The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-27
DENYING orT coNsUMPrIoN.
Something About the Printers Home
 at Colorado Springs.

ouI, IL poSSlDley OllS OL ll4c WOlSt uia- cases known to mankind, rightly termed the great white plague, which it is estimated claims 150,0O0 victims every year in this country. Authorities estimate the annual loss in money from deaths at $SS0,000,000 The illness incident to this disease is likely to be protracted and we must count against the welfare of the state the loss in wages; expense in caring for the sick; the maintenance of de- endent families; and include in these items the direct tax on the state of the support of hospital. sanitaria, homes for dependents and free school ing. All these are results of the lack of earning power of the afflicted in dividual. Over thirty per cent. of the deaths from tuberculosis occur be- tween rhe ages of 15 and 45. The greater proportion of these die be- | tween the ages of 25 and 35, and this is the time of the greatest earning capacity. A large proportion die be- tween the ages of 15 and 20. This means that the life is ended soon after l AAlS Nll4lo llcbS lCLl sSAAOOlt pClOlG lAp earning capacity has been demonstrat- ed. Here the direct loss falls on the state in the cost of the education of these children with no adequate value returned. From an economic point of view we educate children at the expense of the public in order that they may be more useful in citizens and more readily able to bear their share of public duties and the expense of government. Here then is an actual expenditure with no return; system of financing that could not be met by any business concern without the prospect of ultimate ruin; an actual loss when measured in dollars and cents. This loss cannot be avoided or met by simply stopping the actual outgo, We must spend money in other directions in order to remedy the evil, but where it is outgo now the income later, due to prolonged lives and healthy citizens, will more than offset our prodigality and insure a far greater income with no loss in the future, The time to act is now be- fore the financial burden becomes too great to be borne
 The Typographical union of this country was one of the first labor or ganizations to provide a hospital of its own for the treatment of it's members affected with tuberculosis at Colorado Springs, Col, in connection with the home they established for disabled printers fifteen years ago. In this time they have expended over s50O,- 900 for their maintenance, which in cludes their own corps of physicians, nurses, etc. The Cigarmakers union and others have established homes in Colorado for their consumptive mem bers, which account in measure why the -earners are taking such in- terest In the, bills before the appro- priation committee of the legislature, asking that the cost of patients be s4 week in the institutions which re- ceive state aid. for the treatment of persons affected with tuberculosis who make sworn affidavit that they are unable to pay more than that amount. It Is admitted that the present charge of $7 a week is beyond the reach of all but very few of those who desire treatment in the hospitals, and it is also pointed out that in all the insti- tutions throughout the country, where state aid Is given, the average charge is only $5 q week. The workingnen feel that the state can well afford to spend $40,OOO a year, which is all that will be required to reduce the cost to S4 a week for patient in the Hartford hospital Cedar Mountain sanitarium and the Gaylord sanitar- ium at Wallingford, the only insti- tuions which receive state aid for the treatment of tubercuosis. Those in stituions have capacity of 150 beds.
 Dr. Leroy w. Hubbard of the health department of Greater New York, who was sent here last week by Dr, Thom- as Darlington, commissioner of health, to appear before the appropriation lcommittee and assist the workingmen, stated that New York city alone is spending about $250,OOO annually in educating and preventing the spread of the disease; about $S0,0O0 annually for the treatment of chronic cases on North Brothera Island City hospital and $SOO,0OO has been expended in building and equipping sanitarium at Otisville for lncipients, which will soon be opened, all of which will re- quire an expenditure of at least cne- half million dollars annually for the care and prevention of tuberculosis in New York city.
 3 Some of the reasons advanced in favor of the appropriation are as fol- lows:
 T'irst--That the average rate of a wage-ea, Ter is from ten to fifteen dollars week, and 1t Is impossible to lpay out of this amount seven dollars q week for hospital treatment if q fam Ii.y is to be provided for
 Sccond-That the present rate com Ipels many honest working people who desire to be treated in the hospital to become town pauters.
 Third-That honest working people do not wish to le raced on the same Ilevel as the vasrartt or tramp, etc.
 Fourth-That the treatment of this disease requires much longer time than most ailments, and it rarely oc- CUTS that an incipient can be cured in less time than four months, and last that if we want to build up citizenship we should encourage the person who tolls hard through life and who has the misfortune to be stricken down with tuberculosis that he is to be treated with more consideration than the one who never tolls.
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