amounts to from 510 to $15 per family per year, or from $240,000 to sr.RO.000 for a city of 2-!00 families. Incidentally, it may be said that Salt Lake is one of the few cities of this country where the health authorities supervise the removal of ashes. The removal re-moval of defunct cats and other animals is part of the work of this division of the health board. The milk and dairy division fixes the standards of cleanliness to be maintained by dairies and milk depou, and analyzes the milk and cream left on your doorstep door-step each morning. These commodities must contain a certain number of bacteria, bac-teria, but they must not be of the typhoid ty-phoid variety. Saves Much Money. Since unclean milk, cream and ire cream are highly instrumental in causing caus-ing epidemics of disease, il can readily be seen how the work of the health office of-fice in this connection saves a great amount of money for the public, not only in reducing doctor and drug bills to a minimum, but in lost salaries and wages to those wiio would be unable to work if they were unfortunate enough to become be-come the victims of an epidemic If there is anything to the theory that a dollar saved is a dollar panted, the earning capacity of t he health oftlce is enhanced by tho amount of money collected col-lected as taxes, which it would cost to care for the roor people who might be victims of an epidemic, which amount If saved by the avoidance of nu-h a contingency. contin-gency. T:2e division of meat and fond inspection inspec-tion insures good, wholesome vlct iials, and s es to It that Kmo. v ho mysteriously mysteri-ously oisappcarcd some time ago, Is ik-i served up uv soim- tin sen. pub' ik dea lei", disguised as a i'.-.-l-.ian i.atv. T inspection inspec-tion of restnur:int-, gror cries, s'da lun-tains lun-tains and other plac. where f 1 is prepared pre-pared nr sold is in charge of this n i vision. vi-sion. The ooneiits enumerated under the division of milk and dairy inspection apply, ap-ply, in large measure, to this divisio-aiso. divisio-aiso. Weights and Measures. Just how much money is saved to the ultimate consumer by the djv;sion oi weights and measures Is problemaiiea' nut doubth'SS it is coii-ioerahle, and tut; cost or mainiaming this service is comparatively com-paratively snuui- The sei vices of this division ir.saie full weights and a standard stand-ard pack of fruits and vegetables, and thus reduce to a minimum the loss sustained sus-tained by purchasers turougii dishonest saiesmen. The school nursing divisio.t, which devotes de-votes its atleiu ion to t lie illnesses of childhood, is very valn.'.Ne in a preventive prevent-ive wav. in that it dele's disease in its earlv stages, and beiore it becomes serious in many cases, especially diseases I of the eves, nose, ea rs and throat, ailments ail-ments to which children arc peculiarly susceptible and wld-.-h oiten cause them :o go through life with crip-pled facull.es, if iliev arc not properly .are lor at once. In some respeets the most important division ot the. health ofiice is the emergence emer-gence luplt;;l, for il we survive, the ailments ail-ments of childhood, and later, through studious carefulness siooien successfully all of the mvviad grms. microbes and deadly bacteiia that lurk in various places ready to spring: at our throats, onlv to fall victim to tome speeding joy tider who is violating both the t rat' tic. ordinances and the dry law at one and the same time, we are either rmhed. hurried, hur-ried, or just taKen as the papers have, it to the emergency hospital, which is well equipped to repair the dan. age. Incidentally, In-cidentally, the emergency hospital is the place to see the seamy side of life, as every thim? from a sliver in tho finger nr a case of delirium tremens to the "mangled "man-gled remains" can be seen there. Will Add Features. It is the purpose of th board of health, under tha urgency of lr. C J. Albnugh, to add several other features of a monetary mone-tary value to the health office activities. It is proposed to assemble all sorts of timber and wood, good tor kindling, on certain spots about the. city, where the poor and needy ( a n come and get f re e firewood, thus pulling to good use much wood that ai present Is wasted. It is also proposed that all dairies should deliver their milk to a central sta-1 sta-1 ion under t ho supervision of the city, from where it would be delivered by wagons wag-ons which would carry a supply from every dairy, so that consumers could got any hrand of milk they want from any milk wagon. Under the present system of delivering milk, rive or six wagons, from as many difi erent dairies, visit every part of the city daily. This necessarily increases the cost of milk because of the number of men, horses and wagons required, each of which covers the sumo ground. Tho same service could he, given, it is thought, by perhaps nne-lifth the number of wagons, each carrying a supply from every dairy, and each wagon having a district all its own, just us there is but one letter carrier car-rier on each mail route. The consumer could thus get any desired de-sired brand of milk from the w;igon which visits the neighborhood, mid tho price of milk could be appreotuhlv reduced on account ac-count of the saving brought about by tho abolition of duplicate routes. |
