Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-04-06
A STRONG ALLY.
The King Of Terrors Greatly
Assisted by Consumption.
Plan to Check Its Rayages--- A SAM
tarium Proposed in New Mexico.
Senator GaIIanger Urges Aid by Congress
Lung Troubles Death Rate.

projects for the public good ever brough
to the attention OF our national legisla
ture. 1t Is plan to create in New Mexic,
a great sanitarium for consumptives, ant
all congress is asked to do is to give to til,
incorporators of the scheme military res
ervation which is Of little further use t.
the government OF course tho sanitariun
which has been planned is free from al
mercantile features and is to be managed
by society which has formed in New
England and the eastern states for thai
purpose, and which is composed of many
eminent and praiseworthy men ant
| women.
The Deadly scourge.
! Perhaps there are few readers Of this
dispatch who are not often moved to emo
lions of the utmost sadness BY the thought
OF that great army of our population which
1 goes down to the grave every year on nc
| count of the ravages Of consumption 1t IL
u scourge which we have always with us
cutting off the young and promising and
| often showing the truth OF the saying that
| death loves "a shining mark. For the well
| to do victims Of this greatest OF modern
| plaques there is a ray of hope They car,
| go south, to those climes most likely to
| effect cure. But the stricken poor. who
| have no money with which to pay railway
| fares and hotel bills, what is their fate:
They must stay at home and die.
1t is in this great and constantly grow
ing field that the Invalid Aid society pro.
poses to operate. What opportunities ii
has before it only physicians and those
familiar with the magnitude of the scourge
! OF consumption can know. Il have given
close attention to this subject" said Sen
ator Gallinger today, land / regard it as
one OF the greatest and worthiest of all the
charitable works ever proposed in this
country. According to statistics, the an
nual death list in this country from con
sumption is about 100, 900 annually. and
it is certain that considerable share OF
these victims could be saved if they could
in time be taken from unfavorable local.
tics and removed to favorable localities.
This is the object Of the society New
Mexico appears to be less afflicted with
consumption than any other part OF the
country. The death rate there from lung
troubles is only 3 to 100, this including
not only the diseases which originate there
but all those which are carried thither by
invalids in search of health while in New
England the rate is % in 100, in New York
and New Jersey it is 20 in 100, in Mary
land, Michigan Ohio, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia and Washington it is l6 in 100,
in California, Indiana, kentucky, Mime
sofa and Wisconsin it is II to 100, in the
Dakotas, Iowa, Oregon, Tennessee and
Virginia it is IL in 100 in Illinois it is /
in 100, in Nebraska, Missouri and Mon.
tana it Is . in 100, in Colorado, Kansas
Louisiana and North Carolina it is S il
100, in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and
Utah 1t Is in 100, in Arkansas, Souti.
Carolina and Texas it is in 100, whil
in New Mexico is only 3 in 100, includ
ing native and imported cases.
Senator Gallingcr's Views.
THE American Invalid Aid society re,
ally asks very little of congress-" contin
ued Senator Gallinger, land l hope VIZ
shall be able to pass resolution through
both houses giving it what it wants
1t asks for a gift of the military reserva
ton at Fort Stanton, n. NJ, which has
been used as sort of reserve for disabled
soldiers, but its usefulness in that respect
is now reported to be ut an end, and there
is no reason why the government should
not be willing to devote the property t.
this splendid purpose. The principal OBJ
lection thereto is that public propert,
ought not be used for private purposes.
but this Is not private purpose. 1t l.
for the good Of the people of all the United
States. There is nothing of creed or race
or section about it. Its object is as broad
as our land and as comprehensive and ad
mirable as human sympathy.
II have already called the attention OF
the senate to tho fact that we allowed John
Chamberlin to build hotel on the mill
tary reservation ut Fort Monroe anG
that the method of managing the Ho,
Springs of Arkansas is on all tours with
this project. l have also called their at
tention to the fact that we have nationa
parks; that We support homes for disabled
soldiers and asylums for the insane ana
blind, and that no one ever thinks of ques
tiOning the COnstitutionality or propriety
OF such appropriations. We have spent
millions of dollars of the public money fol
the purpose of suppressing diseases in cat
tie and other animals and continue t.
spend large sums for this purpose every
year. This is for the public good and
needs no defense. Then why should q
to use military reservation
that is not needed for anything else as a
home in which the lives of thousands of
people might be saved denounced as pater-
nalism? believe the people want that
sort of paternalism, if paternalism it is.
Human life is certainly as much worth
saving as animal life.
Plan of the Aid Society.
"The plan Of tho aid society, as under
stand it, is very good one, continued
Gallinger, who is thoroughly in
in his advocacy Of this measure. |
The society is already at work ami has
sent away some 400 patients, many Of
whose lives were saved thereby. All ex- |
pert physicians say efforts to produce cures
In cases Of consumption are useless as long
AZ the patients remain in damp climate. |
That is why New Mexico and Arizona are
he places for consumptive patients. The
hospitals and other public institutions in |
which poor consumptives can DO received |
are already full to overlooking.
1.-THE society intends as fast as its finances
will permit to establish colonies in New |
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