Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-02-22
MASS MEETING.
Wausau Citizeas Are Aroused to q
Consciousness Of Dangerous
Conditions.

That Wausau people are fully
aroused to the present conditions as
regards scarlet fever, and are eager to
stamp it out, was illustrated Thurs
day evening, when fully 800 people
assembled in the opera house to listen
to remarks on the situation. All the
seats down stairs and in the balcony
were taken, and members of the Pub
lie Service association and their better
seven-eighths occupied box. From
the interest manifested in the meet
ing and the sentiment which prevailed,
we judge that all were in favor OF
establishing strict quarantine, even
ii harsh measures must be resorted to.
We believe the majority of Wausau
people, and large majority at that,
will give the warmest cooperation to
any move of the board of health and
health officer in carrying out the
strictest of quarantine measures.
Rev. w. e. Johnson, of the Public
Service association, which body was
instrumental in calling this mass
meeting, presided.
The meeting opened with singing
by a class of small school children
under the direction of Miss Strouse.
Rev. Johnson made the opening re-
marks, and stated that large per
centage of school children are defec-
tive in body, and in many cases the
parents carelessly let them grow up
without having the defects corrected.
These defects not only stunt the body
but the mind as well. 1t is a fact, he
said, that it takes longer to educate
an unhealthy child than one whose
body is disease-free. This carelessness
is criminal, and if any parents are so
poor that they cannot afford the SER
vices of physician, in such cases a
physician will be provided at others
expense, if the cases are reported.
Commercially speaking, said he, Wau-
sau has many assets, 'But there is our
greatest asset" he said, pointing to
the little children who had rendered
the vocal numbers. Rev. Johnson
concluded by introducing Dr. w. A..
Green.
The doctor illustrated his points
with stereopticon views. Many of our
children are afflicted with adenoid
growths. These are found in the
nasal cavity and the child may have
them for a long time without the
parents or teacher being apprised OF
the fact. They produce many bad re-
suits, chiefly loss of the senses of see
ing and hearing. They stunt the
mind of the child SO that he cannot
keep up with his classes, and he is
pointed to as dull child, when his
faculties would be faultless were the
adenoids removed. They close up the
nasal passage in time, causing the
child to breathe through the mouth,
directly contrary to the laws of
nature. This mouth breathing carries
germs into the lungs, causing serious
diseases, whereas, in breathing thru
the nose the air is purified before it pas
ses into the lungs. DR.. Greene's lee
ture was plain and SO put that all the
points he illustrated were easily under
standable to the large audience. We
believe it will have the effect of awak-
ening our people to a closer observance
of the health of their children. 1t
was brief and to the point and more
of such lectures will be welcomed.
DR.. G. A. Harper, secretary of the
state board of health, was the next
speaker. The doctor went over some
of the ground covered by DIR. J. N.
Mccormack in this city in November.
He told of the laxity in this country
in caring for humanlife. At the time
of the Spanish American war the
science of medicine had so far ad-
vanced over what it was at the time
of the civil war that there is little
need of comparison, yet look at the
death rate during the last war as re-
suit of fever and other contagious dis
eases, due almost wholly to the way
the medical department of our army
is organized. In contrast TO this he
pointed to the Russian-J apanese war,
showing that very small percentage
of the deaths in the Japanese army
resulted from anything but gunshot
wounds. The medical staff of the
japanese army is thoroughly organized.
We are too prone to look with care
lessness upon many fatal diseases,
which are the most easily preyentaDle,
such as tuberculosis, scarlet fever, etc.
Consumption, he said, is easily pre-
ventable, and it is shame to our
civilization that it has gained such
foothold in this country. Our living
conditions are, in the main, response
BILE for this. We build fine houses and
then shut out the sunlight and fresh
air. He quoted the Indian, who said
that everytime white man plants
tree next to his house he digs a grave
for one of his family. The Indians,
he said, live close to nature. They
pitch their lepees invariably in an
open space, where there is an abund-
ance of sunlight. He spoke of the
dangers lurking in the habit of spit
ting ON floors, on sidewalks and in
places frequented by people. The
cC.nmon house fly is one of the great
est carriers of disease germs. He may
feed on the sputum of some infected
person and then enter your house and
walk over your victuals.
He SPOKE of the scarlet fever situa-
ton in this city and county, incor-
rectly quoting the number of deaths