The Savannah morning news., 1903-03-22
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
OF TENEMENTS TO
FIGHT TUBERCULOSIS
Dr. George F. Shrady's Plan for Combating Mans
Most Deadly Enemy.
BY OSBORN SPENCER.

DIR. George r. SnraQy DeleVeS the Iu-
ture will bring advances in the heal
ing art as yet undreamed of by hui
mainly at large.
He bases his hope upon the work of
the recent past, which, he says, has
been chiefly along preventive lines and
in helping nature to increase the in
dividuals power of resistance against
disease.
He foresees the ultimate practical
stamping out of consumption, through
the adoption of natures own remedies
which are free to all, and proposes the
municipal ownership of tenements to
hasten this result.
Great progress has been made with
the microscope and the test tube"
said the doctor to the writer, the other
ing yellow fever and its spread by
mosquitoes, Drs. Reed, Finlay, Carroll
and Agramonte did the race an meal
Culable service. They accomplished
more for Cuba than all the warships
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 occu-
pancy, for the first time in it's history,
and this has brought immunity to our
own Gulf ports. Nothing more impor-
tant than the work of these men, and
Ross's similar work in England has
been done in recent years. This would
be true if the prevention of yellow fe-
yer had been all.
These Investigations have pointed a
way to the ultimate stamping out of
malaria as we'll, since the germ of that
disorder, also, is conveyed by the mos
quito, and the precise circumstances
under which this is accomplished
have been determined.
1T is not enough for the mosquito
to absorb the organism that produces
malaria or yellow fever from an in
fected person and then bite one who is
well. The germ must remain within
the mosquito long enough to develop
properly before its 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 tuber-
culosis.
mo one need ask now if consump-
ton can be cured. 1t can be cured. 1t
is cured, practically, every day. But
it is not, and cannot be cured by
drugs alone. Beyond stimulants and
nourishing foods which build up the
vitality and add to the patients re-
sisting power, no remedies are special
ly needed, excepting those which ma
ture furnishes. These are as free as
the sunlight and air of heaven. In
fact, they are light and air, and moth
ing else.
Light and air can be had in the
man can take his fill of them when
walking on the street, or even in the
park. tuberculosis cannot get hold
on the man or woman whose blood is
energized with plenty of oxygen,
whose skin is Drowned by the winds,
and upon whom the light of the sun
is allowed to play good part of every
day.
Under such conditions you may in
hale tuberculosis bacteria, and yet be
unaffected. 1t is a question of seed
and soil. The latter is always the es-
sential element of propagation. There
is enough vital force, enough pow
er of resistance in the individual of
perfect physical condition to overcome
any evil influences. To put it another
way, the phagocytes-the white cor
puscles of the blood, which act as de-
tenders of the health-in the circula-
ton of the sound and normal person
are strong enough and numerous
enough to defeat the bacterial hosts
in the battle royal sure to follow the
invasion.
1.-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, pre-
disposition to the disease. But with
these, as with others, fresh air, light,
proper nourishment and cleanliness
| will increase the power of resistance
so that the effect of the bacteria may
be overcome, even If taken into the
| system.
How to Fight Tuberculosis.
'This suggests the course which
medical science is pointing out to-day
to the men of capital and the munich
palities of the civilized world. Provis-
| ion should be made for the proper
housing of the workers. am almost
| prepared to say that it would be true
economy for the great cities to build
| tenements properly located and full of
windows, through which light and air
| can pass freely, and rent them to their
wage earning citizens.
There may be some who would OBJ
ject to such an extension of the mu-
/ nlClpdl bul Hlu~
nicipal ownership of 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
suffering.
Consumption costs enormously more
| in life and suffering and money in
every American city than typhoid fe-
yer. and the municipal ownership of
/ -
| pal ownership of waterworks The
worki~eys of the Peabody fund in Lon
| don 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 per-
! feet sanitary character 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 op-