The Health Commissioner of Pennsylvania, the late Dr. Dixon, made an interesting study of the cost to the town of Troy of the epidemic of typhoid fever which attacked so large a proportion of the citizens of the town in the autumn of 1912. He finds that the total cost of the epidemic to the town was $28,000. Compared to this it is estimated that the cost of installing a complete system to supply pure water for the town would not have exceeded $22,000. The above represents the direct cost in money. The incidental cost, however, is much greater. The cost of the services of the health officers of the state, the estimated loss due to the decrease in trade, and the estimated minimum value of lives lost based upon the usual figures for determining such value, shows a total additional cost of about $105,000.

When it is considered that this loss practically fell upon 700 people, the magnitude of it is more readily comprehended. From all this it follows that one of the most economical expenditures which a town could make would be devoted to placing pure water, entirely free from any threat of disease, at the disposal of every citizen.