Book Reviews: Intergovernmental Relations in Public Health. By LAURENCE WYATT. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1951. Pp. ix, 212.)
| Date | 01 December 1952 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591295200500463 |
| Published date | 01 December 1952 |
| Author | Winston W. Crouch |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
731
attorneys
at
a
disadvantage.
Throughout
the
book,
there
is
little
or
no
indication
of
an
understanding
of
the
complexity
and
difficulty
inherent
in
the
attempt
to
win
the
consent
and
support
of
the
public
and
of
trade
and
industry
with
respect
to
a
broad-scale
regulatory
program.
Despite
these
limitations
for
the
political
scientist,
the
book
is
useful
as
an
indication
of
what
the
government
and
society
are
up
against
in
attempting
to
enforce
comprehensive
economic
regulations.
It
is
most
suggestive
in
its
sociological
treatment
of
the
broader
social
implications
of
black
market
behavior.
Princeton
University.
MARVER
BERNSTEIN.
Intergovernmental
Relations
in
Public
Health.
By
LAURENCE
WYATT.
(Minneapolis:
University
of
Minnesota
Press.
1951.
Pp.
ix,
212.)
The
author
makes
it
clear
that
he
is
concerned
with
preventative
medicine.
He
does
not
ally
himself
with
the
sanitarians,
the
sanitary
engineers,
the
health
nurses,
although
he
appears
to
lean
somewhat
in
the
direction
of
the
public
health
doctor’s
conception
of
what
constitutes
public
health
administration.
A
basic
thesis
of
the
volume
is
that,
in
the
field
of
public
health
at
least,
the
development
of
federal
and
state
administrative
programs
encourages
the
development
of
local
administration,
and
that
there
is
not
an
&dquo;either
-
or&dquo;
concept
of
administration
in
our
federal
union.
The
federal
government
is
not
denied
a
part
in
the
field
because
state
govern-
ment
has
prerogatives
there,
nor
is
the
state
crowded
out
by
the
federal
development.
Public
health
administration
has
been
traditionally
a
func-
tion
of
the
local
units
of
government.
However,
as
greater
technological
advances
have
been
made
in
the
field,
the
costs
of
administering
programs
have
risen,
and
rural
units
of
government
have
been
slow
to
establish
health
programs
or
to
modernize
the
beginnings
they
have
founded.
Min-
nesota,
with
a
pattern
of
township-county
rural
government,
finds
itself
with
county-wide
health
units
only
in
three
or
four
counties
where
greater
urban
population
or
some
special
circumstance
has
produced
them.
The
role
of
the
state,
then,
has
been
to
encourage,
assist,
and
advise
the
local
health
agencies.
Until
recently
the
state
provided
but
little
financial
assist-
ance
to
the
local
health
programs.
The
prediction
is,
however,
that
state
aid
for
public
health
is
about
to
increase
considerably
and
will
then
remain
sizable.
A
large
portion
of
this
monograph
is
given
over
to
a
careful
descrip-
tion
of
federal
and
state
public
health
programs
and
the
agencies
that
administer
them.
The
emphasis
is
very
large
upon
statutory
history
and
analysis
and
upon
organizational
description.
The
result
is
an
admir-
able
presentation
of
the
formal
framework
upon
which
intergovernmental
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