APPENDIX F.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS RELATING TO PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IN FORCE, JANUARY 25, 1909.

AN ACT Providing a permanent form of government for the District of Columbia. [20 Stats., 107, 1 Sup. R. S., 2d ed., 179.]

SEC. 8. That in lieu of the board of health now authorized by law, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall appoint a physician as health-officer, whose duty it shall be, under the direction of the said Commissioners, to execute and enforce all laws and regulations relating to the public health and vital statistics, and to perform all such duties as may be assigned to him by said Commissioners; and the board of health now existing shall, from the date of the appointment of said health-officer, be abolished.

SEC. 9. That there may be appointed by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, on the recommendation of the health-officer, a reasonable number of sanitary inspectors for said District, * * * to hold such appointment at any one time, of whom two may be physicians, and one shall be a person skilled in the matters of drainage and ventilation; and said Commissioners may remove any of the subordinates, and from time to time may prescribe the duties of each; and said inspectors shall be respectively required to make, at least once in two weeks, a report to said health-officer, in writing, of their inspections, which shall be preserved on file; and said health-officer shall report in writing annually to said Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and so much oftener as they shall require.

SEC. 10. That the Commissioners may appoint, on the like recommendation of the health-officer, a reasonable number of clerks, but no greater number shall be appointed, and no person shall be employed under said health-officer, than the public interests demand and the appropriation shall justify.

Approved, June 11, 1878.

AN ACT To create a revenue in the District of Columbia by levying a tax upon all dogs therein, to make such dogs personal property, and for other purposes.

[20 Stat., 173, 1 Sup. R. S., 2d ed., 197, as amended by act of June 30, 1902, 32 Stat., 547.]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be levied a tax of two dollars each per annum upon all dogs owned or kept in the District of Columbia; said tax to be collected as other taxes in said District are or may be collected.

SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the collector of taxes, upon receipt of said tax, to give to the person paying the same, for each dog so paid for, a suitable metallic tag, stamped with the year, showing that said

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tax has been duly paid; and he shall keep a record of all such payments, with the date thereof, and the name, color, and sex of such dog, and the name of the person claiming any dog so paid for; and a copy of such record, certified under the hand and official seal of the said collector, which shall be given to any person demanding the same, upon payment of twenty-five cents therefor, shall be prima facie evidence of such payment in any court of the District of Columbia. SEC. 3. That the pound master of the District of Columbia shall, during the entire year, seize all dogs found running at large without the tax tag issued by the collector aforesaid attached, and all female dogs in heat found running at large, and shall impound the same; and if within forty-eight hours the same are not redeemed by the owners thereof by the payment of two dollars they shall be sold or destroyed, as the pound master may deem advisable; and any sale made by virtue hereof shall be deemed valid to all intents and purposes in all courts of the District of Columbia. (Act of June 30, 1902.)

SEC. 4. That any dog wearing the tax tag herein before provided for, except female dogs in heat, shall be permitted to run at large within the District of Columbia, and any dog wearing the tax tag herein before provided for shall be regarded as personal property in all the courts of said District, and any person injuring or destroying the same shall be liable to a civil action for damages, which, upon proof of said injuring or killing, may be awarded in a sum equal to the value usually put upon such property by persons buying and selling the same, subject to such modifications as the particular circumstances of the case may make proper. (Act of June 30, 1902.)

SEC. 5. Any person owning any dog so recorded in the collector's office shall be liable in a civil action for any damage done by said dog to the full amount of the injury inflicted.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of any person owning or possessing a dog to place, or cause to be placed and kept, around the neck of such dog, a collar, on which shall be marked and engraved in legible and durable characters the name of the owner or possessor, and the letters "D. C.," and to which collar must be attached the insignia or tax tag furnished by the District tax collector, in accordance with the first and second sections of this law, under the penalty of not less than five nor more than ten dollars; and if any person shall put, or cause to be put, a collar, with the insignia or tax tag, around the neck of any dog owned or possessed by any person or persons residing in the District, without having obtained a license for keeping such animal, he, she, or they shall forfeit and pay the sum of not less than five nor more than ten dollars for each and every offense.

SEC. 7. Whenever it shall be made to appear to the Commissioners that there are good reasons for believing that any dog or dogs within the District are mad, it shall be the duty of the Commissioners to issue a proclamation requiring that all dogs shall, for a period to be defined in the proclamation, wear good, substantial muzzles securely put on, so as to prevent them from biting or snapping; and any dog going at large during the period defined by the Commissioners without such muzzle shall be taken by the poundmaster and impounded, subject to the provisions of section three.

SEC. 8. Any person who shall remove, or cause to be removed, the collar and insignia or tax tag from the neck of any dog, or entice any

properly licensed dog into any inclosure for the purpose of taking off its collar or insignia, or shall for such purpose decoy or entice any animal out of the inclosure or house of its owner or possessor, or shall seize or molest any dog while held or led by any person, or shall bring any dog into the District for the purpose of taking up and killing the same, shall forfeit and pay a sum of not more than twenty dollars.

SEC. 9. That if any owner or possessor of a fierce or dangerous dog shall permit the same to go at large in the District of Columbia, knowing said dog to be fierce or dangerous, to the danger or annoyance of the inhabitants, he shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding twenty dollars; and if such animal shall attack or bite any person, the owner or possessor thereof shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars, and in addition to such punishment the court shall adjudge and order that such animal be forthwith delivered to the poundmaster, and said poundmaster is hereby authorized and directed to kill such animal so delivered to him.

If any owner or possessor of a female dog shall permit her to go at large in the District of Columbia while in heat he shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding twenty dollars. (Act of June 30, 1902.)

SEC. 10. That all acts or parts of acts now in force in the District of Columbia inconsistent with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Approved, June 19, 1878.

AN ACT Authorizing the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to extend the area for the taking up and impounding of domestic animals in the District of Columbia.

[21 Stat., 35, 1 Sup. R. S., 268.]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia be, and are hereby, authorized to prescribe rules for taking up and impounding of domestic animals found running at large in the District of Columbia.

Approved, June 27, 1879.

JOINT RESOLUTION Legalizing the health ordinances and regulations for the District of Columbia.

[21 Stat., 304, 1 Sup. R. S., 2d ed., 303.]

NOTE. These ordinances as originally legalized appear in 1 Sup. R. S., 2d ed., 304-311.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the ordinances of the late board of health of the District of Columbia, as revised, amended, and adopted November nineteenth, eighteen hundred and seventyfive, entitled "An ordinance to revise, consolidate, and amend the ordinances of the board of health, to declare what shall be deemed nuisances injurious to health and to provide for the removal thereof,"

as printed in the report of said late board of health made to the first session of the Forty-fourth Congress, being Executive Document number one, part eight, be, and the same are hereby, legalized; and the respective penalties therein prescribed for violations thereof may be imposed and enforced for the respective offenses therein described, excepting the sections of said ordinance following, namely: Sections seven, nine, and fourteen, which said sections are not hereby legalized. SEC. 2. That the ordinances, rules, and regulations of said late board of health contained in the report mentioned in the preceding section, and printed in the said executive document therein mentioned, namely:

First. "An ordinance to amend an ordinance to prevent domestic animals from running at large within the cities of Washington and Georgetown, passed by the board of health May nineteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-one;"

Second. "An ordinance to prevent the sale of unwholesome food in the cities of Washington and Georgetown;"

Third. "An ordinance to provide for the inspection of streets, food, live stock, fish, and other marine products in the streets of Washington and Georgetown, and to define the duties of inspectors and other officers of the board of health;"

Fourth. "An ordinance to amend section ten of the code so as to read:"

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Fifth. "An ordinance to amend an ordinance passed May thirteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, to read as follows:" Sixth. An ordinance to prevent committing or creating nuisances in or about public urinal or urinals located within the cities of Washington and Georgetown;"

Seventh. "Rules and regulations in regard to smallpox." (Repealed by act of March 3, 1897.)

Eighth. "Regulations to secure a full and correct record of vital statistics, including the registration of marriages, births, and deaths, the interment, disinterment, and removal of the dead in the District of Columbia," be, and the same are hereby, legalized and made valid; and the penalties therein provided respectively for violations thereof may be imposed and enforced for the violations of the same respectively, as provided by section twenty-seven of the ordinances passed November nineteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-five. Approved April 24, 1880.

AN ORDINANCE To revise, consolidate, and amend the ordinances of the board of health, to declare what shall be deemed nuisances injurious to health, and to provide for the removal thereof, as amended by ordinances of July 30, 1875, and by Commissioners' orders of June 25, 1901, and January 2, 1902.

[See 1 Sup. R. S., 2d ed., 304.]

Be it ordained and enacted by the board of health of the District of Columbia, That filth, the contents of cesspools, offal, garbage, foul water, dye water, refuse from manufactories, ordure, urine, stable manure, decayed animal or vegetable matter, or other offensive substance detrimental to health, thrown, placed, or allowed to remain, in or upon any street, avenue, alley, sidewalk, gutter, public reservation, or open lot, in the cities of Washington or Georgetown, or in the

more densely populated suburbs of said cities, are hereby declared nuisances injurious to health; and any person who shall commit, create, or maintain the aforesaid nuisances, or either of them, shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than five or more than twentyfive dollars for every such offense.

SEC. 2. That the carrying and transporting of bones, hides, fish, garbage, offal, or other animal or vegetable substances, in decomposing and offensive condition, in any other than covered and inclosed vehicles, through any street, avenue, alley, or public place, within the cities of Washington or Georgetown, or the more densely populated suburbs of said cities, is hereby declared a nuisance injurious to health; and any person who shall cause, commit, create, or maintain such nuisance shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than two nor more than twenty-five dollars for every such offense.

SEC. 3. That manure accumulated in great quantities; manure, offal, or garbage piled or deposited within 300 feet of any place of worship, or of any dwelling, or unloaded along the line of any railroad, or in any street or public way; cars or flats loaded with manure, or other offensive matter, remaining or standing on any railroad, street, or highway, in the cities of Washington or Georgetown, or the more densely populated suburbs of said cities, are hereby declared nuisances injurious to health; and any person who shall pile or deposit manure, offal, or garbage, or any offensive or nauseous substance within 300 feet of any inhabited dwelling within the limits of said cities or their said suburbs, and any person who shall unload, discharge, or put upon or along the line of any railroad, street, or highway, or public place within said cities or their said suburbs any manure, garbage, offal, or other offensive or nauseous substance within 300 feet of any inhabited dwelling, or who shall cause or allow cars or flats loaded with or having in or upon them any such substance to remain or stand in or along any railroad, street, or highway within the limits of said cities or their suburbs within 300 feet of any inhabited dwelling, and who shall fail, after notice duly served by this board, to remove the same, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not less than five nor more than twenty-five dollars for every such offense.

SEC. 4. That the filling, leveling, or raising the surface of any ground or lot within the cities of Washington or Georgetown, or the more densely populated suburbs of said cities, with animal or vegetable substances, filth gathered in cleaning yards or streets, or waste material from mills or factories, or the removal of the surface of any ground or lot within the said cities, or their said suburbs, filled with such offensive matter or substance, in such manner as to cause noisome odors or noxious gases to arise, are hereby declared nuisances injurious to health; and any person who shall cause, commit, create, or maintain such nuisance shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than five nor more than twenty dollars for every such offense.

SEC. 5. That throwing or placing any defiling or poisonous substance, decayed animal or vegetable matter, or filth into, or causing or allowing the same to pass or enter into, any spring, well, or river water used by the public for drinking or cooking purposes, or into the water of any public reservoir or water pipe within the District of Columbia, whereby such water is rendered impure and unwhole