Excerpt from A Survey of the Activities of Municipal Health Departments in the United States

The purpose of this investigation was to obtain an approximate idea of the status of health department work in the United States, to examine the departments' programs and their financial resources, and to discover how great or small an advantage they were taking of their existing opportunities. Such an exposition of the condition of our local public health work should aid public health officials to secure increased appropriations and should serve as a basis for future measurements of public health progress.

In scope the investigation was limited to cities having a population of 25, 000 and over according to the census of 1910, and to twelve phases of work chosen as of special importance and interest. The location of the cities, of which there were 227, is shown in Figure 1, their distribution by state and group of states is given in Table 1.

The investigation was carried on entirely by mail. On August 1, 1913, letters were addressed to the health officers of the cities, requesting copies of their last two annual reports, their codes, and their financial statements. These letters also enclosed a questionaire covering the twelve subjects of inquiry, namely, appropriation (two questions), infant hygiene work, medical inspection of school children, laboratory service, health education and publicity, control of venereal diseases, housing regulation, dispensary service, tuberculosis work, industrial hygiene, and the number of privies. About one third of the departments answered this first letter, another third a second letter sent out three weeks after the first, and another fifth a third letter sent out a month after the second.

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