Albuquerque morning journal., 1910-12-28


on any other sanitary statement that
he may make.
bit further on in his article the
board of health affirms "any person
| with mathematical mind can do his
own figuring Don't you think the
board of health needs a member with
a mathematical mind badly
The board OF health ends his at
tack upon me by saying that my mis-
statement of facts was made either
because / had IAN ak to grind or
| through ignoranoe. II is with ex~
/ treme reluctance that l ask the board
of health to swallow it's own medi-
cine. Everybody In this room knows
perfectly well that Doctor Wroth has
no ak TO grind.
! Three criticisms have been made of
! this article which are practical.
First, that Albuquerque II situat-
ed peculiarly in regard to death sta
tistics, in that so many deaths which
| occur here are from imported cases
of tuberculosis.
| Second, that large percentage of
! the cases of infectious sickness do not
! belong to Albuquerque proper but are
outside the city limits.
| Third. that an exposition of this
subject does harm to the business
men.
| Regarding the tubercular situation,
| have shown you that If you disre-
gard the imported cases of tubercu-
| losis and attribute to Caesar the
| things that are Caesars still, Albu-
querque has q death rate larger than
the average throughout the United
States.
In making this calculation, | sub
tract from Albuquerque's death rate
for tuberculosis, all the cases of tu
berculosls, except the number that
which the average city in the United
States has; | disregard altogether one
hundred and two deaths out of one
hundred and twenty-seven from this
disease and still our death rate is
larger than the average city OF this
country.
The argument Immediately occurs
10 you, as 1t did to me, that even this
is not fair to Albuquerque, because
here we have climate which cures
tuberculosis: but this argument does
not hold good. for the reason that II
is more than offset by the fact that
we have infinitely more chances OF
infection here than elsewhere, be-
cause of the amount of sickness and
the lack of sanitary measure taken
to prevent the spread of the diseases
from the sick to the well.
You say that this town depends for
its existence upon the Santa Fe rail-
road. / tell you II depends for its
continuance upon its God given sun
light Sunlight is our best disinfec-
tant and without its salutary infiu-
enee here, / venture the statement
that within s years, every man, wo-
man and child living in Albuquerque
today would be dead of tuberculosis.
Second, that large percentage OF
the deaths come from cases outside
of the city limits
Every large city, with hospital To-
cilities finds itself in the same pre-
dcament as Albuquerque in this re
gard. The larger the city and the
more prominent its medical frater-
nifty, the larger will be the territory |
from which II imports its cases.
Chicago last year TO my personal |
knowledge. bore the stigma of at
least death which should have been
given to albuquerque. There are thou
sands die every year in the New YORK
hospitals, whose deaths go on New
Yorks records, but who were not
really residents of New York. rhe
cases of infectious sickness which oc-
cur Immediately outside of the cily |
and which necessitates Doctor Wroth
using the phase within the city linz
its" on almost every second Inc CT
his letter, are in reality Albuquerque
deaths.
You may draw an Imaginary circle
around the city and say. al deaths
inside the circle belong 70 me aid all
,f those outside to some one else if
you like. IL may be all right theorcti-
sally, but the practical sanitation OF
oday does not recognize such limits
The infections which occur OUTSIDE
10 not regard your imaginary bopad-
Try but step right across Il ana at-
ack you with inquiry.
The general who, white expecting
IN attack, huddles his army together.
outposts In ii, directions, 10
.dvise him of the possible advance of
he enemy, invites disaster 10 his
orces; and the city acting upon the
anne policy may expect only the
anne result.
From a sanitary standpoint, wo
must not only consider these outlying
uburbs a part of Albuquerque rut
hey are In reality the most import
n, Iart of the city.
The question as to whether the {
ublication of these facts do good or
vii commercially, is matter which
lust be left to the citizens OF Albu-
uerque. In every community where
dvance has been made, 1t has been
through the agency of
-uth. The cure of disease is COM
aratlveiy an easy matter after the
Drrect diagnosis has been made.
The good or evil that this expose
IN accomplish does not depend so
Iuch upon publicity, as 1t does upon
le action of the citizens in applying
remedy
If the publicity which the city has
)tten by reason of this article Is fol-
wed by systematic. organized, prac-
cal steps TO eradicate infectious
ckness and to prevent its inception,
zen no one can say that II has done
,.,thtne htf oood tn the CITY If on :