Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-11-06
Large and Appreciatiue
Audience Hears Lecture

Itngs. This discOrd had existed s.
long. however, that it created q sen
timent, q prejudice, IL you viii, aRaina
doctors, which Is a habit Of though
with most people, except as to thei
own physician, which did not disap
pear with the removal Of the cause
and In spite or the rapid advances, o
The professional, and the herOisn
and individual worth OF it's members
this Is almost as strong as II was
/ generation ago. / speak in the high
OF an experience which has come e
Few men. 1 have been a state health
official, and ne such represented M
profession before my legislature for 81
years. and often before the congress
at Washington. once 81 twice al
most every day for six years I have
spoken on fhis subject 10 popular
audiences in every section of the un-
ion. laymen discussing 1t freely at the
close OF my talks. In this way ! have
been able 10 make a study of doctors
and what the people think OF Them
in Il broad way, haVe found this scnti-
ment almost universal, and II is or
this account mainly. that II has been
so difficult for US 10 G and en-
force our legislation.
You will first pc shown how this
feeling against doctors has affected
MS as a nation. For lack Of authority
for medical officers during our war
with Spain, we lost 16 Of our soldiers
from ~pfeycntable disease for every
one dying as q result Of battle, and
80 OF each 100 were inmates Of the
hospitals. During the longer and more
severe war in Manchuria. with full
authority ana rank for their doctors,
Japan lost but one man from disease
for every four killed in battle, and
but IS OF 100 were in the hospitals.
We had known OF this danger TO our
armies. and had begged for proper
authority for n army surgeons, for
rs years ana since these wars, with
the object lessons Of cuba and Man
chnrin before the congress and coun-
try we are still begging, and prnctic-
ally the same dangers yet face our
armies in the event OF a foreign war.
Facts OF the same kind almost with
out number might be given TO show
that except In the emergency of epi-
denies, no other nation has been
and IN still SO criminally negligent OF
the health and lives Of both It's old
lers and its citizens.
Bad as Is this record for the ma
ton. hat for most states Is little bet
ter. Probably at least one-third OF
those sick and OF those taken to your
cemeteries every yea are afflicted
with diseases which ought not to oc-
eur. About OF every ten deaths
are from consumption, ana In spite
OF all the talk about preventing II, you
now have q large tubercnlar popula-
tion. This rs not an inherited dis
ease, and AZ all the expectoral matter
from every case now in the state
could be collected and destroyed. as
health officials and physicians
are earnestly trying TO do. until all
now sick OF IL either o or die,
and other necessary precautions pc
taken, YOU would soon have none but
imported cases. You have a large
sick and death rate in the state from
typhoid fever every year. This Is
not only q p~reventable, but the most
typical of the fifth diseases. No one
can have It except by getting into
the mouth something from the bowels
or kidneys Of some one who has the
usually carried there by va
ter, flies or milk. Medical literature
nbounds with accounts OF fatal cpl
denies from all these sources in cit
les, towns, country districts and milf
camps. If these discharges from
every case of typhoid fever could be
automatically disinfected. clean wa
ter and milk provided, and flies gotten
rid Of. there would he no typhoid
fever. Thcre is also a large sick and
death rate from %diphtheria, d%ysentery,
scarlet fever, measles, w%hoopinB
cough and like diseases, to say Moth
of tho cruel slaughter OF babies
during every hot season from the use
OF dirty or adultcrnted milk. ono and
all. these diseases are n disgrace TO
our civilization. with clean, healthy
living, personal me domestic, munt-
clpal and national, they could be SO
effnced as to have only historic in
And il would actually cost
less 20 do this than II does 60 treat
and nurse the sick and bury the dead,
10 say nothing OF the pain, sorrow
and loss OF life prevented.
When we have urged legislation Tor
these purposes. otherwise Intelligent
congressman and state legislators
not hesitated to say that doctors
for these laws for their w
benefit. without stopping To consider
ia 30 iRr as they prevent slick
ness they diminish their own iu-
comes, the very unselfishncss OF the
movement oausing 1t To be misiudgcd.
as legislators saw no other vocation
there working against It's own Inter
cstA. II was because ours is q AL
a humanitarian calling, charged with
the duty of soving life, and in datiy
contact with the sorrow caused 10y
sickness and death. tlat 10 took up
this work. just as tor the same ren-
II docs more actual charity every
duy in every Ntar than all other pco-
Pie and organizations put together
Agpin, an others may profit 10y tholr
discoveries cor inventions. hut doctors
cannot. their vows requiring that
they be made public for the good of
humanity. An of this has involved
altrusuc labor without parallel tn hui
history, unappreciatcd "a OBJ
structed. largely because of the puo-
lhc sentiment fostcrrd hy the past dis
cord in our ranks,
Had doctors been MS united and
taken The same pains to Keep in
touch with. aud guide the people dur
ing the formative period 90 our gov
crnmcnt as the lawyers dld, health
amt medical boards would always
have been US much part &C the warp
and woof uf our county, state ana
machinery as the courts
They ought to have been. because
moro important just in proportion as
health and ufc are more important
than property interests Since This
has been so Insisted upon by political
economists. au incrcasinE number of
our more thoughtful public men are
coming To- realize. as Gladstone, Dis
rielli. Rlsmark. Gamhetta and other
real statesmen In tho older countries
dld long ago. that "a health depart
at Washington. with lnhorutor-
les and research workers in proportion
Go our power and wealth and tho vast
interests involved. b. would iuNcst-
gate the causes oi the common dis