When It Rains

John Seabrook’s piece on the increasing frequency and formidable power of river flooding is both moving and scientifically instructive (“The Flood Will Come,” July 28th). I served as Vermont’s commissioner of health for eight years, during which time I participated in the state’s annual flood-disaster response, and I believe it’s important to expand the public-safety discussion so that it includes the protection of human health and wellness.

Climate change poses the biggest threat to public health, and storms and floods have abundant immediate impacts: drinking-water contamination; mold damage to homes and businesses; the spread of infectious disease; soil erosion that affects food quality; and limitations on recreation, transportation, and medical-care access. Climate change is also a major source of stress on the population’s mental health, and on the country’s already fragile mental-health system.

The question, then, is not only “How do we live with floods in an era of climate change?” but also “How do we integrate climate-change adaptation and state public-health policy and practice?”

Mark Levine, M.D.
Shelburne, Vt.

Tipping Point

Eyal Press’s article about the National Restaurant Association is noteworthy for its examination of subminimum wages for tipped workers, and for its relevance to another issue currently in the news: the politicization of formerly impartial governmental agencies (“Check Your Bill,” August 4th). As I read Press’s piece, which three times cites the Bureau of Labor Statistics as a credible counterpoint to industry figures that are promulgated by the N.R.A., Donald Trump was in the process of firing the head of the bureau, Erika McEntarfer, over statistics that he didn’t like.

The termination itself certainly lacks merit, but it’s also important not to lose sight of the second-order effects of such actions, including the erosion of public confidence in the integrity of government data. When politically motivated decisions cast doubt on the objectivity of our statistical agencies, we risk a future in which industry lobbyists get away with challenging, discrediting, or even producing the data reported by governmental bodies.

Larry Andow
San Rafael, Calif.

Upping the Ante

As a historian of the lottery, I was delighted to read Adam Gopnik’s article about the history of gambling in New York (“City of Luck,” August 11th). Gopnik outlines what he considers the “four chief eras of gambling” in the city. I would like to propose a fifth: lotteries. From the colonial period through the early nineteenth century, they were everywhere in New York. Lotteries were charted by the State Legislature and established to finance public works for the common good. Myriad schools (including Columbia University), roads, and development projects were all funded through this method.

At first, lottery gambling was an upper-class preoccupation associated with charity and benevolence, but by the dawn of the nineteenth century it had become associated with lower-class vice. This shift had to do with the emergence of corporations, which provided élite New Yorkers with more profitable opportunities to invest their money. Indeed, it was at this point that “gambling” and “investment” became distinct analytical categories.

Anders Bright
Philadelphia, Pa.

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