Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-21
WAR0N TUBERCULOSIS
-:ss
A Plan for Combating Mans
Most Deadly Enemy.
HOUSING THE POOR
IMPORTANCE orIERksH AIR AND
PLENTY OF SUNLIGHT.
Preventive Treatment the Line Along
Which Recent Advances Have
Been Made.
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
Dr. George F. Shrady Of New York be-
lieves the future will bring advances In the
healing art as yet undreamed of by human
ity at large.
He bases his hope upon the work of the
recent past, which, he says, has been chief
ly along preventive lines and in helping
nature to increase the individuals power
of resistance against disease.
He foresees the ultimate practical stamp
ing out of consumption through the adop-
ton of natures own remedies which are
free to all, and proposes the municipal own
ership of tenements to hasten this result.
Great progress has been made with the
microscope and the test tube" said the>doc-
tor to the writer the other evening. I'm
their discoveries concerning yellow fever
and it's spread by mosquitoes, Drs. Reed,
Finlay, Carroll and Agramonte did the race
an incaluculable service. They accom-
plished more for Cuba than all the war
ships and all the soldiers, though the gift
of freedom from Spanish rule was price,
less boon.
."The island has been practically free of
the fever since the American occupancy,
for the first time in its history. and this
ports Nothing more important than the
work of these men, and Ross similar work
in England, has been done in recent years:
This would be true 44the prevention of
yellow fever hao been ALL
These Investigations have pointed way
to the ultimate stamping out of malaria as
well, since the germ Of that disorder also
is conveyed by the mosquito and the pre-
else circumstances under which this is ac-
complished have been determined.
at Is not enough for the mosquito to alb
sorb the organism that produces malaria
or yellow fever from an infected person
and then bite one who Is well. The germ
must remain within the mosquito long
enough to develop properly before it's bite
will convey the disease from the sick to
the sound.
The Doom Of tuberculosis.
"The most gratifying progress has been
made in the treatment of tuberculosis
mo one need ask now if consumption
can be cured. 1t can be cured. 1t Is cured.
practically, every day. But 1t is not, and
cannot be cured by drugs alone Beyond
stimulants and nourishing foods which build
up the vitality and add~tothe patients re-
sisting power, no remedies are specially
| needed, excepting those which nature fur
| nishes. These are as free as the sunlight
and air of heaven. In fact, they are light
and air. and nothing else.
Light and air can be had in the most
crowded cities. The working man can take
his fill of them when walking on the street.
or in the park. tuberculosis cannot get
energized with plenty of oxygen, whose skin
| Is Drowned by the Winds and upon whom
the light Of the sun is.tanowed to play
good part Of, every day.
Under such conditions you may inhale
tuberculosis bacteria and Vet be unaffected
1t is a question of seeesandssoil The latter
Is always the essentials element of pxopa-
cation. There is enough vital force enough
power of resistance in the Individual or
perfect physical condition to overcome any
evil influences. To put 1T another way, the
phagocytes-the white corpuscles of the
blood, which act as defenders of the health
in the circulation of the sound and nor
NAL person are strong enough and numerous
enough to defeat the bacterial hosts in the
battle royal sure to follow the invasion.
THE old notion that consumption as such
IS hereditary in some cases has been found
to be a mistake. Children of consumptives,
however, often show a general physical
weakness and lack Of resistance which is,
in effect, predisposition to the disease But
with these, as with others, fresh air, light,
proper nourishment and cleanliness will in
crease the power of resistance SO that the
effect of the bacteria may be overcome,
even II taken into the system.
How to Fight Tuberculosis.
'"This suggests the course which medical
science is pointing out today to the men Of
capital and the municipalities Of the civ
ilized world. Provision should be made for
the proper housing of the workers. I am
almost prepared to say that 1t would be
true economy for the great cities to build
tenements properly located and full of win
dows. through which light and air can pass
freely, and rent them to their Wage-earn-
ing citizens.
There may be some who would object
to such an extension of the municipal own
ership principle. But municipal ownership
or WaterWorks is necessary, as they have
learned to their sorrow at Ithaca. There,
foul water, served through company mains,
has cost many lives and much human suf-
fering.
Consumption costs enormously more in
life and suffering and money in every Amer
lean city than typhoid fever and the mu-
nic1pal ownership of tenements Is as logi-
zeal as the municipal ownership of water
WORKS. The workings OF the Peabody fund
IN London may serve to show how such a
plan would succeed. and perhaps it is along
similar lines that the movement should be
conducted. But at all events, the building
OF enough homes of perfect sanitary char
acter to house those who earn low wages
and at rents which they can afford to pay
should be one of the great coming reforms.
The plan offers an unexampled opportunity
for wealthy phanthropists If the cities will
not take 1t up
What Must Be Done Now.
To the suggestion that preventive meas
ures will not help those already afflicted
with tuberculosis Dr. shrady replied:
For them either the municipalities or the
wealthy citizens must build special hospi-
tails and surround them with extensive
grounds. There patients may take exer-
else in the open air. with the sun shining
upon them. There they may live out of
doors There they may even sleep with no
roof over them. The cure thus offered
must be furnished free to those who cannot
afford to pay. Sii -
There are a fewsisuch municipal and
state hospitals now. but more must be es-
tablished. With the great, preventive meas
ures that suggest accomplished. however,
the need for hospitals and the withdrawal
from productive activity oof the patients,
and the attendants and nurses who care for
them WIFI gradually disappear"
Isolation Unnecessary.
In DR.. shrady's judgment the isolation
of tuberculosis patients is not necessary or
desirable. providing ordinary care In meth
DDS OF life is exercised and the destruction
Of the sputum is attended to.
at Is as easy for those of small means
to care for their consumptfves as for any
one else" said DR.. Shrady unless they
are too crowded and are Obliged to live In
holes ito which the light and air cannot
have free access. There are tenements.
though. In every big city On this country.
and many smaller ones too, am sorry to