The Washington herald., 1907-12-09
The Gallinger tuberculosis Bill.

It is sincerely TO be hoped that the Dis
trict Committees Of the Senate and House.
and Congress as a whole. will not under
estimate the Importance of the bin intro
duced by Senator Gallinger which has
for its worthy purpose the better regula-
ton Of pulmonary tuberculosis In the
District of Columbia The measure was
before the last Congress, but, like OTHER
much-needed local legislation. failed Of
enactment. Now that It has been reintro-
duced in the opening days Of the new ses-
sion. there can be no excuse for failure 70
pass It without delay. Even the public
service measures and others which affect
the finances OF Washingtonians. and those
which may be regarded as carrying more
weight because they directly affect a
larger number Of people. should not be
permitted 20 stand in the way OF early
attention to the tuberculosis bill. The cir
cumstance that its sponsor is the chair
man Of the District Committee Of the
Senate is. of course. distinctly in its
favor and augurs its speedy passage.
The vital need of a law such as Sen
atOr GalliHger proposes has already been
pointed out in these columns. At present
the local health authorities are not en-
powered to deal with consumption as
with other communicable diseases, and
there can be no doubt that incalculable
good will follow the comforting Of the
needed authority. The feature relating to
compulsoryrepo of tuberculosis cases
can be objected to on no valid grounds.
especially in view Of the provision for
secret records and the proposed erasure
OF the names Of cured patients Because
OF the inhuman and wholly baseless at
ttude of hostility generally assumed by
the public toward cons Imptives. and the
old belief in the incurability of the mall
ady. now happily exploded. persons af-
flicted are usually slow to admit the
presence of infection. and some physi-
clans foolishly hesitate 20 impart the un-
welcome news. Since. however il is con-
clusively demonstrated every day that a
tuberculosis patient who follows few
simple precautionary rules is not i'm any
/ sense a menace to the community-not
even to his closest associates-.but is.
rather, beneficial example to afflicted
ones Of a lower order of intelligence, it
should be obvious that the tendency to-
ward secretiveness has as little founda-
ton as the manifestations OF aloofness
and discrimination on the part OF the
public - manifestations almost invariably
based on dense ignorance Of the real facts
concerning the disease. In short. there is
no more ground for resistance against the
/ reporting of tuberculosis cases than Of
cases Of measles or scarlet fever: not as
much. indeed. as the latter Involve some
kind Of quarantine and some degree of
/ isolation.
Not the least important provision of the
Gallinger bill is that for disinfection Of
quarters from which phthisis patients
have removed. or in which they have
died. At present the health board officials
can only conduct distinctions on request.
and District statistics show that such re-
quests lack much OF being as numerous as
even the cases which are now voluntarily
reported and the deaths which occur.
! If there are defects in the measure, they