THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Traditional Health Organizations
And Politics Prevent Application
Of Science To Medical Problems
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the seventh of a series of articles deal-
ing with a survey of the state's medical services and health agencies
recently completed for the Michigan State Medical Society. The study,
which was made under the direc tion of Dr. Nathan Sinai, professor
of public health at the University, was in charge of a committee
of physicians: Dr. W. H. Marshall, Flint; Dr. F. C. Warnshuis, Grand
Rapids; Dr. L. G. Christian, Lansing; Dr. Bert U. Estabrook, Detroit;
Dr. C. S. Gorsline, Battle Creek; and Dr. F. A. Baker, Pontiac. The
articles were written by Professor Wesley H. Maurer of the department
of journalism.
By WESLEY H. MAURER
What modern science has devised for the conservation of health, anti-
auated political organizations and traditional health organizations prevent
from being applied in the public's interest.
This is the thought presented in the survey on public health compiled
by a committee of physicians for the Michigan State Medical Society.
Gloomy as the data collected are, there is evidence of the fact that Federal
and state governments, assisted by various funds and foundations, are re-
lentlessly pushing forward to unify what is now a disorganized, disinte-
grated, backward public health program.
The State presents a striking multiplication of health officers and
health, organizations, declares the committee. This can only mean a dif-
fusion of power, a dilution of responsibility, and a loss to the State through
failure to realize the full benefits of modern science, the report continues,
adding that "it is self-evident that a planned expenditure of the present
Mollisons Will Attempt Another Round Trip Flight
total could provide much better re-
sults than are now realized."
The types of organizations range
all the way from the township board
of health, provided for by law in 1846
when "Michigan supported a popula-
tion of approximately 323,000 per-
sons, "to the highly efficient and ef-
fective public health service of the
City of Detroit, which employs full
time and part time 676 persons and
which administered in 1931 a budget
of $1,641,192.
"Ward System" Used
"It would be absurd," declares the
committee, "to state that a health
organization is necessary for each
ward in a city. Yet a majority of
counties in Michigan are organized
on what amounts to a 'ward system'
of public health activity."
In addition to the various types of
governmental unit organizations,
there are health activities sponsored
by various unofficial agencies, such
as the local tuberculosis societies,
private funds which provide clinics
for infant welfare, and nurses for
public health activities. No city in
Michigan, says the report, has as yet
developed a central health council
with the purpose in view of co-rdi-
nating the services.
Townships Antiquated
The township health organizatior4
still functions as it did in the period
'about 1846 when diseases were
thought to arise from smells and
cemeteries, declares the committee,
adding that the requisites for a
health officer on this plan are that
he be able to detect an odor and
manage a cemetery. The work of te
health officer, the committee points
out,. "consists of an occasional quar-
antine, an abatement of a nuisance
and a lighting of fumigators follow-
ing quarantine. It is not at all un-
usual to find townships reporting no
activities during the year. Yet human
beings live in townships and villages
-and where humans live there exists
the need for public health work."
Of 1,160 health officers in 53 re-
porting counties of the State, 500 are
medical and 660 are non-medical.
After citing what is required of the
health officer by State law, much
of which activity requires technical
knowledge, the committee declares,
"One wonders if those who accept
the appointments ever give thought
to the question of personal respon-
sibility facing all officers with man-
datory duties. A health officer who
fails to perform a mandatory duty
relative to the control of communi-
cable disease may be sued. The very
failure places the burden of proof on
the health officer."
11 Counties Improved
Contrasted with this disintegrated
public health program are the full-
time county health departments with
a unified program for the population,
as practiced by only 11 counties in
the state. In these counties the aver-
age minimum health department
staff includes one health officer, two
nurses, one sanitary inspector, and
one clerk, and the usual budget is
$12,000.
"But if the creation of a full-time
county health department is in-
tended to reduce the number of
health organizations in a county,"
declares the committee, "one would
expect to see this reduction particu-
larly in the number of township and
village health officers." An examina-
tion of the Oakland County records
show, however, according to the re-
port, that 23 of the 25 townships in
the county expended $4,787 for pub-
lic health purposes, and that Oak-
land County supported 31 full or
part-time health organizations.
Duplication Is Found
Since the State law specifically
states that the county health de-
partment shall have jurisdiction
throughout the county, including
cities with part-time health depart-
ments, the cities, villages, and town-
ships in Oakland County, the com-
r
mittee believes, are apparently dupli-
cating activities and expenditures
made by the county health depart-
ment.
Another type of organization in
the State is the consolidated district
type provided by a state law for the
purpose of establishing full-time
'health departments for counties un-
able to support such organizations
because of low assessed valuation,
small population, or a combination
of these two factors. There are five
,such districts at the present time,
including 19 counties.
Of the work done in these 19
counties, the committee reports that,
"It may be concluded that the people
in the consolidated districts are re-
ceiving a type of public health work
which is unusual in sparsely settled
counties." Warning is given by the
committee that the practice of con-
solidating four counties into a single
district may extend the services over
too wide a territory to be effective.
Full-time health organizations are
supported in Detroit, Pontiac, Flint,
Saginaw,- Lansing, Grand Rapids,
Jackson, Battle Creek, and Kalama-
zoo. In these nine cities dwell 2,356,-
977 persons, or 46 per cent of the
state total. The health program bud-
gets for the nine cities, the commit-
tee reports, totaled about $2,051,-
012.83 in 1931.
Standards Named
The standard for city health work,
as adopted by the American Public
Health Association, divides the work
into eight major activities: collection
of vital statistics, communicable dis-
ease control, venereal disease control,
;uberculosis, health of the child,
;anitation, laboratory, and popular
lealth instruction. The large health
lepartment of Detroit, recognized
throughout the United States as an
fficient organization and adminis-
'ration, performs all of these tasks
.n a manner which the committee
aelieves sets an example for public
aealth programs throughout the
State.
It may readily be seen, declares the
:ommittee, that the purchasability of
public health depends upon the will-
ingness and foresight of a city in
making sufficient appropriations to
.nclude these activities. Likewise, if
;hese are the fundamentals of pub-
lic health work, the report adds, it
nay also be seen how woefully inade-
4uate is the work in townships and
Tillages.
Rural Work Inadequate
-Associated Press Photo
Britain's noted flying couple, Capt. and Mrs. J. A. Mollison, who cracked up at Croydon, England, at
the start of their projected round trip ocean flight, will try again, taking off this time at Carmarthen,
Wales. They plan to fly nonstop to New York, overhaul their plane, and then strike eastward for Bagh-
dad. They hope to make the first Britain to New York flight, the first two way crossing of the Atlantic
and break the nonstop long distance flight record. The couple, their plane and route ar eshown above.
Four States To
Vote On Repeal
Of Amendment,
Tennessee, Arkansas,
barna, And Oregon
Ballot Shortly
(By The Associated Press)
Ala-
Will
In the short space of four days-
July 18 to 21-four of the most cru-
,ial votes on prohibition repeal will
be held in Alabama, Arkansas, Ten-
nessee and Oregon.
Publicly each side appears confi-
dent, although confidentially each
admits that the contests may be close,
are certainly important and may in-
.dicate whether repeal will come this
year.
Repealists have won 16 states and
need 20 more for the necessary
three-fourths of the states required
to amend the constitution. Anti-pro-
hibition forces hope that at least 27
more states will vote this year, which
would give 43 an opportunity to pass
on the question in 1933.
To Indicate Trend
Repeal victories in Alabama and
Arkansas, both voting on July 18,
would stimulate other states which
have not set voting dates to do so,
repealists say, because these states
have been traditionally in favor of
prohibition.
Either way, the vote will help indi-
cate the trend in the south.
Tennessee votes on July 20 and
Oregon on July 21, and the fight is
bitter in both states.
"Asking no quarter and giving
none," Alabama prohibitionists are
determined this state shall be the
first on record against repeal. Re-
pealists, pressing their cause with
equal vigor, have made the doctrine
of states' rights an issue. Alabama
declined to legalize beer.
Prohibitionists Confident
Dr. L. E. Barton, chairman of the
executive committee of the Associa-
tion Against Repeal of the Eight-
eenth Amendment, says: "We can
win Alabama in a knock down and
drag out fight. It will be no kid
Helen Moody Wins
English Tourney By
Defeating Britisher
WIMBLEDON, England. July 8.-
(P)-Helen Wills Moody won her
sixth Wimbledon women's singles
championship today, by defeating
Miss Dorothy Round, England's sec-
ond ranked woman, in the final
round of the annual championships,
6-4, 6-8, 6-3.
Miss Round, a clever stylist with
a beautifully rounded game, gave
the American queen of tennis a
thrilling battle and Mrs. Moody,
scarcely ever pressed in title compe-
tition in the past half dozen years
needed all her severity of stroking
and. control to pull out the victory.
In doing so she saved one of the
two great singles championships the
men and women stars of the world
have been battling for here through
two weeks of play. Ellsworth Vines,
leader of the United States Davis cup
forces, went down to defeat inr de-
fense of the men's singles crown yes-
terday, losing to Jack Crawford, bril-
liant Australian, in, five bitter sets.
Mrs. Moody previously had won in
1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, and 1932.
glove affair. We ask no quarter and
will give none."
Col. Alfred Tunstall, chief of the
repealists, says, "In voting for re-
peal, Alabama will say to all states
that there will be no interference in
the future with their own decisions
regarding internal problems. A vote
against repeal is a vote against Pres-
ident Roosevelt and the Democratic
national platform."
In Arkansas the campaign has
been waged quietly, but last-minute
speaking tours are planned. Repeal-
ists are working under the leader-
ship of the Roosevelt New Deal Re-
peal club. The state failed to legalize
beer.
There is little to indicate how Ten-
nessee will vote, except, that it legal-
ized 3.2 beer. Dr. James E. Clarke,
vice-chairman of the United Prohibi-
tion Forces of Tennessee, says, "We
have every reason to believe that
Tennessee will go dry by a large ma-
jority."
Farm Relief Millions To
Pour Into Cotton States
WASHINGTON, July 8.-- (An)-
Around $100,000,000 of farm relief
money will pour into the 16 cotton
states within the next six weeks.
The money will be distributed
under the plan by which cotton
growers agree to plow under 25 to
60 per. cent of their present crop
and then rent the land to the gov-
ernment.
Confident that the plan is going
to succeed, Secretary Wallace today
is extending the time in which grow-
ers may voluntarily agree to reduce
production. That period was to have
ended tonight, but the secretary
found that unexpected delays, such
as the difficulty of presenting print-
ed applications to the 2,000,000 cot-
ton growers, necessitated an exten-
sion.
The secretary atso is going to an-
nounce the number of acres of cot-
ton that farmers have agreed to de-
stroy. It was reliably reported that a
preliminary study of the tabulation.
had convinced President Roosevelt
the secretary, and farm act admin-
istrators that there was no doubi
about final promulgation of the pro-
gram.
The $100,000,000 to be paid to the
farmers will be obtained by the ta2
levied on processors. This will go intc
effect about Aug. 1 and amount to
around 4 cents a pound.
sunday
turkey a la king
breaded pork tenderloin
small sirloin steak
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Excellent, Inexpensive Recreation
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