Reorganized City Plan Commission
Undertakes Traffic Survey

BRIDGEPORT, CONN.-After a period of inactivity extending over several years, the City Plan Commission of Bridgeport, which is authorized under city ordinance, has been reorganized by Mayor F. William Behrens with several new members.

The first task assigned by the Mayor to the Commission is that of conducting a thorough traffic survey of the city to determine the best means of alleviating present traffic congestion. This project will shortly be under way. An appropriation of $10,000 to cover the cost of the work has been made by the City Council, and Herbert S. Swan has been engaged by the Commission to conduct the survey.

This traffic study, closely following the adoption of a zoning plan by the city, shows that Bridgeport is awake to the need of a comprehensive plan for city development.

ROBERT A. CROSBY, Executive Secretary, Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce.

Fire Company Members

Help Buy Equipment

ALBION, N. Y.-As a result of the civic pride and generosity of members of the Dye Hose Company, Inc., and the Active Hose Company, Inc., of the Albion Volunteer Fire Department, two new pumps have been installed, at a cost of $3,600, upon the new combination motor fire trucks purchased by the village of Albion last year. The pumps each have a rated capacity of 400 gallons per minute, but when given the Fire Underwriters' test showed 530 gallons per minute in a two-hour test. Besides furnishing the pumps the two companies each contributed $500 toward the $10,000 purchase price of the trucks. This installation gives the Albion department an unusually complete equipment, including, besides the two combination Seagrave pumper, hose, chemical and ladder trucks mentioned above, a 750-gallon Seagrave pumper, an American-LaFrance 55-foot aerial ladder and a one-ton Ford apparatus.

The local volunteers have a plan of paying for the pumps whereby they will not cost the taxpayers anything. Contracts exist between the village of Albion and the townships of Albion, Barre and Gaines, to render service to those townships at all times of the year. A charge of $50 for a run within the three-mile limit is made, and $3 for each additional mile or fraction, one way, is charged. No town has found it necessary to assess more than seven cents per thousand valuation of its property for the fire protection, and thousands of dollars' worth of property has been saved as a result of the service. The towns have found it much cheaper and far more satisfactory to contract for such services handled by experienced firemen, with modern equipment in reserve in case of large fires, than to purchase equipment and or

ganize "rookies" for the working force. Of the sum received, 50 per cent is turned over to the village of Albion and 25 per cent each is turned over to the two companies providing the service. The two fire companies now will donate their share of such funds until the $3,600 cost of the new pumps is paid, and have turned over the $750 fund due them from 1926 for alarms answered in the towns having contracts. No charge is made by the local companies in answering alarms where they are called to assist the fire departments of Medina, Brockport, Holly and other places in this territory in case of big fires with which the departments of those places find they are unable to cope. Some insurance companies holding risks in the contract towns have contributed annually to the Albion firemen in recognition of their good work in averting heavy losses in these towns.

The Albion fire department has a membership of 110 members in the Dye Hose Company, and about 40 each in the Active Hose Company, Hart Hose Company, and Young American Hook and

Ladder Company, making more than 225 volunteers always on duty, besides three paid operators in the municipal building.

RUSSELL J. WALDO.

Tampa's "Safety Special"

TAMPA, FLA.-In order to stimulate interest in the cause of accident prevention, the Tampa Electric Company is operating daily over its lines the "Safety Special" car of which a photograph is here reproduced. This car is the outcome of the combined thought of the Transportation Department and F. E. Fletcher, General Superintendent of the Company.

The Tampa Electric Company is proud of the fact that its employees have, in the last few months, operated more miles per accident than they have for any like period during the last ten years. This record has been attained through the training and education of the employees along safety lines.

As brought out by one of the signs on the safety

car, the number of automobiles in Tampa has increased from 3,408 in 1917 to 40,000 in 1927. This fact alone shows the necessity of both autoists and pedestrians exercising more and more care when using the streets of the city. Records show that automobiles are involved in 85 per cent of the accidents occurring on the lines of the Tampa Electric Company.

Anyone interested in the methods of conducting a community safety program is invited to communicate with the Tampa Board of Trade, the Tampa Motor Club, or the Tampa Junior Board of Trade.

A. G. WULFF.

Fine Example of a Modern Police Station JERSEY CITY, N. J.-The new Seventh Precinct Police Station of the Jersey City Police Department, recently completed at a cost of over $500,000, is one of the most elaborately appointed buildings of its kind in the country. To the rear of the main building, which houses the First Criminal Court,

persons whom it is not desired to place in the regular cells, is also on this floor.

On the second floor is found the spacious courtroom of the Criminal Court, furnished in quartered oak. To the rear of the courtroom are the judge's chambers, witnesses' rooms, lawyers' consulting room, and a room for newspaper reporters. On the mezzanine and third floor are groups of cell blocks for male and for female prisoners, with detention rooms occupied by women arrested for the first time on minor charges and by persons held as witnesses in criminal cases. The cells and detention rooms are of the most modern type, white tile being used exclusively in their construction, to assure the maximum of cleanliness for the occupants. The cells are suspended from the roof girders and are so designed as to afford a commanding view of the cells by the keepers at all times. Washroom facilities are provided in each. cell, with shower- and tub-baths for each cell block. The locker-room and reserve rooms for the patrolmen of the precinct, located in the basement, are

the precinct station, and the city prison, a commodious garage, one story in height, has been erected.

The main building is three stories high, exclusive of the basement, and stands on a base of New Hampshire granite. The first story is of limestone and the remainder of the structure is of buff tapestry brick. The entrances are of Botticino marble, and the lower floors and staircase of pink and grey Tennessee marble. All floors are of either marble or tile.

To the right of the lobby on the main floor is located the desk room of the Seventh Precinct, with several handsomely equipped rooms for the use of officers of the precinct, in the rear. To the left is found the office of the precinct commander, consisting of two rooms, completely furnished in order that the Captain may be comfortably situated if his duties detain him at the station for a protracted period. A detention room for juveniles and other

Fifteen Years' Progress in Public Health LYNCHBURG, VA.-This city, with a population of around 39,000, has kept steady pace with the progress of science in the development of its Department of Public Welfare, and with Dr. Mosby G. Perrow as director, has shown in fifteen years exceptional advance in the various paths which lead to improvement of the public health. Especially notable are the decreases in the rates of deaths from tuberculosis and typhoid fever, and in the infant mortality rate.

There were four typhoid deaths in 1926, of which two were of non-residents brought when desperately ill to city hospitals, and two of residents of the newly annexed territory. None were residents of the old city, in which the health department has virtually eliminated polluted water and dry closets, and with the latter, flies. In preventing typhoid fever the health department is preventing also the other endemic diseases, until the death of babies from entero-colitis or other intestinal diseases is almost unheard of; the chief cause of infant mortality in Lynchburg now being prematurity and congenital weakness.

In the first years of the health department, from 1911 to 1915 inclusive, the infant death-rate was 143.7 per 1,000 births. In 1921-1925, inclusive,

it was 80.2. Last year, there was a slight increase, with a 101.1 rate, showing a segregated increase in the newly annexed territory. The white rate for last year was 85.7, and the negro rate, always higher, was 146.5.

The annexation less than two years ago of eight square miles of uninspected territory, unsewered and without water connections for drinking purposes, has been a problem which the health authorities have been handling with gloves off, securing extension of sewerage first, as the initial steps in protecting its new citizens, and abolishing the dry closet and the polluted well and spring. Clinics have been established, one at the textile mill center, and nurses and city physicians have been spreading education in sanitation and health protection. The annexation of so much uninspected territory has, because of this intensive campaign, caused only slight deviation from the steadily improving health conditions of the city.

In tuberculosis work, Lynchburg has made a tremendous stride in both preventive and curative ways, having been, according to the records of the U. S. Bureau of Animal Industry, the first city in the United States to require tuberculin testing of all herds furnishing milk to residents of the city. It is the first city in the South to have

employed a nurse whose duties lay solely with tuberculosis, its prevention, treatment, and cure.

The nurse does preventive work in isolating the patient, establishing sanitoria conditions in the home, which prevents the family from contact, and in educating the underprivileged in the lurking dangers of the disease. She is in constant touch with 239 patients, according to her report for 1926, when the tuberculosis death-rate for Lynchburg was the lowest in its history, 75.3, as against an average of 205.5 in 1911-1915.

The prevalence of tuberculosis is greater among negroes than among white people, as shown in the following figures for 1926, the white population of Lynchburg being over 29,000, as against less than 10,000 negroes: total rate, 75.3; white rate, 47; negro rate, 155.

Lynchburg has the greatest per capital consumption of milk of any city in the state, with 1.463 pints per person, reasons for this being that the milk is made safe by inspection for tuberculosis and for bacteria of all sorts; it is attractive in its taste and butter-fat percentage as well as in its safety and its cleanliness; and there is fine dairy service in Lynchburg. The educational work in milk distribution has been conducted unceasingly, with weighing and measuring tests of babies drinking milk; with free distribution of tickets for short periods to show improvement from drinking milk; and other educational propaganda. There are 390 children receiving free milk in the public schools, with $2,365 available for this work, which is conducted from October to May, the money being secured through the sale of Christmas seals of the Tuberculosis Association.

Inoculation against whooping-cough, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, smallpox and diphtheria helps in the fight for health, and there is water filtration here after the water has traveled 25 miles through redwood pipes from a mountain stream, protected by owning the watershed. The water is tested daily at the bacteriological laboratory.

There are the following clinics, with the number in attendance for the year 1926: general clinic, 3,238 persons; venereal, 1,911 registered cases; prenatal, 332 expectant mothers; children, 1,678 during the year; tuberculosis, 259 patients; eye, ear, nose and throat, 657, many of them operative; and orthopedic, 88 children and adult patients.

In the laboratory last year there were 9,275 biological tests and 5,131 chemical tests, with 659 water investigations, 2,725 for venereal diseases, 570 cultures for diphtheria tests, of sputum for tuberculosis, giving some idea of the sort of work done. The examination for the dread cause of hydrophobia makes immediate administration of the Pasteur treatment possible, and there are tests for poison in court cases, etc.

Lynchburg is finding the vigorous and intelligent work of its health department to be not only a real benefit to its present citizens but an important asset in attracting new residents.

MARTHA RIVERS ADAMS.

Airport Financed by Popular
Subscription

SCHENECTADY, N. Y.-This city, a railroad pioneer city in 1831, is to be an air junction point in 1928, as a result of the activity of its Chamber of Commerce. Not only have plans to make this city the "hub" of New York-Montreal and BostonBuffalo air travel been formulated, but the money has been raised by public subscription and initial

steps taken towards the construction of a fully equipped airport. (See front cover of this issue.) Realizing that commercial aviation is not a thing of the future, but is here now, the Chamber got busy a few months ago. Options were secured on 195 acres of land, comprising, in the opinion of aviation experts, the best site for an airport within a radius of 50 miles.

Our next step was to incorporate a company, known as the Schenectady Airport, Incorporated. Before placing its stock on the market, we looked around for possible sources of revenue which would justify its being offered to the public.

Negotiations were begun with the Colonial Air Transport, a company which has been operating twice daily between New York and Boston during the past year. Arrangements have now been made whereby this organization becomes a partner in our project, and as a result will make Schenectady the terminal of its two proposed air line extensions.

The task of providing the money came next. After securing a sufficient amount, through quiet solicitation, to cover initial expenses, a city-wide campaign to sell $100,000 worth of preferred stock was inaugurated. This money-raising effort has closed successfully with an over-subscription, providing the Chamber with a total of $121,000 towards the financing of its proposed airport, to be known as the Port of Schenectady.

Although the project was well under way when Lindbergh made his successful flight to Paris, the Chamber naturally capitalized upon the publicity attending his feat. "Lindbergh Made His GoalSo Can Schenectady" was our campaign slogan.

Now that the money has been subscribed, no time is being lost in converting our landing field into a real airport. Grading is to be started immediately, permanent runways established, hangars built, and lighting equipment installed. Within a few months we expect to announce to the entire country that Schenectady is on the air map of the United States in a big way, ready to accept its share of the business that is bound to come with the rapid development of the newest means of transportation. A. J. HORN,

Secretary, Schenectady Chamber of Commerce.

Indianapolis Adopts City Manager Plan

INDIANAPOLIS, IND.-What had been conceded as a foregone conclusion by all parties concerned has been turned into an emphatic reality by the voters of Indianapolis in adopting on June 21, the city manager plan of municipal government by the imposing majority of 44,101 votes; the actual vote as recorded being 53,965 for adoption and 9,864 against adoption of the new form of government. That this result was not unexpected is evidenced by a poll taken among the members of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce ten days prior to the referendum; the result of this poll showing 2,250 business men favoring the adoption of the city manager plan against 241 opposing its adoption.

The most striking phase of the campaign waged by a Citizens' Committee of One Thousand was the total absence of organized opposition, the two political camps showing no apparent interest in the outcome of the referendum election. The lack of active opposition was indeed a handicap to the city manager headquarters; for everyone took it for granted that the plan would carry so overwhelmingly that it was with difficulty that sufficient funds and organization could be gathered to