The news=record. [volume] (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon) 1907-1910, 1908-10-22
COST OF CONSUMPTION
AND TYPHOID FEVER

Washington, Oct 11.-Prof. Irving
Fisher, the eminent political eco1om
list of Yale University, who in one
Of his papers before the recent In
ternational tuberculosis congress in
Washington declared that consump
ton costs the people of the United
States more than a billion dollars
5ear, is preparing an exhaustive re
port for the National Conservation
commission, which will contain not
only these figures but similar data
IN the economic loss to the country
rom all other preventable diseases.
Prof. Fisher is a member of the
National Conservation commission
ind for many years has been carry
ng on studies along these lines. The
commission received letters from
physicians all over the country urg
ng it to consider the belring OF
public health on the economic effic
ency of the nation in it's efforts tc
| Lscertain the resources of the com
.ry.
The commission from the begin
ling has contemplated reports on the
economic aspects of several phases
| If the Conservation movement which
lffect the duration and effectiveness
| # human life, but Prof. Fisher has
| Undertaken to prepare comprehen
| i've statement of the whole subject
If the relations of public health te
the general field of conservation, ana
especially as to the waste from pre-
ventable diseases and unnecessary
deaths.
DR.. Fisher is professor of politica!
economy at Yale University ant
chairman of the Committee of One
Hundred" of the American associa
ton for the Advancement of Science
which has for a long time been car
rying on propaganda for the increase
of national health through the elm
nation of preventable diseases. This
| Committee of One Hundred is com
posed of physicians and men engaged
in active sociological work in ever
part of the country, and the results
of their Investigations and expert
ence are all available to Dr. Fisher
SO that his report ought to be the
most thorough-g going and complete
summary of the situation ever made.
At the tuberculosis congress, Prof
Fisher declared that $4,000 persons
die of consumption every year. Thu
cost of medical attendance and the
loss of earnings before death average
at least $2,40O, he said, while if tc
this is added the money that might
have been earned with health, the
total loss in each case is about
$4,000 He pointed out, also, thai
the disease usually attacks young
men and women just at the time
when they are beginning to earn
money and cuts off their earning
power for about three years on an
average, before they die.
This subject of the economic value
to the country of general raising
of the average health came up IN
the governors conference at the
White House il May DR.. George
NJ. Kober in his speech on the Con
servation of Life and Health by I'm
proved Water Supply" at the confer
ence presented figures which showed
that the decrease in the vita
assets" of the country through ty
phoid fever in a single year is more
than $35O,O0O,0O0. Typhoid is spread
by polluted water largely, 50 that the
death rate from this disease can be
directly reduced by the purificatioI
of city drinking water. DR.. Kobe,
q,ul.ed statistics to show that the
increased value of the water to the
city of Albany where the typhoit
fever rate was reduced from 104 ir
100000 to 26 by an efficient filtra
tion plant, amounts to $475,000 {
year, of which $350,OOO may be con
sidered real increase to the vita
assets of the city. Census bureau
figures show that the average annua'
death rate from typhoid in cities with
contaminated water supplies was re-
luced from 60.4 per 100000 to 1915
by the substitution of pure supplies.
DR.. Kober cited estimates showing
that the average length of human
life in the sixteenth century was be
tween IS and 20 years, and that at
the close of the eighteenth cen
tury it was little more than 80
while today it is between 3S and 40
indeed, the span of life since 1886