resolution adopted by the State Board of Health at its meeting March 15th was transmitted to the Governor with an argument why the act should not be approved.

House Bill No. 54. This act authorizes boards of county commissioners and councils of municipal corporations to contract for the construction and joint use of sewers and sewage treatment or disposal works. This law permits any number of counties and municipalities to cooperate in a sewerage project. The bill was introduced at the request of the county sanitary engineer of Lucas County, primarily for the purpose of taking care of the situation that exists in and near Toledo.

House Bill No. 67. This act adds Lake Loramie to the list of state parks over which the State Board of Health has been given sanitary supervision. This legislation is practically ineffective, in so far as this department is concerned, for the reason that while the State Board of Health has been given supervision over sanitary conditions at state parks, no provision has been made to cover the expense of employing and maintaining patrolmen. If some satisfactory arrangement can be made with the superintendent of public works it will be possible to very materially better the conditions that now exist but this cannot be done effectively until the Board is given the means to enforce the law and its regulations with respect to state parks.

House Bill No. 224. This act amends and supplements the law relating to the practice of embalming and is said to be the best law of its kind in any state of the Union. The preliminary qualifications for engaging in the practice of embalming are very materially increased. The law as it now stands will require the embalming of all bodies before burial or removal for transportation. The president and secretary of the State Board of Health are continued as members of the embalming board.

House Bill No. 230. This act authorizes boards of county commissioners to establish and maintain sewer districts in their respective counties outside of municipalities; to construct, maintain and operate sewer improvements within such district, and sewage treatment or sewage disposal works and outlet sewers within or without such district, and to create and maintain a county sanitary engineering department. This is an amendment to the existing law which in many respects has been found to be unworkable. A good feature of this act is that it provides for the establishment of sewer districts in places within the county irrespective of distance from a municipality. The former law placed the distance at three miles. This act gives the State Board of Health the authority to declare the necessity for sewer improvements or sewage treatment or disposal works when necessary for the public health and welfare. The procedure to be followed generally conforms to the provisions of the Bense Act.

House Bill No. 305. This act authorizes boards of county commissioners to construct, maintain and operate a water supply or water works system within a county and in an established sewer district. The purpose of the law is to make possible the use of the sani

tary sewers where a water supply is essential to the operation of the sewers. The procedure to be followed in the installation of the water supply is much the same as that provided for the location of the county sewer district and the establishment of a sewer system. This act also provides that the State Board of Health may order the installation of a water works improvement in a county sewer district when deemed necessary.

House Bill No. 262. This act relates to the installation of a public water supply in cities and villages and is an amendment to Sections 1249, 1250, 1251 and 1259 of the General Code. In general, this amendment provides that when a municipality has installed a system and a sewage treatment plant and has not installed a public water supply the State Board of Health may order such supply installed. The effect of this legislation is questionable in that the electors of a municipality may defeat the intentions of the State Board of Health in ordering an improvement by refusing to vote for the bond issue. Where an election is held and a majority is in favor of an improvement the limitations on the bond issue and tax rate are set aside. It will be readily seen that referendum on the action of the State Board of Health is provided and that it rests with the electors of a municipality as to whether or not an order of the State Board of Health will be carried out.

House Bill No. 442. This act amends sections of the statutes relating to the sanitary inspection of places where food products are manufactured, prepared, sold or stored. While the enforcement of these sections rest with the inspectors of the department of agriculture the amendments are of interest to health officials. The amendments are for the purpose of making the law more effective. Under the old law it was a difficult matter to bring a prosecution because of the procedure to be followed but the amendments are such that there should be no difficulty in securing a prosecution and conviction wherever an order for the betterment of sanitary conditions is issued and not obeyed.

DOCTORS TO WORK FOR DISTRICT TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL.

The Ashtabula County Medical Society has become interested in the campaign for a district tuberculosis hospital and sanatorium to serve the counties in northeastern Ohio. Dr. John R. McDowell, Director of the Division of Public Health Education and Tuberculosis of the State Board of Health, addressed a recent meeting of the Society and showed the need for an institution in this section of the state. The organization undertook to call a meeting of the medical societies of Lake, Geauga, Trumbull and Ashtabula counties with the county commissioners of each of the four counties for the purpose of taking steps toward the erection of a district tuberculosis hospital.

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSES AND THEIR WORK.

February 1st.

Miss Nell Notestine was appointed public health nurse in East Liverpool. Her work will be chiefly in the public schools as the work. is supported largely by the Board of Education. The Federation of Women's Clubs are interested in the work and have been influential in establishing it.

February ist.

Miss Jessie Chapman, formerly public health nurse in Greenville, Ohio, succeeded Miss Viola Fell as nurse in Marietta.

February 1st.

Miss Florance Pace resigned her position as public health nurse for Fremont. As yet no successor has been appointed.

February 1st.

Miss Alice Minor was appointed county turberculosis nurse for Lake County.

February 8th.

Miss Laura V. Fisher began her work as assistant to Mrs. A. H. Rumer of Chillicothe. Miss Fisher was public health nurse in Athens

for fifteen months.

February 15th.

Miss Margaret R. Simpson, who has been employed for one year in Cambridge as public health nurse, was appointed prevention of blindness nurse in the Division of Public Health Education and Tuberculosis of the State Board of Health.

February 15th.

Miss Grace Walter was appointed school nurse for the city of Bellevue.

Large Number of Nurses Employed in Ohio.

Information concerning public health nursing in Ohio recently compiled by Miss Helena R. Stewart, State Supervising Public Health Nurse, shows that 463 nurses are now employed in this form of service in 68 nursing centers in Ohio. Three cities will install public health nurses as soon as qualified workers can be secured.

Of the total number of nurses employed, 378 are at work in 9 cities of over 50,000 population, 28 cities ranging in size from 8,000 to 50,000 inhabitants employ 32 nurses, while 20 cities of less than 8.000 employ I nurse each. 13 nurses are employed by 11 counties. Other nurses are employed by industrial plants or private concerns, principally to care for employes. Salaries range from $75 to $100 per month even in the cities under 50,000. Some nurses working only part time are paid less than $75.

The further extension of public health nursing in the state has been handicapped by the scarcity of properly qualified nurses. The work is of rather recent development and requires special training

in addition to the regular nursing education furnished by the hospital training school. However, the importance of public health nursing is becoming more and more recognized and courses of study designed to fit graduates for this specific service are becoming more numerous so that it is expected that the demand wil be more nearly met within the next few years.

On March 1st, Miss Elizabeth Bell began her duties as public health nurse for Wapakoneta. She is employed by the Board of Education and the Public Health League.

On March 7th, Miss Gertrude Steckel was appointed public health nurse for the city of Bellefontaine. The work is under the supervision of the Board of Health supported by the various Circles of Kings Daughters.

On March 8th, Miss Virginia Lewis became the public health nurse in the Bureau of Community Service of Portsmouth. This Bureau, which was organized recently, expects to carry on a public health nursing service which shall include school, factory and home nursing as well as the tuberculosis work already established.

On March 15th, Miss Mary Ann Beaver began her duties as public health nurse for Cambridge. She succeeds Miss Margaret R. Simpson who resigned in February. The Public Health League of Cambridge has maintained a nursing service since June, 1914.

MUNICIPAL CLEANLINESS.

Is your city clean? Local patriotism will doubtless dispose nearly every citizen to reply that it is, but a little reflection may bring doubts, and before the question can be intelligently answered, it is necessary to have a pretty definite idea as to what constitutes municipal cleanliness. How are we to know when our town is as clean as it ought to be?

Utah furnishes a standard. The Utah state board of health has worked out a system by which any community may be judged. There are 13 items to be considered. Every one of them has its given number of credit points, and all the credits add up to 100.

First comes sewage disposal. If that is perfect, the city gets a credit mark of 15.

Perfectly clean stables, cleanly disposal of manure, etc., give another 15 points.

For garbage collection and disposal the perfect mark is 10. Likewise with the water supply. These four items represent the things of supreme importance, although 10 points are allowed also for the condition of the streets, alleys and parks.

The remaining eight items are given 5 points each. They are sanitation of school houses, sanitary marketing of foods, presence of flies, sanitation of the home, general appearance of homes and barns. lawns and flower gardens, vacant lots and fences.

Needless to say, no town got a mark of 100 in the board of health survey. Richfield, a town of about 3,000 people, led the list with 73.5. which considering the present imperfect state of municipal life is extremely creditable. Salt Lake City followed closely with 72.5 and Ogden with 70.5. In other words, these unusually clean cities are hardly three-fourths clean.-U. S. P. H. News.

FEDERAL CHILDREN'S BUREAU URGES MORE COMPLETE BIRTH REGISTRATION.

Suppose a legacy were left you, a native American citizen, by a relative in a distant state or in a foreign country. Could you establish your parentage and receive the inheritance? An official birth certificate, perhaps, would be the only valid evidence. Could you furnish it? Can your child furnish it?

Suppose your son were living abroad and military laws were about to force him into the trenches. Could you send him an official certificate of his birth, with his name, and yours, and the place where he was born, so as to establish his American citizenship without question and save him from the firing line?

Sometimes the laws of the United States demand adequate registration of births if they are not to work hardship. There was the young daughter of an immigrant Swede. He wanted this child who was born in the United States to see his home, and he took her with him on a visit to Sweden. But the strain and excitement were too much for his failing strength, and he died soon after reaching his boyhood home, leaving his daughter an orphan. Her friends were all in this country, and she determined to return. The courage that took her to Ellis Island was severely tested when she was told there that as an unprotected minor she could not enter the country unless she could prove her claim to American citizenship. Much time and trouble were spent in looking for the record of her birth, but none could be found. Kind-hearted friends continued to search for some witnesses, and finally they found the doctor who had attended her mother when she was born, but who had failed to report the birth as the law required him to do. The kindly fate by which it happened that the doctor was still alive and that this young girl had friends willing and able to search him out alone prevented her becoming a girl without a country.

Should we be so careless of losing our citizens for lack of an official record of their coming into the world?

Only 1 states and the District of Columbia have birth records which the Census Bureau accepts as fairly adequate, and even in this "birth registration area" the records are seldom 100% complete. The Federal Children's Bureau urges each community in the country to see that all the children born within its boundaries receive the fundamental protection of an official record of birth.