From The World's Work, Volume XXIV, May to October, 1912, A History of our Time, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1912, pp. 584-585.
It was in July, 1896 that Saranac Lake organized its Board of Health. The best of the town's level heads came together at its meetings. One of the first measures passed was the anti-spitting ordinance. This was in December, 1896. Thus New York City was 1896 City "beaten to it" [...] by several months.
It is characteristic of the admirable solemnity of a country board that this anti-spitting ordinance was not passed for fun, or to satisfy any faction of the ultra fastidious. "Good sanitation as well as good manners required it," said [the residents]. The man of the street and the hotel verandah who punctuates a yarn with deadly expectorate periods, laughed at the ordinance until he found himself haled before a judge. Nowadays an arrest for reckless punctuation is rare in Saranac Lake. To some, the cost appeals strongly: to most, the ordinance is too blessed to be violated.
From a copy of the Saranac Lake village code dated February 25, 1984,
Item number 48-8. Expectoration.
It shall be unlawful for any person to expectorate upon the sidewalks or streets of the village or upon any doorstep or stairway adjacent to the sidewalks and streets.
Item number 48-10. Violations and penalties. [These also apply to other offenses.]
Any person violating any of the provisions of this local law shall be guilty of a violation and shall be subject to the following penalties:
A. For the first offense, a fine of at least twenty-five dollars ($25.), up to a maximum fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250.).
B. For the second offense, a fine of at least fifty dollars ($50.), up to a maximum fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250.).
