The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-10-12
WARFARE ON CONSUMPTION.

The governments of those states which hay
not yet organized vigorous campaign agains
tuberculosis may well initiate the example whic
which Maryland has set, says the New York Trit
une Maryland is not pioneer. 1t is a recent re
cruit but the report of its special commission JUS
printed, is a model document. To many executiv
and legislative officials throughout the country it viii
afford suggestive revelations of duty, and of way
and means of performing the same. The medica
and statistical data here collected may not be so nep
to the wide-awake practitioner, because he has be
come familiar Herewith in other ways. Still, in a
least one particular the procedure of the Maryland
commission was novel, if not unique In connection
with public conference held in Baltimore last Ja,,
uary, it arranged for an elaborate and comprehen
sive exhibition, which remained open for severa
days. The material thus made available for inspec
tion was exceedingly varied 1t had practical bear
ing on tenement house reform, municipal and stat,
sanitation nursing articles for the use of invaids
including individual cuspidors and models and plans
of score of hospitals and sanatoriums.
Not the least gratifying feaure of the report
is the recognition given to work done in New York
city and state An account is given for the provis
ion of incipient cases on Blackwel's island and adj
vanced ones on North Brother island and the perfa
tory remark is made that this city has the best mu
nicipal accommodations in America. The report rec
ommends that annual lectures be given to school
teachers in Baltimore in regard to tuberculosis
"simiar to those now so admirably conducted in
New York" The anti-spitting ordinance of the me-
tropolis naturally receives hearty approval In that
section of the exhibition devoted to governmental
sanitation, the most extensive and complete repre-
sentation was that of the New York health depart
ment." Aside from the contributions made by Bal
timore, apparently the only exhibit relative to tene
ments, factories and sweatshops came from this city
1t embraced twenty plans of model tenements ninety
photographs that illustrated the evils Of imperfect
ventilation and overcrowding and an instructive set
of statistical charts The collection was prepared
Jointly by the New York tenement house commits
sion and the Charity Organization society. Models
OF several private and public sanatoriums in the state
were shown, and in discussing the durability of con-
sumption, the commission summarizes the results at
tanned by Dr. Trudeau in the Adirondacks.
Preventative measures are much the most effec-
tive in the war against tuberculosis, but remedial
treatment is also necessary, and there is growing
disposition to provide for it under state auspices for
persons Of limited means That fact lends import
ance to an article in the October number of "Out-
door Life" by New York Physician. He estimates
that the cost of housing patient at the state nsti
tuition opened at Ray Brook last July is $1,000 or
more. He then describes cottage which he thinks
would be equally servceable for six or seven months
which could be built for $1,000, and which would ac
commodate half dozen or more persons. By way
of experiment such structure was erected on an
island in the Adirondacks few months ago, and it
is possible to draw accurate financial conclusions
from the venture Both the account which is given
IN Outdoor Life" and the suggestion that the plan
there outlined would afford larger accommodations
for the same money than the brick sanatorium at
Ray Brook deserve careful attention in the Empire
state and in other parts of the country where insti
tutions of that character have been projected The
writer does not make it altogether clear what ought
to be done at the end Of the warmer six months of
the year. 1t is suggested in an editorial preface to
his article that small brick cottages might be neces-
sary in winter for such patients as could not then
be dismissed as cured That course would reduce the
economy Of the pan of course but to what extent is
question requiring further computation.