Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1909-11-06
Americas, Ca, November 8, 1909.
uWHY THESE EFFORTS TO DIS. |
CREDIT?

But it seems to US that the OBJ
jecrions to tainted money" phil
anthropies are not SO forcible In
cases where such philanthropy is
eXerted to alleviate human suffer-
ing and to stamp out destructive
plaques. In such cases the effect
OF the expenditure does not strike
down into the vitals OF the nation
al life and give color to the senti-
ments, shape to the ideals and
bias to the character of successive
generations, Here are directions
in which the "malefactors of
great wealth" may spend their
millions in a way that will ac-
compIish great good. The cam
paign for the determination of
the hook worm will open up a new
vision of life to many thousands
of sufferers, and in the course of
a few years it will doubtless re-
suit in the wiping out of a plague
which has harassed the South and
robbed her of vital resources the
value of which it would be i'm
possible for the widest propa-
ganda to estimate-New Orleans
States.
This is the comment Of conserve
tive Southern paper on the recent do
nation of one million dollars by Rock
efeller to use in fighting the hook
worm and, if possible. eradicating 1t
from the South.
Some tendency is manifested to dis
credit the presence of such parasite
as the hookworm. The South's great
record in peace and in war is pointed
to. with pardonable pride, as a sufici-
ent refutation of the charge that vast
numbers of its people are. and have
been, infected with this parasite and
their usefulness impaired accordingly.
But such an argument, no matter how
it may please our pride, is no answer
to the proofs presented that such a
thing as the hookworm does exist, that
it is more especially found In the
warmer sections of the world, and that
it does invade human bodies and sap
the vitality of It's victims.
If we are to sneer at the discoveries
made in medical science what Is the
use of having scientists to work on
these and other problems? When the
/ mosquito theory in connection with
yellow fevers was announced there
was the same wave of skepticism evil
dent, the same tendency to minimize
the discovery and to laugh the scien-
fists out of court. Yet to-day it Is
| acknowledged that they made great
| find when they discovered the part the
mosquito was playing in the transfer
| of the disease referred to from one
| person to another The damage done
| by the common house fly in communi-
eating the germs OF typhoid fever tc
food and thereby bringing about cpl
laughed at by those who had never
| given an hour to the scientific study oil
| disease and knew nothing even as to
| their own physical make up. Today
| the efforts to prevent flies from
| spreading disease are engaging the at.
| tention of the entire civilized world
And SO it has been in the matter ~
rats and the spread of the buboniC
plague, and other discoveries along
similar lines. Editors, preachers, lay.
men, those entirely unacquainted witt
the merest rudiments of scientific. by
| giene, not to speak of the more alb
struse branches of science dealing
| to discredit something they knew
nothing about, to pit their own com
parative ignorance against the results
of skilled brains painstakingly inves
tigating for years along such lines Q
| research
Several Georgia papers have seen fl
to discredit the discoveries made as II
the hookworm by the scientists EN-
ployed by the government. Why the.
should do so is not evident. They seen
to regard such a discovery as a refiec
ton on the South Why IS it a refiec
ton on this section any mo.e than {
discovery in typhoid fever would be
districts where that disease claims it
hundreds and thousands of victims ev
cry year?
The late attempts to belittle such I
discovery, to create a feeling of antag
onism against those engaged in sucl
researches, and to array public senti
ment against those engaged in sucl
researches, and to array public sen
timent against gift calculated to b.
of enormous advantage to the South
does not speak well for the intelli
gence and patriotism of those engaged
in such propaganda. 1t no more
BELTS section than it does an indi
vidual to shut its eyes to anything tina
may be wrong, to rebuke the man whC
| points out the weak spot, and to lool
with suspicious distrust, il not oper
| contempt on the man who generously
seeks to promote noble end. The at
| titude of some Georgia papers in tht
hookworm matter savors strongly %
proyincialism and prejudices that art
not creditable to this state
/
Only little cold in the head may
be the beginning Of an obstinate case
of Nasal Catarrh. Drive out the In.
vader with Ely's Cream Balm applied