On the other hand, if the administration of the Health Department is “in politics,” the reverse of this will take place. Unfortunately, in many American cities, the business of “politics” is the business of providing people with jobs at the taxpayers’ expense, regardless of the fitness of the applicant. Many of our cities are managed in this way. Moreover, in the same city, this corruptness may affect certain departments only, some being negligently and dishonestly conducted, others cleanly and efficiently. Or we may find both conditions existing in a single department, some of whose branches or divisions may be well conducted and on a high level, while other divisions may be grossly mismanaged and worthless. If a Health Department is hampered by politics, either as a whole or in certain mismanaged branches or divisions, it is useless to expect results. Placed under such a handicap, tuberculosis work would fail. Not only would the taxpayers’ money be wasted, but the community would suffer through a false sense of security, gained through its faith in, or rather its ignorance concerning, a badly conducted department. To trifle with the health of a community is a criminal act, and a Health Department which is “in politics” is the most immoral of all corrupt city departments. Evil results of a Health Department being “in politics” may be of several sorts. For example: the Superintendent of Nurses may be an inexperienced, incapable woman, appointed by a ward politician to clear off political debts. A ward politician is hardly one whose judgment—in nursing matters at least—should be relied upon. On the other hand, the Superintendent herself may be capable and efficient, but she may not be permitted to select the members of her staff. Instead of being able to choose them herself, according to their fitness and ability, she must accept any unqualified woman whom the ward boss may appoint. A staff of incompetent nurses, appointed without regard to character or education, is not a force from which to expect results. Moreover, nurses chosen in this manner feel that they are “protected” and can do as they like, subject to neither restraint nor discipline. This means that their work cannot be controlled, corrected, or directed in any way. Dismissal can be made only for the most flagrant offences—not for any such trifle as incompetence, laziness, or stupidity. When the Superintendent’s hands are thus tied—when she cannot select her nurses, cannot control them, and cannot dismiss the worthless as well as the unscrupulous, the result is a low grade of work. No able and self-respecting woman could hold the position of superintendent under such circumstances, thereby making herself responsible for work which she cannot control.