The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1910-05-13


Is degraded or dissipated, decadence
ana downfall are inevitable, and soon
or late, the clock of destiny strikes
the hour OF dissolution and the abrad.
ing desert sands write upon its bleach
ing skeleton the epitaph of nation
persisted from the earth.
CommerCialism sweeps its flaming
cherubn athwart the Eden of sane
and natural living today and enslaves
and brutaizcs the race. 1t robs the
children of their Congenital prospects
of being born right. 1t tramples upon
the weak and corrupts the strong.
II pollutes the air, poisons the streams,
blasts the forests, adulterates the food,
spews a venom of pestilential infec.
ton broadcast over the land and an.
esthetizes the national conscience into
the somnolence of apathy. Here, in.
separable from the eternal laws of
outraged nature, lies the primary and
root cause of our health problems.
The physical, moral and spiritual prob
! lens of the race are the outgrowth
of social conditions and these are
constructed upon the foundation of
the almighty dollar "Hark! From
the tomb" is not a cheerful refrain,
yet we must take an inventory of our
graves to ascertain the status of the
! living. LET me bury my dead out Of
my sight and get back to business"
is our breathless national motto with
reference to all questions affecting
mortality We suffer in the United
States an annual preventable loss of
| 1000 human lives, a daily senseless
sacrifice, as Professor Fisher puts It,,
of 700 human lives. There are con
stantly, according to the same author
| ity, 5000 900 cases of aVoidable sick
ness and, perforCe, idleness. There
are 100000 persons suffering from con-
sumption. Expressed in currency, the
financial loss to the nation from con-
sumption is 100000 900. The total
/ annual economic loss to the country
! from preventable sickness and death
is one and one-half billion dollars.
Fifteen years could be added to the
average human life Immediately ny
applying the science of preventing dis
ease. OF 100000 school children eX-
amined in New York 60 percent were
dental cripples. The ratio will per
haps hold true elsewhere. Add to
this defective vision. distractions Of
the throat and nose from adenolJs
ana enlarged tonsls and we have a
friEhttul handicap placed upon the
children of the nation Defective den
tition prevents developments, obstruCt-
ed or foul nose and throat interferes
with breathing, prevents chest devel-
opment, harbors the germs of disease
and predisposes to tuberculosis. This
is but an instance of our neglect to
. Nc hn
| Infinitely worse than our neglect is
the criminal practice of creating and
fostering habits and perverted appe.
tites that induce lowered vitality, sus-
ceptibility to disease and degradation
to vice and crime and this also is a
commercial iniquity. Millions of dol
lars are invested in the business of
furnishing to eXpectant mothers and
impressionable children habit forming
and Notwithstanding dope. Medical
booze and Oppressive Sedatives mas
querade under the alluring names OF
cure-alls or get-well or stay-well spe-
cities that are a blightng curse to
mankind. The nress of the country is
| largely to blame ,or this great Ameri-
can fraud. For a consideration it
prostitutes its columns to recommend
to the public any and every nostrum
or proprietary abomination that be.
guiles the innocent into taking med
ical jags that debase and destroy. De-
prve the manufacturers of their ad
vertising and the patent medicine hum,
bug would sink into oblivion. Elimi
nate from it alcohol and opiates and
no one would buy the stuff. The gi
gantic nature of this business is sim
ply incredible and it's influence upon
legislation, press and public amazing
The kindest word that can be said
for it is that it is extracting blood
money from the people.
Ten years ago we introduced into
the United States what is now known
as our national health scandal. Al
that time the bubonic plague, the most
fatal epidemic disease of history was
discovered in San Francisco. A medi
cal quarantine was established but
the commercial departments OF our
national government, the treasury de
partment, annuled the medical restric
tions and the disease was allowed to
spread until today, after ten years and
an expenditure of Sl0,000,000 we are
finding on the Pacific slope infected
rats and squirrels thousand miles
apart. 1t is now only question OF
time until the ground squirrels al
over the country will be infected and
at any time we may have the most
fatal epidemic in the history of the
country. 1t symbolizes our national
attitude towards the Importance OF
questions like the above and burlesQues
the value of expert medical knowledge
that our health bureaus are under the
dominance and administration of the
treasury, commerce and agricultural
departments at Washington. This il
Illustrates most forcibly the needs fol
national health department.
Time will permit only a brief ref
erence to the necessity of taking stock
of our national vigor as a valuable
resource. We are spending 100000,
600 to maintain the insane of cont
mental United States. Fifty Thousand
new cases of insanity occur annuity
of whom 10000 are physically defec
tive. Thirty percent of our feeble
minded are defective physically. Ou
of every 1000 inhabitants ten are il
prisons under sentence for crime
Juvenile dpliDuupncV is raDidlV in