Municipal sanitation in the United States / by Charles V. Chapin.

  • Charles V. Chapin
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Municipal sanitation in the United States / by Charles V. Chapin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    best, so that as a rule the township states are better provided for than those states in which the township system is not well developed. If a township state has a well organized and energetic state board of health, the chance is still better for the general organization of efficient local boards of health. In Minnesota in 1898 all of the thirty-eight cities, and all but twenty-two of the 358 villages and boroughs had a board of health. While a scheme of sanitary administration is nominally pro- vided for the larger portion of our population, it must In- admitted that it is not as a rule very efficient in really rural communities. Little attention is paid to sanitation in the country, and it is almost entirely in compact villages, towns and cities, that successful administration is found. It is with such communities that this wort is chiefly con- cerned. In New England the dual conception of the township as both a political and corporate unit, has prevented the development of the true municipality. In New England townships have often attained a popu- lation of 25,000 or 30,000 before changing their democracy for a repre- sentative form of government and taking on the habiliments of a city: and in Connecticut, even with the incorporation of its largest cities, the township system was still retained, the town and city governments ex- isting at one and the same time over the same area. The evils of town- ship government in populous communities have been partly overcome by the limited establishment of tire, school, or taxing districts; bul the incorporated village and the small city are not common in New Eng- land. Outside of this region the advantages of establishing separate and corporate government for small aggregations of population have Long been recognized, and laws for their incorporation are found on the statute hooks of most states. According to the census of 1890 the urban population of the United States was estimated as about 20,000,- 000. As a huge pari of this population is living under a pretty well developed sanitary organization, the importance of this pari of our sub- ject is apparent. The organization of municipalities may he under special charte general laws. In New England, the cities are usually organized under a special charter for each city: and this LS true of man\ of the larger cities in other parts of the country : bul niosl of the smaller cities and boroughs, and the villages, are incorporated under general laws. We may look lor the authority for their sanitarj organization in their char- ters or genera] incorporation laws, or in special laws ha their objeel the preservation of the public health. Tli.' following is a brief summary ofgeneral legislation in leiviit states in regard to municipal sanitary organization :