Arizona republican., 1910-11-19

ana lHe people. his was IN part De
cause to the laity medicine has always
been an occult, mystic science, and still
more because. until recent years, ours
has been a discordant profession. This
discord was in small part between the
different systems of practice, but far
more between physicians competing
for the same practice, and was often
fostered by their lay friends. The
same thing existed in the clergy until
recent years. dividing the religious
world into hostile camps, and in all the
other isolated vacations, lawyers alone
living in the aggregate and escaping
this curse.
few years ago we were arouse to
the enormity of this evil. to its bane-
full effects upon us and the people, We
banded ourselves together for it's ex-
termination. Probably never before did
reform so sweep a profession, and
now. regardless of schools or pathies,
Tours is rapidly becoming one of the
most harmonious of callings. This
discord had existed so long, however,
that ii created sentiment. prejudice,
II you WILL against doctors, which is a
habit of thought with most people, ex-
cept as to their own physician, which
did not disappear with the removal of
the cause, and in spite of the rapid adj
vances, of the professional and the
heroism and individual worth of it's
members, this is almost as strong as
| it was a generation ago i speak in
the light of an experience which has
come to few men. / have been a state
health official, and as such, represent
| ed my profession before my legislative
for thirty years. and often before the
congress at Washington. Once or
twice almost every day for six years 1
have spoken on this subject to popular
audiences in every section OF the Union,
laymen discussing it freely at the close
OF my talks. In this way / have been
able to make a study of doctors and
what the people think of them in
very broad way. have found this senti-
ment almost universal, and it is on this
account mainly. that it has been so diff
! ficult for us to secure and enforce our
| legislation.
! You will first be shown how this feel
| ing against doctors has affected us as
nation. For lack Of authority for
medical officers during our war with
Spain, we lost 16 of our soldiers from
as a result OF battle, and So of each
100 were inmates of the hospitals Dur
ing the longer and more severe war
in Manchuria, with full authority and
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 our
army surgeons for % years, and since
these wars. with the object lessons of
Cuba and Manchuria before the con-
gress and country we are still begging,
and practically the same dangers yet
face our armies in the event of a for
eign war. Facts of the same kind al
most without number might be given
to show that except in the emergency
of epidemics. no other nation has been
and still is so criminally negligent OF
the health and lives of both its sol |
diers and it's citizens
Bad as is this record for the nation. !
that for most states is little better |
Probably at least one third of those |
sick and of those taken to your ceme- |
teries every year are afflicted with |
diseases which ought not to occur. |
About one of every ten deaths is from |
consumption, and in spite of all the |
talk about preventing it, you now have
a large tubercular population. This is
not an inherited disease. and if all the |
eXpectOrated matter from every case |
now in the state could be collected and /
destroyed, as your health officials and |
physicians are earnestly trying to do, |
until all now sick of il either recover |
or die. and other necessary precautions
taken. you would soon have none but |
imported cases. You have a large sick
and death rate in the state from ty- [
phoid fever every year. This is not
al of the filth diseases. No one can
have 1t except by getting into the
mouth something from the bowels or
kidneys of some one who has the dis
ease, usually carried there by water,
flies or milk. Medical literature
abounds with accounts of fatal epidem
les from all these sources in cities.
towns. country districts and military
camps. If these discharges from every
case of typhoid fever could be syste-
matically disinfected, clean water and
milk provided. and flies gotten rid of.
there would be no typhoid fever. There
diphtheria, dysentery, scarlet fever,
measles, whooping cough and like dis
eases. to say nothing of the cruel
slaughter of babies during every hot
season from the use of dirty or adul-
terated milk. One and all, these dis
eases are a disgrace to our civiliza-
tons With clean, healthy living. per-
sonal and domestic. municipal and ma
tional, they could be so effaced as to
have only historic interest And it
would actually cost less 20 do this than
1t does to treat and nurse the sick and
bury the dead, to say nothing of the
pain, sorrow and loss of life pre-
vented
When we have urged legislation for {
these purposes, otherwise intelligent I
and state legislators have {
not hesitated to say that doctors asked '
Tor these laws for their own benefit, {
without stopping to consider that In so S
Tar as they prevent sickness they '
diminish their own incomes, the very {
1nselfishness Of the movement causing $
Il to be misjudged, as legislators saw a
no other vocation there working against a
Us own interests. 1t was because ours r
S above all humanitarian calling, C
charged with the duty OF saving life.
ma in daily contact with the sorrow c