The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-09-19

/ a 4lOSl pIdIStNOINug anu
| valuable and should be preserved.
| The one phrase OF a once popular
| song, I'd rathar be nigga dan poo
! white man, has done as much as any
/ thing else in the world to obscure the
| real worth of these SOutheTners- It
is true that before the war the con-
| dittOns in which many slaves lived
| were superior to those OF many eS-
! unable white folk who happened to
| be too poor to own slaves and suffered
| the burden of competition with slave
| labor Occasionally, though excep-
tionally, one meets with persons de-
seconded from families which prior to
| the war were we'll tO-dO, but who
| have been forced to join the tenant
| white class because Of losses sus-
| tanned in the war, their poor health,
| and their inability to succeed in the
| changed economic conditions. They
| and those Of their neighbors who, in
slavery times, were poor whites are
of the same blood and have grown
into the same habits of life. They
| are all worth saving
Modest, Gentle, Kindly Girls.
Their girls have been spoken i'll Of.
l wish their contemners could know
! them They would find them as ]
found them, modest gentle. kindly.
desiring always to do some little
| thing for their mothers, fathers or
friends, and striving, somewhat pa
thetically, and under very adverse
circumstances to improve themselves
in feminine ways. Their living con-
ditiOns are not conducive to the finest
development of wOmanhood. Yet,
take at random a hundred girls from
the Southern tenant farms and they
will match in respect to morality a
hundred girls taken at random in any
city.
These girls are eager for an edu-
cation, as are many Of the boys. and
their mothers, more than their
fathers, want them to learn But it
Is far more important that these peo-
pie should have good blood than book
learning. There is a certain amount
of refined undndness in arousing a
desire for books among those who
cannot get them, and for an education
among those who are in no physical
condition to learn even the simplest
OF lessons. The education question
will be very acute indeed in the rural
South five or ten years hence. The
acute question now is that of health"
Startling Results.
Here are startling results OF 10000
examinations which DR.. Stiles has
made among people of this class:
AT least Is per cent. (wOmen over
20 years. to IS per cent. (giTls 16 to
20 years. Of these women Of mater
nifty age are suffering from the amaze
m3a-prOducing hOOk-worm disease
which prevents them from properly
nourishing their babes.
"Of the girls under I6 years at least
1877 per cent. have this same infec-
ton, which thus adds a serious strain
upon their bodies and tends to Tetard
their physical development so that
many OF them reach maturity from
two to five years late.
"Of the boys under Is years at least
294 per cent. have this same infec-
ton, which inhibit3 both their physi-
cal and mental growth.
"Of the boys 16 to 20 years 20.7 per
cent, and of the males over 20 years. |
5.8 per cent, show these same symp- |
toms which decrease their labor ca
pacity and their possible military eff
cheney"
The poor whites and negroes are
not the only ones who have this dis
ease After delivering a lecture in |
medical college in Georgia DR.. Stiles |
told the class:
Il have scrutinized your faces dur !
ing the lecture and believe that five |
of you have the hOOk-wOrm disease. |
Those who care to know if they are !
the ones may remain and I will make !
a more careful examination of you" 4
Twenty-one OF the students remain |
ed and a laboratory examination |
proved that eleven were infected !
One Of them laughed and said:
why, doctor. I'm in perfect health. /
I'm on the football team"
He admitted, on close questioning, /
that he had headaches sometimes and /
often found it very difficult TO study; |
but he was so strong and well, he \
said, that he didn't mind a little |
thing like that" DIR. Stiles insisted |
that he take the simple medicine he |
recommended. Five days later he |
met the football player and noticed |
that his complexion had changed. /
Two days after that, the student went |
to DR.. Stiles's room and asked for /
some more of that dope" saying: |
Il feel like a new man. / thought my /
former condition was normal, for l 4
had never known any better condi- /
ton Of health, but now l know thar 4
it was way below par"
A Mississippi Case.
A sick young woman OF the better
class, living in a city in Southern !
Mississippi, had been treated by sew
eral physicians in that state and
showed no improvement. She visited
her brother. a physician in a city in /
the middle South, and he put her IN
der the care of the best specialist in
that section. She continued to de-
cline and went home discouraged. A
young doctor, just graduated, began
practising in that town. He had
studied the subject Of uncinariasis,
and as soon as he saw the sick young |
woman he knew that she had a severe /
case OF the disease, He treated her
and In few weeks she was well and 1
strong. She probably had been in
hsCted when child, playing barefoot
ed on infected ground. Children OF II
all classes are exposed in that way II
Incidentally, that young doctor who
cured the girl whose illness had bal
fed older physicians in several parts
Of the South, won fame which spread
in a wide area, and in few months
he had a very big practice II
..-..E-...