The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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January, 1927 The Health Bulletin 31
portion not so protected, is diminished
in tlie chart, and the error is in favor
of the rural rate.
Conclusion
Last, but not least, and by no means
secondary, either to the primary objective,
or to the value of the by-products
in constructive health protective measures
is the educational or, if you please,
the advertising value of the State sanitary
privy law enforcement. Well conducted
advertising is essential to any
business which would prosper. Is it not
lilvewise true of public health We call
it education, but we borrow our thunder
from the advertising manager.
The majority of the homes visited
by the in.spector are the homes of the
non-reading and, often, illiterate population.
The publication of a million
bulletins would but slightly increase the
number of these homes in which public
health literature would be read. The
inspector visits every one of these
homes, and after explaining the bulletin
leaves a copy to be read. He posts
a notice on the privy. This notice, like
the bulletin, bears the name of the
State Board of Health. He explains,
shows, and even helps to build the
privy. The State Board of Health is
no longer a vague something off yonder.
It is real, represented by a man who
actually comes onto the premises.
Through him the State Board of Health
reaches and talks to the people. Thus
in the average mind, in the minds of
the mass of the people, the inspector
and the State Board of Health are one
and the same. Their appraisal of him
definitely determines their conception
of, and the attitude toward what he
represents. Therefore, beware of the
type and caliber of men employed as
inspectors.
Those who do not respond to this
character of teaching are taught by
the courts, a measure effective for even
the most dense. As a result of these
teachings, there remains, in the form
of the completed sanitary privy, a visible
reminder. It is conspicuous as a
symbol of cleanliness and improved
living conditions. Every person who
enters is faced with the State Board
of Health rules of maintenance, and
no day can pass without the presence
of the protective influence of the State
Board of Health being impressed upon
that home.
The sanitary privy exerts a potent
influence upon the whole public, farmers,
persons living in sewered homes,
and any one who travels in and out,
by highway or by rail.
The two most conspicuous things in
North Carolina, the two most visible
evidences of her progress, and the two
things by which one is flrst conscious
of having crossed the border line into
the State, are her highways and her
monuments to decency.
"AS IN CONGRESS"
"A doctor sent his bill. Then a few
days later he received this note
"Dear Sir :—I do all my business in
a congressional manner. When I received
your bill, I gave it a first reading.
In another fortnight I shall give
it another reading and very likely
throw it out altogether." Journal A.
M. A.
"Only a blind mind fails to observe
that some of the best work of the world
is being done by persons who suffer
from bodily afflictions. This idea should
hearten each person who may meet
those who are under privileged in
health and should so encourage and
stimulate his personality that he may
convey his message with increased
zest to those who are so much in need.
It is an individual problem. Put your
heart in it." Bulletin American, Heart
Association.
Ellen, four, had just returned home
after her first morning in kindergarten.
"Well," asked her mother, "how did
you like it"
"I didn't like it at all," she replied.
"The woman put me on a chair and
told me to wait there for the present—
"Well," interrupted her mother,
"wasn't that all right"
"But." continued Ellen, "she never
gave me any present !" —Children, The
Magazine for Parents.