The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1908-10-16
some SPLEhD-
ID SUGGESTIONS
From Professor Fisher, National
Health Commissioner.
He Points to the Fact That Tuber-
culOsis Attacts Young Men
and Women.

washington, Oct. lO.-PrOl. Irving
Fisher, the eminent political econo-
mist of Yale University, VINO in one
of his papers before the recent In
ternational tuberculosis Congress in
Washington declared that consumptio,
costs the people of the United States
more than a billion dollars year,
is preparing an exhaustive report for
the National Conservation Commits
sion, which will contain not only these
figures but similar date on the
economic loss to tine country from all
other preventable diseases.
Prof. Fisher is member of the
National Conservation Commission and
for many years has been carrying on
studies along these lines. The Com
mission received letters from pnysi-
clans all over tine country urging IL
to 4consider the bearing of public
health on the economic efficiency of
the nation in It's efforts 10 ascer-
tain the resources of the country.
The Commission from the beginning
has contemplated reports on the econo
mic aspects of several phases OF the
Conservation movement which affect
the duration and effectiveness of hui
man life, but Prof Fisher has under
taken to prepare comprehensive
statement of the whole subject of the
relations of public health TO the gem
eral field of Conservation, and es-
pecially as to the waste from preven-
table diseases and unnecessary deaths.
DR.. Fisher is professor of political
economy at Yale University and chalr-
man of the Committee of one hun
dred" of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, which
has for a long time been carrying on
propaganda for the increase OF ma
tional health through the elimination
of preventable diseases. This Com
mittee of one hundred Is composed
of physicians and men engaged In ac-
tive sociological work in every part
ofthecountry, and the results OF their
investigations and experience are all
available TO DR.. Fisher, so that his
report ought to be the most thorough
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. The
cost of medical attendance and the
loss of earnings before death average
at least $2,400, he said, while If TO
this is added the money that might
have been earned with health, the
total loss in each case is about
5000 He pointed out, also, tnat the
disease usually attacks young men
and women just at the time when
they are beginning to arm money and
cuts off their earning power for about
three years on an evarage, before they
die.
This subject of the economic value
To the country of q general raising
of the average health came up in the
Governors Conference at the White
House in May. DIR. George M. Kober
In his speech on the Conservation OF
life and health by Improved Water
Supply" at the Conference presented
figures which showed that the de-
crease in the vital assets" of the
country through typhoid fever in
single year is more than $3.50 100000.
typhoid is spread by polluted water
largely so that the death rate from
this disease can be directly reduced by
the publication of city drinking water
DR.. Kober quoted statistics 10 show
that the increased value Of the wa
ter to the city of Albany, where the
typhoid fever rate was reduced from
1O4 in 100000 10 26 by an efficient
filtration plant, amounts to $4,000
a year, of which $350,OO0 may be con-
sidered "a real increase 10 the vital
assets of the city. Census Bureau fig
ures show that the average annual
death rate from typhoid in cities with
contaminated water supplies was re-
duced from 69.4 per 100000 TO 1873 by
the substitution of pure supplies.
DIR. Kober cited estimates showing
that the average length of human life
in the sixteenth century was between
IS and 20 years, and that az the
close of the eighteenth century 1T
was a little more than so, while to-
day 1t is between IS and 40-indeed,
the span of life since 1880 has been
heightened about six pears.
:. She Likes Good Things.
Mra Chad II Smith Of West Frank