View report page

266
refuse and sewage; the effectual separation of diseased persons
from the healthy in order to diminish the chances of infection; the
investigation and prevention of disease; the postponement of the
event of death—these are the broad lines of policy for every Sanitary
Authority, accepted by all well-informed persons as a reasonable
policy which stands, it is true, on science, but also on commonsense
and human experience, It is broad and simple, but it is essential.
The highest welfare of the community, indeed its very life, depends
in no small measure upon the efficiency of the public health work
of a Local Authority. Whatever else is neglected or left undone
the Local Authority cannot afford to neglect to provide the primary
requirements of healthy physical life. It is upon the healthy bodies
and minds of the people in local communities that the State is built.
The business of a Sanitary Authority is therefore not small or
ignoble and should not depend upon party opinions or vested
interests, for its duty is to extend in all directions, for all men, the
frontier of life.