Proceedings of the quarter-centennial celebration of the establishment of the Michigan State Board of Health : held at Detroit, Michigan, August 9, 1898.
- Michigan. State Board of Health
- Date:
- 1898
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Proceedings of the quarter-centennial celebration of the establishment of the Michigan State Board of Health : held at Detroit, Michigan, August 9, 1898. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![56 sjuiitai-y l:nv. The method comiiieiided itself to the jiidj^ment of our members, and we initiated the movement by a Convention in IMiiladel- jihia, the metrojiolis of our State. With a prooram on which aj)i)eared the names of the most distinjinislied sanitarians of tlie entire country, nnd which was probably richer in papers of sterling scientitic value than that of any sanitary meetinj^ ever held in the I'nited States, excei»t jiossibly those of the American Public Health Association, after months of advertising, both in medical journals and in daily pajiers, and with a cons])icuous placard j)osted many weeks in advance in the most fre- (luented center of the city, we found ourselves at the opeuiu}^ session, with the (lovernor of the State and other high dignitaries representing all professions on the ])latform, confronted by an array of empty benches as chilling in their effects as the phisiiiodiiiiii niahiri(r. We found to our dismay also that a considerable i)ortion of this meagre audience was composed of our fi iends from a distance who were to read ])apers. It is true, the rains descended and the winds blew and beat upon that hoijse— the weather did its worst—but although we stoutly maintained to each other that this was the cause of the scanty attendance, we none of us, in the slightest degree, believed the assertion. No, we were coni])elled re- luctantly to admit that the one million ])eo])h' who inhabited the city of Philadelj)hiii didn’t care a . well, didTi’t care whether the Con- vention “ke])t” or not. The city went on its way rejoicing, and recked not of our etfoi-ts or our disaj)pointment. What then had been our mistake? Why did not the thronging multi- tudes, whom our rosy dreams had ])ictured as crowding the audience room, which indeed we had feared would not contain them, materialize in res])on.se to our call? Our mistake consisted in having the Convention in Philadelphia at all. The cares, the distractions, the business, the amusemenls of tin* great city were too engrossing and overpowering to al- low our i)uny efforts on Indialf of the good of the jx'ojde to make any im- ])ression on tluuu. A givat city is not the jdace for a State Sanitary Con- vention. This was the tii-st lesson we leanied, and in the main we have profited by it. as I advise any Board which contem])lates inaugurating this woi'k to do. The second h'sson was that it is unwise to attempt to g('t the largest hall in a town in which to hold your Convenlion. The local committee will always make this mistake if not warm>d against it. The most fruitful ticdds for such efforts an* small towns, in which for tin* time being the Conv(*ntion will be the great and controlling interest, tin* oin* grand attraction. To reduce the statement to a mathematical pro])Osition •! would say, tin* size of the audience at a State Sanitary Convention will be invers(*ly as the scpiare of the ])0])ulation of the ])lace in which it is held. Of course 1 am not saying that, (*ven in a country village*, it can coni])ete with a circus or a minstrel show. It is well, there- fore, if ])ossible, to avoid coming in com])(*tition with any first-class at- traction of this kind. The best jtossible ])laces are educational centers, university towns, and Normal School villages. In such places the ]»a(*e is set by ]»eo]>le of intelligence, the outside diversions are few, and ar- rangeni(*nts can also often be made by which the older students will Ik* I)resent, not only to fill uj) the benches, but to constitute an audience at once a])j»reciative and valuable. I can imagine no more inspiring sight than the thousand eager, intelligent faces of the pu])ils of one of our Aormal Schools of both sexes, in whose cha]>el one of the sessions of our last Convention was held. Tin* seed ther(* sown, moreover, f(*ll on](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22335213_0059.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
