The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-08-26
0rrntoNt 0Nattlmall.
A WINNING FIGHT

u6 DItStilCC Ill NllS NlNy VI VIZ hNe''Nh
officers of the State calls attention with
more than ordinary emphasis to the re-
markable progress that is being made in
the protection of human life. We marvel
at the construction of great warships
built at tremendous cost; at the develop
ment of enormous business enterprises;
at the progress made in modern invention
whereby man is conquering the Kingdom
of the air. All these are wonderful, but
not one of them has the vital interest for
the average man and woman that may be
found in better methods for the conquest
of disease. In the book of Job we read:
"And Satan said unto the Lord, all that
man hath will he give for his life" This
doctrine is profoundly true, if Satan did
say it.
There never was time when so many
men were devoting their lives to the con-
quest of disease as at the present time
The triu m )hs of surgery are among the
romances of the new century.
There is an element which for the sake
of politeness we call conservative, which
is inclined to scoff at the germ theory OF
disease and at modern methods for the pre-
vention of sickness. They will relate in
an impressive manner the good old age to
which their fathers lived, and the large fam
lilies that their mothers raised. They do
not tell, however, of the great infant
mortality in earlier days, or of the num-
Der of deaths of men and women from
diseases that are now understood andkcon-
troled. Conditions were radically diff
fertnt in pioneer days, when nearly every
person led an active life in the open air.
There is no guess work about the value Of
modern m edical methods. The progress
ma lie is matter of record and there are
facts at hand to substantiate tie claims
ma lie. Purely as a business investme 1t
nothing pays better than the preservation
of health. The loss in earning capacity
caused by sickness the money paid for the
services of physicians and nurses, to say
nothing of the loss caused by death, a.
mounts to an enormous total every year.
The lowering of the death rate, the pre-
vention of illness, means a saving of
millions of do lars every year, and it
means an Increase in human happiness
which cannot be measured by any none
tary standard.
Some very significant figures illustrating
these points have been brought out in
the sessions of the School for Health
Officers
fror John A. kober, of Washington.
in an address here declared that longevity
goes hand in hand with sanitation. In
Berlin. the death rate in 1875 was 1919
per thousand and had been decreased in
1904 to 1914 per cent. In the city of
Washington % per cent OF deaths in 1875
was lowered to 1925 per cent. in 1906,
and in New York City, 3S per cent.
deaths per one thousand in 1854, was
changed to 1879 per cent. in 1906. 1t is
estimated that $4,000 liv,s are saved
annually to New York City by means of
purer air and purer water"
President c. S. Caverly, of the State
Board of Health in his annual address,
declared that "the health officers of Yer
mont need no instruction on the relation to
typhoid fever to water supplies. Former
schools have heard this subject treated
by some of the highest authorities in the
country. If, however, an argument were
lacking to show the advantages of pure
water supply from a typhoid standpoint,
the recent experiences Of Burlington under
u polluted and, later, under pure supply
should furnish that argument"
Then he quoted from the records of the
city health department to show that the
plumber Of cases OF typhoid fever in Bur-
lington in 1906 amounted to 43. In 1907,
the public having been warned against
using water that was not boiled the cases
numbered %. In 1908 there were 20 cases.
Continuing his discussion. of this sub
ject Doctor Caverly said: "ln the sixteen
months since the filtered water was turned
into the mains, there have been six cases
of typhoid fever reported to the health
officer of Burlington and in the sixteen
months directly preceding there were
reported to this officer 80 cases.
Comment on these figures is unnec-
essary.
Scarlet fever caused less than half as
many deaths during the last two yea S
as ten years before, tuberculosis $50 fewer,
and measles 33 fewer.
"These figures may not accurately
measure our progress in preventing disease
during the past decade; yet they are in
structive. They certainly seem to show
that we are really making Roadway against
such diseases as are now known to be
preventable.
From the five diseases mentioned
practical sanitation is saving to our State
at least so lives each two years, as com.
pared with ten years ago. This saving Of
life is not among the aged and decrepit
rather they come from the young and those
of productive age, Each has a commercial
State OF Ohio. City OF Toledo. Lu-
cas- County. %.
Frank ]. Cheney makes oath that
ha "a eanfnr nm rtnar ~ Tho ar,, -