DRAFT OF A PROPOSED BILL 
TO ESTABLISH A 
BUREAU OF PUBLIC HEALTH. 
Reprinted from the Medical Record, July 15, 1893. 
The New York Academy of Medicine, 
No. 19 West Forty-third Street, July 12, 1893. 
The undersigned, a committee of the National Quaran- 
tine Committee of the New York Academy of Medicine, 
have been instructed to prepare a bill to be submitted to 
Congress, creating a Public Health organization in the 
General Government. With a view to harmonize con- 
flicting views on the plan of organization, about which 
there is a diversity of opinions, in order to concentrate 
upon a single measure the efforts of all who are interested 
in securing the necessary legislation, we herewith tenta- 
tively submit the sections of a bill organizing a Bureau 
of Public Health, for the purpose of eliciting a full and 
free discussion of the subject before finally determining 
the precise form which the committee will adopt. While 
the committee believe that the plan submitted is more 
nearly in accordance with the opinions of those whose 
judgment and experience are most valuable, it is pre- 
pared to give due consideration to any modifications 
which may be proposed. The remaining features of the 
bill, which define the functions of the Bureau, will be sub- 
mitted hereafter. All communications addressed to the 
Secretary of the Committee, Dr. J. H. Girdner, will be 
duly considered. 
Joseph D. Bryant, Chairman. 
Richard H. Derby. 
Edward G. Janeway. 
T. Gaillard Thomas. 
David Webster. 
Stephen Smith. 
J. H. Girdner, Secretary. 
A BiU to establish within the Treasury Department a 
Bureau of Public Health. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled : 
Section i. That for the purposes of this Act the States 
and Territories of the United States be and are hereby 
grouped into districts, to be known as “ The Sanitary 
Districts of the United States,” as follows: 
The Northern Sanitary District shall include the 
States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minne- 
sota, Ohio, Wisconsin. 
The Northeastern Sanitary District shall include the 
States of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hamp- 
shire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont. 
The Northwestern Sanitary District shall include the 
States of Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, 
Washington, and the Territory of Alaska. 
The Eastern Sanitary District shall include the States 
of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vir- 
ginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. 
The Western Sanitary District shall include the 
States of California, Nevada, Utah, and the Territory of 
Arizona. 
The Southern Sanitary District shall include the States 
of Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, 
Mississippi, Tennessee. 
The Southeastern Sanitary District shall include the 
States of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina. 
The Southwestern Sanitary District shall include the 
State of Texas and the Territories of Indian Territory, 
New Mexico, Oklahoma. 
The Central Sanitary District shall include the States 
of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming. 
Sec. 2. That there shall be established in the Treas- 
ury Department, under the direction and supervision of 
the Secretary thereof, a Bureau of Public Health, to con- 
sist of a Commission of fifteen, of whom eleven shall be 
appointed by the President, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, as follows, viz. : One Medical 
Commissioner from each of the “ Sanitary Districts of 
the United States,” provided in section one of this Act, 
and two commissioners at large ; the compensation of 
the appointed commissioners, when actually engaged in 
the performance of their duties under this Act, shall be 
ten dollars per diem and reasonable expenses. The 
other four members of the commission shall be the 
Surgeon-General of the Army, the Surgeon-General of 
the Navy, the Supervising Surgeon General of the 
Marine Hospital Service, and an officer, learned in the 
law, detailed by the Attorney-General from the Depart- 
ment of Justice; these four members shall receive no 
compensation. 
Sec. j. That the members of the Commission shall 
meet at such time and place as may be designated by the 
Secretary of the Treasury, and organize by the election, 
from their own number, of a President who shall be one 
of the members at large, and who shall receive five dol- 
lars per diem, in addition to the ten dollars per diem pro- 
vided in the last section, when actually engaged in the 
performance of his duties under this Act. The Commis- 
sion may appoint a Secretary, not one of its number, and 
fix his salary at a sum not exceeding three thousand dol- 
lars annually. The Commission shall thereafter meet an- 
nually, at Washington, on the first Tuesday of October, 
and at such other times and places as the President of 
the Commission, with the approval of the Secretary of 
the Treasury, shall designate. 
Sec. 4. That there shall be an Executive Committee of 
the Commission, consisting of its President, the Surgeon- 
General of the Army, the Surgeon-General of the Navy, 
and the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine Hos- 
pital Service and the officer detailed by the Attorney- 
General. The Commission shall from time to time pre- 
scribe the duties of the Executive Committee, and 
may make all needful rules and regulations for its own 
control and for the guidance and discipline of all its offi- 
cers and employees, and shall establish all rules and reg- 
ulations for the government of national sanitation in all 
of its foreign and interstate relations, and special depart- 
ments in the enforcement of the provisions of this Act. 
Sec. 5. That when, in the opinion of the President of 
the Commission the interests of the public health would 
be promoted by a conference of the Commission with 
the State Boards of Health of the Several States, or 
of any sanitary district or districts, he is hereby author- 
ized to invite, with the approval of the Secretary of the 
Treasury, said State Boards of Health, or such number 
thereof as he may designate, each to delegate one of its 
members to meet the Commission in conference at such 
time and place as he may appoint; the President of 
the Commission shall be the President, and the Secretary 
of the Commission shall be the Secretary, of any such 
conference ; the delegate in attendance upon the confer- 
ence from each State Board of Health shall be entitled 
to receive reasonable compensation for expenses for a 
session not exceeding three days, to be paid on vouchers 
provided by the Secretary of the Treasury.