To promote the application of scientific principles to government No. Issued weekly by the BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCH 261 Broadway, New York August 15 Entered as Second Class Matter July 30, 1913 at the Post Office, at New York, N.Y. New Rochelle Health Survey What Women Can Do "It is important that women should realize their interest in a city. The men do not always have as good an excuse as do those hurrying commuters of New Rochelle. But in nearly every city there is gross negligence to public interest on the part of the men. They are inclined to pass up abuses as necessary evils. Now and then they take a hop, step and jump at reform, and then forget all about it for a few years Women are not that way. They have a way of staying interested. If they undertake to regulate certain affairs of the community they usually stay on the job. There is the nucleus of an important woman's organization for civic purposes in every city. Literary clubs, church societies, neighborhood "crowds," even bridge clubs, could take a little of their time each meeting to discuss the affairs of their neighborhood. It ought to be easy to combine the efforts of these ready-made organizations. By federating into a women's general improvement association they could accomplish wonders The women of New Rochelle concluded that it was up to them to improve the town. So they got the New York Bureau of Municipal Research to make an investigation for them. A number of important recommendations were made. Now the women are fighting to get some of the reforms carried through.-Dayton News. Which May Be Corrected With Little, Adequate records should be installed and maintained for all kinds of health information with analysis of same and comparisons with other cities similarly situated Milk standards based on the recognized bacteriological tests should be established at once and supervision and inspection of the milk according to the standards rigidly maintained. Farms, dairies, and shops should be systematically examined and record score cards maintained The duties of every one in the department should be clearly defined and their performance made a matter of record. Members of the board should supervise and check up the work of the department. More meetings should be held and more attention given to the sanitary code The department should have a plan of progress and development. Its report should be a picture of conditions, so that a citizen may know what he is paying for, together with recommendations as to what he ought to have. The budget should be included The many avenues of publicity should be utilized. Newspapers, schools, clubs, organizations, churches, and physicians should be made agencies. Pamphlets, reports, and printed information should be widely distributed, and the city at large made to realize the importance of good health conditions and how to obtain them An aggressive year-round campaign against the fly nuisance should be conducted by the department The work of exterminating the mosquitoes should be vigorously continued All permits issued by the department should be on printed forms The contractor for the removal of garbage, ashes, and refuse should be compelled to keep garbage and ashes separate, to fill with ashes all depressions around dumps where stagnant water accumulates, and to deposit the garbage Additional Funds To Correct Adequate accommodations should be made without delay for isolating and treating persons with contagious diseases A visiting nurse should be maintained throughout the year whose duty it should be to Attend and advise mothers with infants and supervise their feeding and care Co-operate with the inspecting physician of school children in child hygiene Visit the sick poor The sanitary inspection service should be placed on an efficient basis. The sanitary inspector should be chosen by rigid civil service examination and held strictly accountable for results. He should be compelled to keep time sheets and careful records of all his acts. The plumbing inspector should be controlled in the same way, and when not engaged in plumbing inspection, he should be required to assist in sanitary inspection The dental clinic service should be increased so that every child unable to pay for proper treatment should receive it in the clinic. The equipment of the clinic should be increased and a systematic effort made to resume the volunteer service of dentists in the city. A greater effort should be made to enlist better co-operation of teachers, principals, and parents, and to procure the attendance of children on Saturday. From report of Bureau of Municipal Research The most practical thing which can be done for a city as a preliminary to its betterment has been done by the Women's Club of New Rochelle, in having a survey made of all departments of the city by the Bureau of Municipal Research. New York Evening Post. Several times we have had occasion to refer to the works of the Municipal Research Bureau of New York City which has just completed a survey of civic conditions in New Rochelle. This bureau has both the machinery and the method to make such a survey intelligible and profitable. One may form a conclusion on the results of its works and feel assured that he is not basing it on political prejudice, but on a reflection of actual conditions A man's world is the business world. Here, it seems, is a new and sound reason why women should be permitted to have a voice in city government. The business district of Indianapolis holds the vital interests of Indianapolis business men. What is true of New Rochelle is true in Indianapolis; the conditions are not so general but the principal is the same. The greater part of a man's activity is spent in the business district, while that of a woman's is spent in the home district. It must follow that she is more keenly awake to the needs of the home district than is the man.-Indianapolis Times. BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCH 261 Broadway, New York |