Reviews
| Date | 01 July 1931 |
| Published date | 01 July 1931 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1931.tb02906.x |
Reviews
Public
Health
Organisation
in
the Chicago Region.
By
ROBERT
F.
STEADMAN,
THIS
is one
of
a
series of studies directed by the Social Science
Research Committee of the University of Chicago on the subject
of
the Metropolitan Region of Chicago, which according to the preface
“
with its
1,800
independent taxing and rule-making bodies
is
perhaps
the most confused jumble of political agencies anywhere to be found.”
The intention is that each writer should carefully analyse the facts
relating to
a
particular service or group of services, and offer
candid
and
constructive criticism, to the end that, when
all
the studies have
been combined,
a
basis for amelioration of the situation may be found.
This study deals
with
health conditions not in the city merely
but in the region
of
Chicago, defined as
an
area extending
50
miles
in
every direction from the intersection
of
State and Madison Streets,
with
a
population
of
about
5,000,000.
The city itself includes about
zoo
square miles arid over
3,000,000
people. The region
in
the main
is
included in
two
states (Illinois and Indiana) and five counties, but
parts are included in ten other counties and
two
additional states.
On the whole, the writer’s conclusion is that within the City of Chicago
health administration is efficient-except as regards tuberculosis. Out-
side Chicago itself there is a welter of health authorities, whose health
administration
is
in the main far below the standard
of
Chicago.
The health officers are nearly all part-time in these outside areas and
poorly paid, and some
of
them have not even
a
medical training.
The death rates in the outside areas from the principal contagious
diseases, notwithstanding the more healthy natural surroundings,
are
shown
to
be greater than
in
Chicago proper,
and,
as
the whole
area forms
an
economic unity, the good work done
in
Chicago
tends
to
be neutralised by the defective work outside. The facts all
point
in
the writer’s opinion to the necessity
for
centralised control.
In Chicago itself there is a special agency
for
dealing
with
tuber-
culosis which works independently
of
the
Board
of
Health.
It
is
called the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanatorium. The Board
of
Directors are appointed by and liable
to
dismissal by the Mayor.
Dr. Steadman
finds
that the expenditure of this body is steadily
of
Syracuse University,
N.Y.
(University
of
Chicago
Press.)
3b
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