records had been put into such shape that the public could understand them, the public was invited to come in and inspect them. The response was surprisingly large. Business and professional men whose interest had been aroused by the newspaper articles began to study the city's sanitary condition for themselves. They found in the health office all the information they could ask for. There were eleven maps of the city, one for each classified communicable disease, with the places where cases then existed marked with colored tacks. Previously an announcement of the prevalence of typhoid or diphtheria in the town had meant very little to the average inhabitant of one of the old colonial mansions. But when he could see from the health office chart that there were two or three cases in the same block with his home or that his house was completely surrounded by transmissible infections, vital statistics took on a little more personal interest.

shade. Of course, a tree only five feet high, even a deadly upas tree, would hardly tempt one to seek shelter beneath its overhanging boughs."

Greatly to the encouragement of the good people of Wilmington, the city commission started out by giving Dr. Nesbitt everything he asked. They repealed a lot of the old, useless health regulations and adopted new ones adapted to modern conditions. Moreover, they gave him money and help enough to put the records. of the office into intelligible shape.

Realizing that without public sentiment back of him he could accomplish nothing, Dr. Nesbitt from the beginning adopted the policy of taking the public into his confidence. Both of the newspapers of Wilmington were now friendly, and he saw to it that there was always some news in the health office for their reporters - usually all written out for them, to avoid the possibility of mistakes. And as soon as the

PROVISIONS AND FILTH

THIS SURFACE PRIVY DISCHARGED ON A SIDEWALK BETWEEN TWO PROVISION STORES

Everything was reduced to maps and charts and diagrams. Here the draughtsmanship of Mather, the Scotch engineer, came into play. The physicians of Wilmington acquired the habit of complying with the laws requiring them to report all infectious cases, and began to recognize the value to the city of the work Dr. Nesbitt was doing. Occasionally a chart showing the decrease in the death rate or the prevalence of some disease would be exhibited in one of the show windows on Front Street, and the general public began to get the habit of studying these graphic illustrations of local conditions and commenting on them. They got the habit, too, of dropping in at the health office whenever they contemplated a change of domicile, for among the valuable statistics established by Dr. Nesbitt - an idea original with him - is a card index with a separate card for every building in the city, on which are recorded, besides such information as its location and owner, the facts as to the number of children of school age, boarders or roomers and other occupants; the sources of its water and milk supplies; proximity of stables, sanitary conveniences and sewer connections, and, most important of all, a compiete record of every case of contagious disease that has occurred on the premises in the previous two years. Hardly a day passes without a visit from some prospective tenant desiring a clean bill of health for the house he contemplates occupying, and calling on the Health Department for efficient disinfection if the record be bad.

The real things to be remedied, however, were the water supply and the sewerage system. There was nothing the matter with the water works plant except its management, so Dr. Nesbitt was informed by sanitary engineers whom he sent to inspect it.

New methods of operating the filtration and purification processes were installed, a city chemist was appointed with the job of making a chemical and microscopical examination of the water three times a day as part of his regular work, and Wilmington began to get as good water as any city in America. Incidentally, much of the drainage into the source of water supply was stopped.

The sewer was a stumbling-block. It was entirely inadequate for the city's needs and, being owned by a private company, extensions to it were beyond the power of the authorities. The sewer company offered to sell at an exorbitant price. Dr. Nesbitt and his Scotch engineer, Mathers, made an exhaustive study of the sewer and reported its defects to the commissioners. Their report was afterward confirmed by an engineer of the State Board of Health, with the result that the city bought the sewer for considerably less than had been asked. Complete plans for a system of sewers to take in the whole city of Wilmington have since been prepared and adopted, and are about to be carried out. In the meantime, several hundred more buildings have been connected with the present sewer.

Until sewerage facilities are provided for all buildings and the water system extended to every house in Wilmington, however, there is still the problem of soil pollution. Very soon after taking office Dr. Nesbitt set about its solution. The first step was to insist upon the cancellation of the contract that was held by "Boss" Furlong.

Evi

Here the sanitary police had a chance to make a record and they made it. dence was collected that proved that in a large number of cases money had been collected from householders by the contractor for sanitary services which had never been performed and for which he had also presented bills to the city, and when this evidence was presented to the commissioners they finally, in spite of his violent protests, cancelled the contract and turned over the work of scavenging to the Health Department.

It must not be thought that this and the other sanitary reforms which Dr. Nesbitt introduced as rapidly as it was possible to do so were accomplished without trouble. The political ring of Wilmington did not stand idly by and see its spoils taken away from it without a protest. But its leaders were too crafty to make a public grievance of the deprivation of their profits. Even a corrupt political organization must have some semblance of public sentiment back of it, so they made Dr.

objects of attack on other grounds.

There were many perfectly honorable citizens who couldn't see the use, for instance, of an ordinance forbidding any one to keep more than one cow in the city limits and that one in a sanitary stable. Many were aggrieved at the proposal to exclude all hogs from the town. There were others who had cheerfully paid the "boss" for having their premises cleaned up without getting them cleaned who felt aggrieved at having to pay a sanitary tax of $4 a year for really efficient service in caring for the sanitary closets which Dr. Nesbitt had begun to install and by which he had replaced nearly half of the objectionable ones. There were others who had other grievances. It seemed like nonsense to some that Dr. Nesbitt should insist upon efficient milk inspection, instead of the practice which formerly prevailed of insuring a uniform quality for all the milk sold in the city by dumping it all into a common container, the good with the bad, whence it was dispensed in any convenient way. To still others it seemed an injustice to compel the local butchers to close up their insanitary slaughter houses and do their slaughtering in the woods outside of the city until they could rebuild their abattoirs under more sanitary conditions. A large proportion of the dealers in foodstuffs who had been compelled to screen their stores and counters and keep their premises cleaned up also felt aggrieved. So, too, did a large proportion of the Negro population after, upon the first outbreak of smallpox among them, Dr. Nesbitt had sent out his assistant and a squad of the sanitary police to vaccinate every Negro who might be exposed to infection.

Among all these and the always existent element in every community who are constitutionally against the government at all times, it was not difficult for the "boss" and his henchmen to stir up the semblance of popular indignation against the Health Department. At first there were vague mutterings, gradually increasing, until, only a few months after he had taken office, Dr. Nesbitt and his doings became the principal topic of conversation in Wil

against him. His opponents were, of course, the loudest and most persistent, and any casual visitor in Wilmington might easily have gained the impression that he was the most-hated man in the community.

Through it all he avoided quarrels and never appeared in public without his smile. He never allowed himself to be drawn into a public argument but kept on asking the commissioners for new health ordinances and enforcing the ones he had already obtained. The ring grew desperate. When they thought they had aroused public sentiment sufficiently they called a mass meeting at the Court House. All the disorderly elements of Wilmington turned out, as well as the good people who thought they had grievances, and speeches were made demanding the recall of the commissioners who were backing Dr. Nesbitt. A recall petition was prepared and signed by almost enough voters to demand a new election. Threats of personal violence against Dr. Nesbitt were openly made, but if he was afraid he didn't show it.

There were more mass meetings and more talk of violence and more threats of recall. Some of the commissioners began to get worried. Then Dr. Nesbitt's friends and the friends of good government began to make their influence felt. One night there was to have been a mass meeting, but when the crowd began to arrive at the Court House they found the doors locked and the building dark, the organizers of the meeting having neglected to notify the janitor of the event. By this time a good many of Dr. Nesbitt's critics were beginning to see that he was right and the true inwardness of the recall talk was becoming understood. There were no more mass meetings and there has been no active recall agitation since, although the commissioners, somewhat alarmed by the talk, were not quite as enthusiastic in supporting the work of the health office as they had been.

The final blow which loosened the grip of the "boss" upon the city was dealt in the summer of 1912 when, upon application to the Governor by the Good Government League, Hon. Frank Carter was sent

to Wilmington to preside at a term of the Superior Court. The Court of first instance in Wilmington, the Recorder's Court, was presided over by the "boss" himself. Scores of cases in which offenders had been let off with the minimum penalty by the Recorder were cited to Judge Carter, and the session resolved itself into what amounted practically to an indignation meeting, in which Court, bar, and the public generally took occasion to express the candid opinions of the decent element of Wilmington concerning "Boss" Furlong, his court, and his methods. The moral effect of this public exposure was immediate and apparently lasting. The "boss" appears to have resigned himself to the inevitable. That some of his former decisions were not entirely due to ignorance (his legal knowledge was acquired while working at his trade as a foundryman) but to some other cause, appears to be demonstrated by the fact that, although he has not since taken a course in law, he is now rendering judicial service which is not subject to criticism.

The health commission has taken effective action in many directions that has made for the purification of Wilmington. An ordinance placing the so-called "soft drink" bars-which were really saloons dispensing liquor in defiance of the prohibition laws under Dr. Nesbitt's control as to sanitary condition was adopted. There was no possibility of concealing the nature of the business conducted in these places from the sanitary police and such business does not flourish in the light. The saloons began to close up or obey the law. The police, encouraged by the loosening of the ring's grip, began to drive the loose women out of the town and to inquire seriously into violations of the prohibition law. Wilmington was cleaning house.

Side by side with the improvement in public health and morals, Wilmington is carrying out a progressive policy of public improvements in other directions. Many of its streets have been paved, a new school building that is a model of its kind has been built, and there are other evidences of a rejuvenated civic pride. Of course, no one man has done it all it has been done by the people of Wilmington, who have

shown that, once aroused to a realization of conditions, they are prompt to apply the remedy. There are many good people in Wilmington who are not ready to give credit to Dr. Nesbitt for anything more than the things he has accomplished since he went into office, although I found many who admitted that the public interest aroused by his exposures in the Dispatch of the insanitary condition of the city did more than anything else to crystallize a growing popular unrest into action. And there is no question about the efficiency of his work in office, the details of which have only scantily been outlined. Wilmington is putting in a garbage incinerator, for one thing. The methods of caring for the indigent sick have been revolutionized, discouraging malingerers and giving the really ill adequate care and support. Quarantine laws and regulations are being strictly enforced, and in almost every respect Wilmington now comes near being a model city from the point of view of the public health. Dr. Nesbitt's methods of records and administration, worked out to meet pressing local needs, have been studied by sanitary experts from many other cities and declared to be far in advance of the prevailing practice in America and even in most of Europe.

There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done before Wilmington will be as clean and as healthful as a town with its natural advantages ought to be. There is still a great deal of work begun by Dr. Nesbitt which is not completed. He is trying to get the physicians to report all cases of tuberculosis, a disease that still evades the vigilance of the Health Department. The new sewer system is still in the air instead of under ground. The rebuilding of the public market, one of the biggest things undertaken, is still under way. The inspection of plumbing - a novelty in Wilmington until Dr. Nesbitt introduced it has not been completed, and a large proportion of the people are still drinking water from surface wells. But on the whole a tremendous improvement has been made in two years — probably a more revolutionary sanitary reform than has been carried out this side of Havana or the Canal Zone in a similar period.