Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-06-21
Human Health Forms Aston
ishing Factor in the High
Cost of Living.
SAYS SPEAKER AT DENVER
National Tuberculosis Organization
Also Assured Bovine Germ
Kills Humans.

it entails on the American people,
are not the tariff nor the trusts nor
the illegal actions of monopoly, al
though they have q tremendous in
fiuence on the increased cost of prices
generally in the United States. The
chief cause of the increase in the
cost of living is waste. The largest
item is that of waste from unneces-
sary disease and death, in which tu-
berculosis is the principal factor" :"
Such was the declaration Of Edward
F. McSweeney, chairman Of the
board of trustees of the Boston con-
sumptive hospital, who today ad-
dressed the National Association for
the Study and Prevention Of Tuber-
culosis. The speaker continued:
FOUR GREAT WASTES.
''The four great wastes of today.
more lamentable because they are
unnecessary, are preventable deaths.
preventable sickness, preventable
conditions of low physical and men
tai efficiency, and preventable ignor-
ance, all of which are playing their
part In cruel devastating destruction
almost incredible to human minds,
and which together operate to bring
about an advance in commodity
prices by affecting the supply of the
necessaries of life, restricting supply
by taking persons out of productive
enterprise thus making production
more expensive. At the same time,
while restricting production by the
number of persons 1t has taken out
of industry. this extends demand by
increasing the consumption of goods.
AS a rule the victims of tuberculosis
are all confined to the productive
period of life.
MORE THAN TARIFF INCOME.
"The total annual tariff revenue Of
the Payne-Aldrich bill to the United
States government is 90 per cent less
than the actual annual loss of wages
and -cnst-e eiekpess and dsaths from
afo4hfes in the United
States a
FtA greater number of persons are
taken out of productive industry by
every year in the Unit
ed States than there are wage earners
in the state of Massachusetts.
"The researches of the Sage foun-
dation and similar bodies have dem
onstrated that the average family
Income in the United States is less
than $500 On this basis the entire
family income of 562,500 household
ars would be required to pay the ma
tion's yearly tuberculosis bill alone.
These figures give some idea of
the cost of tuberculosis alone. When
we come to the total cost to the
nation, of all preventable disease, |
we find the figures even more start |
ing.
COST HALF CROP VALUE.
1.-TWO years loss from preventable |
disease in the United States, includ- |
ng tuberculosis, would purchase all |
he wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley, |
ouckwheat. potatoes, hay and to-
1acco produced last year in the /
United States.
zone years loss from preventable !
disease including tuberculosis in the |
United States would pay the national /
lebt.
at would pay the annual interest
m the national debt of the world.
II GHs Idhu anu
he Transvaal for the Boer war.
'Tt would repay the cost to the
United States of the Spanish-Amer-
can war.
at is equal to the combined stock
nd bond issues of the railroads in
he United States.
"It would provide for the capital
zation of all the national banks in
he nation AID leave enough money
ver to build the Panama canal"
BOVINE DISEASE DANGEROUS.
"The vexed question as to wheth-
r or not bovine tuberculosis can be
to mankind has been
efinitely settled in the affirmative by
be work of the English royal COM
lission, The German imperial CON-
lission arI numerous private work |
rs in various parts of the world"
aid Dr. NJ. P Ravenel, director of
ne Wisconsin state hygienic labora-
1ry. in his address. Special en-
basis must be laid on the work at
ne research laboratories of the New /.
ork city department of health. This !
-ork shows that of all children un-
/
f those who died Of tuberculosis |
ere infected by the bovine germ;
f children between 5 and Is years
( age, 90 per cent, and of adults, ,
o per cent. The question has mar s
owed to the relative importance OF ,
oEine disease compared with the hu- ,
ian as source of infection. 1t | ,
i'll be many years before this can ,
e determined. II
ENDS ARGUMENT. I
when upwards of 800 children a
lie from bovine infection in one city c
New York; each year, certainly no I
pod argument can be brought
gainst taking every preeaution I
gainst the infection of children by '
Ie bovine germ" ii
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