1916] OF THE SENATE. 415

Bureau of Communicable Diseases—An appropriation of
f 5, 000 for the year 1916, and a like sum for the year 1917, is
asked for the support of the Bureau of Communicable Dis-
eases of the State Department of Health. The Bureau was
organized under the provisions of Chapter 560 of the Acts of
1910, which appropriated $24, 000 for five Bureaus. The share
of one Bureau is, therefore, $4, 800. This Bureau of Communi-
cable Diseases also administers an appropriation of $10, 000,
available under Chapter 512 of the Acts of 1912, for the regis-
tration of tuberculosis, the domiciliary prophylaxis of tuber-
culosis, the purchase of prophylactic materials for the use
of consumptives in their homes, and to pay a fee of $1. 50 to
the physicians who carry out certain preventive measures to
the satisfaction of the local boards of health. It must be
evident, therefore, that the Bureau operates on an extremely
small income.

This Bureau has direct supervision over all operations for
the control of the infectious diseases. It handles the records
of thirty odd infectious diseases—fifteen thousand or more
every year. Its duties allow no intermission. It must be in-
stantly responsive to the emergencies of infectious disease.
Questions of night or day, heat or cold, good roads or no
roads, working hours or holidays should have no weight with
the Bureau of Communicable Diseases.

The amount asked for will hardly meet the barest necessi-
ties of the Bureau in the next two years. At the next As-
sembly we must obtain adequate financial support for this
Bureau. At this moment, it has indispensable need of some
nursing service. The aid of a public health nurse will more
than double the working capacity of a medical officer, and the
need of such assistance has long been felt in the State De-
partment of Health. It is often impossible to respond to the
calls for assistance promptly. It is a general rule that we
cannot remain at a point of danger as long, or revisit it as
early, as good practice demands. Outbreaks are not brought
to an end as rapidly as they should be. Perhaps we should
wholly neglect half of epidemic situations for the sake of
making striking examples of other situations handled to the
best of our ability.

We also lack some of the necessary materials for cutting
short epidemic diseases. The State Department of Health has
not used $100 worth of diphtheria antitoxin in 20 years. We
have a fund of $2, 500 for immunizing indigent people against
rabies, or hydrophobia. It has cost the State that much an-
nually to treat indigent persons who have been bitten by rabid