Wichita eagle., 1886-12-10
THE RELATION OF THE PRESS TO PUB
Lie SANITATION.
Before the State Sanitary Convention by
II. Dwight TEACHER.

~ NN~@~-~-~A
ity, and, on the other, a vast agency Of
power and influence controlled and welded
By private individuals The relation may
be two fold-actual and ideal-that which
is and that which ought to be. The actua
relation of the press to public sanitation Is
not one of absolute Indifference, nor yet
one of pronounced interest 1t regards the
subject very much as the vast public does
as one for the doctors to take care of, as
one of professional interest to the medical
profession, as one of some moment to the
philanthropist and sociologist, but of nc
very pressing or vital interest to the public
at large The press, as a rule, pretty fair
ly reflects public sentiment. When the
community is alive and aroused upon any
subject, the press thunders away with all
its guns; but when the public evinces no
interest in matter the press cannot afford
to waste too much ammunition upon it. So
much for the actual.
As to the rel alton which the press ought
to sustain to public sanitation, that can
only be measured and determined by the
magnitude of the subject itself. Disease
and death are the clouds which most dark
ly lower over human life He who can
mitigate the one or postpone, however
briefly, the inevitable arrival of the other,
is human benefactor.
Death, at last, is the irrevocable destiny
of our race Not all the laws of health,
or all the medicaments Of the healing art,
or all the prayers Of love or tears of grief
can avail to unwrite single letter Of the
sentence, Dust thou art and unto dust
thou shalt return" While this is true, it
is also true that proper attention to the
laws of health would very sensibly pro-
long human life, and much diminish hui
man suffering. A vast proportion of the
deaths which now occur are premature
Infant humanity yields a tribute of almost
half its members to this grim destroyer;
the ground beneath the tree of life is whit
ened with the fall of its untimely blossoms;
youth with its hopes and opportunities,
with its ambitions and aspirations, comes
to a sudden stop and the tune of life is left
half played; the strong man falls by the
way side and lives out but half his days
Not only this; all the circumstances at
tending death have their horror enhanced
Instead of the life-force gradually fading
out in old age like the gentle decline of a
sunset, it passes away in the storm and |
stress Of disease, the body racked with |
pain and the mind filed with anguish
A very little reflection and investigation
reveals the fact that under the present con-
1itions of living, very large percentage Of
disease and death occurs from preventable
is to say from causes which
ire more or less under the control of human
and will Some of these causes
might be extinguished altoa ether; others
might be greatly leSsened. Sanitary
science has to do with these preventable
,auscs Of disease and death 1t cannot con-
,er immortality, but it may contribute to
ongevity. Among these preventable
,auses are some which are within the CON
rol almost entirely of the individual, while
here are others which can only be reached
through the combined action of the com
nunity in its corporate capacity 1t is
hese latter which give occasion and ground
or system of laws relating to the public
health, and render proper the existence of
state board of health The individual is
lot able to provide for sewerage and drain
ge, nor can he protect himself against the
hangers of cOntagion. These and many
ther matters connected with the public
health can only he reached by the common
'ublic authority.
1t will perhaps intensity our apprecia-
ion of the importance of public sanitation,
nd thus help to show the relation which
he press should hold towards it. if we
lance in detail at SEINE of the preventable
auses of disease and death
And first and foremost among these
auseS we might specify war. Probably
othing has done so much during all his
DRY to shorten and destroy human life as
var. Nor does there seem to be much
'resent prospect that the reign of peace on
arth will very soon begin Our own cen
ury has witnessed some of the greatest and
most destructive wars since the beginning (
# the Christian era. During its first quar-
er, there Were the great Napoleonic wars,
which drcnched all Europe in blood and
airly decimated some of its countries.
4ater there have have been the two great
russian wars,..the Italian wars; the war
etween Germany ands Austria and the
reat Franco ursian war. to say nothing
/ numberleSS minor wars In our own
ountry, we have had the war of 1912. the
var with Mexico and the great war of the
ebellion. The loss of life in all these wars.
ounting not merely those who were killed
battle or died of wounds. but those who
lckened and died of disease during their
rogrcSS and afterward, must mount UP in
0 the millions. We can see something of
be after effects of our own great war in
he fact that our pension roll for injured
nd disabled survivors already amounts to
bout SevenW-fve millions of dollars per
mum and has involved an expenditure of
lore than seven hundred millions of dol
lrs. Roughly speaking, the losses on both