The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-07
LAzINEss A DISEASE.

The lawmakers erred, through excus-
able ignorance, when they passed bills
directed against tramps and Migrants.
What the poor fellows really need is
a physician, not a policeman. They are
victims of a disease, not of pure GUS
sedness," as has been believed for
ages. LaZiness. we are now informed
on so high an authority as DR.. c. W.
Stiles, of the federal Department of
Agriculture, is an abnormal condi-
ton, disease. and is produced by a
germ. DR.. Stiles has recently given
good deal Of study to the matter. and
has been rewarded by the discovery of
the specific germ that produces the af-
lection which we call laziness. The
germ has a long Latin name, of course,
but its familiar title, under which IL
will henceforth be mathematical, is
the hook-wOrm. Like most of the evil
germs, it is a product of bad hygienic
conditions. Improper sanitation, i'm
proper food, improper clothing and
sundry other improper things are re-
sponsible for the existence and propa-
cation of the hook-worm. When the
hook-worm gets in it's baleful work on
the human system it produces an abb
normal condition known technically as
''uncinariasis," but commonly as lazi-
ness. Sometimes the condition is err
roneously diagnosed as malaria, ac-
cording to DR.. Stiles.
XXyba,, a ,..a,. 81, -....- -
ence for sitting on an empty box in
the sun and whiting sticks. when he
would rather perch on the top rail of
the fence and "cuss the gov'ment'
than get down and WELD the hoe,
when he has that tired feeling which
induces him to sit still and watch with
complacency the efforts of his wife
and small children to earn living for
the family. he is possibly to be more
pitied than blamed. The hook worm
has got him. People think it is lazl-
ness that is the matter with him.
whereas he is suffering from uncina-
riasis.
And the dreadful hook-worm is no
respecter of persons or sexes. 1t at
tacks the man and the boy. the wo@
man and the girl. When the boy and
the girl fall victims to it. the common
practice is to doctor them with a
switch. When adults are the victims
the neighbors say they are hopelessly
to live, and similar things. All of
which, in the light of DR.. Stiles dis
covery, is very cruel, not to say bru-
tai. We don't chastise or say unkind
things about persons suffering with
malaria. We sympathize with them,
and give them drenches and pills and
powders to relieve their condition And
yet DR.. Stiles says uncinariasis is so
closely akin to malaria as to be mis-
taken for it quite frequently.
According to DR. Stiles. the poor
whites of the South are sadly beset by
the hook-worm. 1t is due to the evil
operations of that germ that ''noor
white" parents send their little chill
dren to work in the factories while
they stay at home and loll about their
cabin doors or hunt rabbits in the
nearby thickets. To this germ and it's
bad influences. he says. is due indi-
rectly the present agitation against
child labor. Except for the hook worm
there would be no child labor and con-
seQuently no agitation of the subject,
But there is a good time coming
Having discovered the germ of lazi-
ness, it naturally follows that the
scientists must discover something
that will kill it, or at least make it
harmless. And when the specific has
been found the country will hustle and
hum with energy. There will be no
more laziness. Everybody, after treat
ment, will work. Weary Willie" will
get a puncture in his arm and imme-
diately go to saving wood. 1t is great
ly to be hoped that the laziness cure
will be forthcoming before a great
while. There isn't town or COM
munity in the country which has not
a number of promising patients on