Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/503

 A MODEL MUNICIPAL DEPARTMENT 485

very natural result of such methods, unless the Board of Health exercises the closest supervision, is that hundreds of tenement- house children in the poorer districts are laid low every season with cholera morbus and other summer complaints. To reduce this danger to the lowest possible minimum several inspectors spend their whole time in examining the fruit stands and push carts throughout the East Side. Their faces soon become familar to the peddlers, who may often be seen trying to conceal their bad fruit in order to avoid confiscation, or, where that is rendered impossible by the suddenness of the visit, attempting to bribe the inspector by offering him some of their choicest brands. With an honest health official those efforts, however, are generally in vain, and piles of rotten bananas, peaches, or oranges are quickly dumped into the wagon which is always waiting for that purpose. There may be some consternation and angry mutter- ings, but in a minute the inspector has disappeard among the crowds on his search for another load. Sometimes the fruit and fish men go on their rounds together, using the same wagon to carry the condemned goods. In this case the stench arising on a hot day from the load of confiscated fish and fruit is almost beyond belief. For the fish inspector is kept even more busy sometimes than his colleague. Twice a week he visits the regular fish markets, and during the other days follows up the small fish peddlers who are likely to be the worst sinners. All kinds of candy, too, which are being sold in the street without a glass-covering to protect them from the dust, are liable to confisca- tion, 1 and the writer has seen the inspectors' wagon return loaded down with all kinds of confectionery. But soon the dealers begin to realize what all this vigilance means, and an efficient Department of Health can certainly do much to prevent the sale of decayed fruit and vegetables.

Much the same kind of inspection is carried on by the meat inspectors, of whom there are three in Manhattan. It is their duty to examine the different cuts of meat and prevent the sale of any that is unsound or diseased. For this purpose they make unexpected raids upon the wholesale dealers, often con-

1 Sanitary Code, sec. 47.