Each individual is too busy in his own affairs to look after his own, much less his neighbor’s, health and comfort, hence community life, with its advantages, brings its own dangers. Children in school in contact with other children; crowds in trains, in elevators, stores, in lecture halls, contract habits as well as diseases. The need for large quantities of supplies at one point brings long-distance transportation and cold storage difficulties. The man who caters to public need does not look far ahead to consequences, and if unrestrained may prove more of a menace than a convenience. The safe and reasonable way is to delegate to certain persons the making and enforcement of regulations corresponding to the needs of the times, and then to obey them, even at some personal inconvenience. Each community should put into the hands of its health officers the carrying out of the rules it has agreed to as an _insurance_ against outbreaks of disease. Does a man let his fire insurance policy lapse because the year has passed without a fire? Even if the regulation seems superfluous to the particular individual or family, let it be remembered that there are inflammable spots in every community. Eternal vigilance is the price of safety in sanitary as well as in military affairs. As in the army, the community must delegate scout duty to certain chosen individuals and rely on their report for safety. CHAPTER IV _Interchangeableness of these two forms of progressive effort. First one, then the other ahead._ Preventive medicine is the watchword of the hour, and enlistment in the cause can come only through education.... He who understands the dangers is thrice armed, and is trained and entitled to enlist in the home guard to protect the health of his household and neighbors. _Dr. M. H. Rosenau, Harvard Medical School._ The next generation of parents is being made strong or weak in home and school today by an environment furnished by parents and teachers. These latter cannot be too well instructed in physiology, hygiene, and biology. _Prof. John Tyler, The Responsibility of the Medical Profession for Public Education in Hygiene._ The new view is a social view, which seeks in all movements, whether of research or of remedial action, for the common welfare. _Edward Devine, Social Forces._ Democracy means that the best of all life is for all, and that if there are many incapable of entering into it, then they must be helped to become capable. _Ralph Barton Perry, The Moral Economy._ If the child is not only in theory but in practice recognized as the main interest in society, the family and society will more and more assist the mother in his nurture. _W. I. Thomas, Women and Their Occupations._