means of enforcing child labor regulations compulsory education laws should be made more stringent. While all of the neighbor States and many of those not adjoining have in some measure limited the hours of labor for women, thereby endeavoring to protect the health and welfare of female workers, the laws of Iowa have thus far remained absolutely silent on the subject. Facts obtained by the woman factory inspector are abundant proof of the need of similar legislation in this State. FOR THE PUBLIC HEALTH Too much care can not be exercised in the preservation of health. Every possible effort should be made to stop the spread of contagious and infectious diseases, to obtain purity in food and drugs, and to maintain sanitary conditions, and to accomplish these ends officials should be given large and in some instances arbitrary power. The movement for county hospitals, which had its inception in Iowa, affords an opportunity to do much toward elevating health standards-particularly in rural districts if county supervisors can be brought to an appreciation of the value of such institutions. Containing as they do a department for the treatment of tuberculosis, county hospitals should prove of inestimable advantage in checking that disease. For an adequate system of vital statistics no better plan could be adopted than that proposed in the "model law" drafted, in accordance with certain standards of registration, by United States officials composing a special section of the American Public Health Association. Moreover, the College of Medicine at the State University should not only be encouraged but required to spread the gospel of preventive medicine through the Extension Division to the four corners of the State. FOR THE PUBLIC MORALS The most widely recognized question relating to public morals is that of regulating the liquor traffic in which Iowa has had a varied and somewhat checkered history. (For the history of liquor legislation in this State, see . Dr. Dan E. Clark's articles in volumes V and VI of The Iowa Journal of History and Politics.) Iowa has for many years been committed to the principle of prohibition by declaring the sale of intoxicating liquor illegal unless a locality petitions for the operation of saloons. Under this law the number of saloons has steadily decreased. Unfortunately no way has been devised of enforcing laws against the use of tobacco and cigarettes by minors. In fact enforcement is the stumbling block in all of the acts touching such problems as unchastity, gambling, and other demoralizing influences. However, as the people come to realize the importance of high standards of public morals public opinion will compel righteous conduct. |