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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![Finally it must be the study of every State board of health to estab- lish mutiially-helpful relations Avith all forces operating toAvard the safety and health of the people, and there are no such iulluences, indi- vidual or corporate, unable to make a fair exchange of benefits. As its relations Avith local boards Avill be most immediate and constant, 1 may be pardoned another Avord on that subject. The central sanitary au- ihority must from the beginning assume some reasonable standard of efiicieiicy for each locality, and must advance that standard from year to year.^ It may not at once demand that eA'eryAvhere preventable dis- ease shall be fortliAvith prevented; though that is the ultimate test of suc- cess. But it must require that all the means available in each locality shall be used to rhat end, and it must continually point out and supply means. Wherever local authorities are progressive, though in practice CA-er so little in the lead of popular aaIII, there cordial approval can be given Avithout condescension, and co-operation Avithout otficiousness. No local board Avill be so excellent that it may be neglected, and if any de- sires to be neglected, it must be either because the State board of health is inclined to unwisely act or dictate in local atfairs, or because the local authorities Avish to give the people the shadow instead of the substance of sanitary goA^ernment. In no department of gOA'ernmeut is the ap- pearance more easily substituted for the fact, and it must be remem- bered that sanitary misrule is most injurious at those levels of society Avhere .the pOAver of individual self-defense is feeblest. It is for this reason mainly that I believe in the right use of power of intervention by a central board of health. The times are not yet ripe for the better remed-y Avhich Avill come Avhen courts and legislatures shall affirm the legal accountability of local authorities for neglect or malpractice. That justice Avill in the future be accorded to the injured citizen, but meantime there is no check upon munici])al sanitary crime unless there be ap})eal to some central sanitary authority clothed Avith })OAver of intervention. It Avill be observed that State boards of health as I have described them are executiA’e as well as advisory. In this respect the}’’ Avould seem to dift'er from the excellent exam])le Avhose successful career we* are here to celebrate. The difference is, howcA’cr, more apparent than real. Any one Avho reads the reports and other publications of the State Board of Health of Michigan, (and I advise every one who does not read them to mend his Avays), Avill see that hoAvever much it may desire to be and to remain a purely advisory board, it has done mucli clinical as Avell as consultation and laboratory Avork, and has done it all extremely Avell. When popular education and sanitary law have so far advanced that every community Avill appreciate and proA'ide for all its oavii sanitary needs, and Avill live cleanly Avith equal respect both to itself and its neighbors, then all State boards of liealth Avill be busy enough in ad- A'isory Avork; and our chemists, engineers, biologists, and statisticians Avill be sufficiently occupied in keeping us prepared for a higher class of consultations. We all hope to arrive at that consummation sooner or later, and all of us admit Avith hearty congratulations that about the speediest and most enduring of our i)acemakers is here in Michigan. Chairman WeJh—Dr. Ernost AVende. Health Commissioner of Buffalo, en.ioys an enA'iahle reputation for the systematic, thoronjih and effectiA^e AA'ork he has done in tliat City for the restriction of diseases. You aamII doubtless I'eceiA’e the benefit of his-experience in this field in tlie i)aper on “Municipal Restriction of Diseases”, by Doctor AA'ende, AA’hom I uoaa' introduce to you:—](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22335213_0075.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
