*On leave of absence, account military service. .Deputy State Inspector ..Deputy State Inspector Offices and Laboratories of the State Health Department are located on the Ohio State University Campus. The offices are in Page Hall; the Laboratories are in the Hygienic Laboratories' Building. TABLE OF CONTENTS Commissioner of Health Appointed-The Public Health Council - Deaths From Cancer in Ohio - Cancer is Pre- - PAGE HEALTH OFFICERS' ROUNDTABLE - Bense Act Crippled - To- 435 The Ohio Public Health Journal VOL. VIII SEPTEMBER, 1917 EDITORIALS No. 9 Commissioner of The organization of the State Department of Health Appointed. Health as contemplated under the new law passed by the Legislature last March is now complete. The four members of the Public Health Council named by Governor Cox on July 31, met at Columbus August 28, and tendered to Dr. Allen W. Freeman of the United States Public Health Service the position of commissioner of health. Before accepting the position it was necessary for Dr. Freeman to secure his release from the U. S. Public Health Service. Dr. Freeman becomes the administrative and executive head of the State Department of Health October 1, being the first commissioner of health of Ohio. He is appointed for a term of five years. The state of Ohio is fortunate in securing a man of the calibre of Allen W. Freeman at this time when the demand of the national service for the country's health experts is so great and his selection reflects great credit upon the members of the public health council and the governor. Given a free hand in the selection of the right man, members of the council cast about for the best man in the country to be Ohio's first Commissioner of Health. In all the negotiations there was not the slightest whisper of politicis. In securing Dr. Freeman the council got the splendid combination of a young man and a trained expert in public health work. Dr. Freeman is 36 years old and a native of Lynchburg, Va. He is a graduate of Richmond College and the medical department of John Hopkins University. His first public health work was as medical inspector of the Richmond City Health Department from 1907 to 1908 under the direction of Dr Ernest C. Levy, one of the most efficient municipal health officials of the United States. In 1908 Dr. Freeman became assistant commissioner of health of the state of Virginia and gained national recognition for his work in typhoid fever prevention. In 1915 the United States Public Health. Service added him to its staff of experts, giving him the title of epidemiologist in which capacity he has served up to the time. of accepting the Ohio position. Much of his work has been along the line of typhoid fever prevention. During the outbreak of infantile paralysis in New York last summer he was assigned by the |