Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/498

 480 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

these stables were given the alternative of putting them in first- class sanitary condition, or being refused permits to keep cows.

For the first time in its history the department now requires a permit for all bathing establishments in the city. And no per- mits will be granted for this purpose unless the pools be emptied and thoroughly cleaned at least once a day, unless shower-baths be provided and every person compelled to use them before entering the pool, and unless clean towels are given each bather and generally sanitary conditions maintained. Anyone who has visited the type of public bathing establishment usually main- tained in the poorer districts of the city will heartily appreciate the reforms thus inaugurated by Dr. Lederle. Under the old regime many of the bath-houses were so filthy and the water so foul as to be worse than useless. Besides, they were proved by the present administration to be fruitful sources for the spread of contagious diseases. But today it is a hopeful sight to see how the sanitary inspectors and the sanitary police are vigor- ously enforcing the new regulations.

The sanitary police. The sanitary police are usually employed by the Division of Inspections in the poorer tenement-house dis- tricts where the respect for a uniform and the power of arrest is correspondingly greater. And certainly the squad, as at present organized, is composed of a fine lot of men, most of them trained in sanitary work and especially efficient and tactful. This was most noticeable to the writer, who spent several days with dif- ferent officers. Sometimes an officer may be sent to notify a milk dealer on the East Side that his milk had fallen below the proper standard of purity, and that his license would be revoked within a certain period unless conditions were immediately improved ; sometimes to make an ordinary sanitary inspection of the plumbing in a tenement house ; and in one case to answer the complaint of an old woman who wrote to the department that "as the rain falls from the clouds so is the ceiling falling about my head, please come and save me"! Again, a policeman often accompanies some of the medical inspectors, and by the moral suasion of a club and uniform encourages certain ignorant and rebellious citizens to submit to vaccination. Or two officers