Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1910-12-01
TUBERCULOSIS.
Steps That Have Been Taken TO Conquer
This Dread Disease.

which begins this month, to assist in
raising funds to combat tuberculosis. a
brief review of the steps that have beer
taken to prevent and cure this dread
disease will be timely.
Discovery of tubercle bacillis in 1885,
and demonstration of the possibility OF
cure in the early stages of the disease,
furnished the necessary foundation for
action long before it was effectivelq
taken. When the Committee on the
Prevention of tuberculosis was organ.
lied in 1902 there were few hospitals
for advanced cases. Sanitorium care
for early cases, even for the well-to-do,
was only beginning to be provided, but
few societies existed and here and there
which issued educational leaflets. Lo-
cal organization sprang up rapidly, how.
ever, and in 1904 the National Associa.
tion for the Study and Prevention OF
tuberculosis was formed to assist ir
the development of the movement. Ii
1908 the international tuberculosis Con.
gress met in American for the first
time, and for the first time devoted 6
conspicuous part of its proceedings tc
the social aspects of the disease.
Provisions for the treatment of tu-
berculosis is, except in a few places,
are pitifully inadequate to the needs II
has, however, increased at rate un-
paralleled in institutional building.
There are five times as many hospitals
and sanitoriums in operation in the
United States as there were ten wears
ago, and the three hundred special dis
pensaries, the day camps, the night
camps, outdoor schools and other spe-
cialized forms of treatment have prac-
tically come into existence within the
decade. Thus scientific consideration
of the problem has come back to the
place at which the philsnthropic impulse
instinctively started, to fortify it a
thousand fold.
Educational methods have progressed
even more rapidly since the winter Of
1902-03, when small committee of dis
tinguished specialists spent many hours
formulating the information about to-
berculosis which they could agree upon
as indispensable for every citizen. The
don't card" which resulted, has been
adopted as the standsrd, with slight
notifications, all over the country Mil
lions of copies, in a dozen languages,
have been distributed. On an average
eight thousand newspapers every wee,
spread the information and the public il
being educated at rapid rate.
One of the greatest achievements OF
the tuberculosis movement has beer
the popularizing of fresh air and clean.
Illness. Knowledge Of open air treat.
ment of coEsumptives is gradually open.
ing bedroom windows at night and i'm
proving ventilation. In such ways the
most permanent and promising work is
being done and will not only help pre-
vent tuberculosis but will prevent other
diseases and raise the general level OF
health and vitality.
The tuberculosis movement has alsC
had decided influence in furtherina
the development of the social spirit II
our own country the last ten years or 81
have seen very remarkable develop
ment Of the social spirit. 1t cannot bC
denied, to be sure, that ''in business
and 10 politics we are still individual
ists, but there is much evidence thai
even in these fields concern for the com
mon welfare is coming to be deter
mining influence, while in the field O.
social work" which means merely tn,
organization of the social spirit of eff
fective expression, there has been sucl
expansion and deepening as scarcely
has precedent.
Situated as we are, secluded in a way
from the larger world movements, ye'
not secure, for it is authoritively stated
that there are $4,000 cases of tubercu
losis in Virginia and over q thousand II
this county alone. 1t therefore be-
hooves everyone to heartily join in the
anti-tuberculosis movement and keep il
touch with the progress made in the
social work of our county-to be ready
at all times to assist in raising the stan.
dard of hving-which is in the end the
very essence of the development nov
taking place in social work. 1t wa;
summed up by Jane Adams in hei
presidential address at the national con.
ference of Charities and Correction il
June:
'The negative policy of relieving des
titution, or even the more generous one
of preventing it, is giving way to the
positive idea of raising life to its high
est value
Cemetery Bazaar.