Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-27
WELL-BE|NG OF MAN
Moral and Physical UpIift Dis
cussed by Dr.. Wiley.
GREATEST NATIONAL ASSET
Declares in Favor Of Establishing
Department Of Health.
RULES FOR PROPER LIVING
Address by Government Food Expert
Before Conservation Congress
at Kansas City.

pure 1000 expert OIL the I,epdi ,hleul u
| Agriculture, in his address before the
National Conservation Congress. Con-
| trary to expectation, DR.. Wiley In his
address. ignored instead of replying to
his traducers, who have been accused
Of seeking his scalp He made no men
ton of the recent controversy In the
Department of Agriculture.
1.-The Congress of the United States
should take early steps" DR.. Wiley said,
toward securing in the councils of the
| nation and adviser to the President,
charged with the protection of the health
and proper education of the people of
this country in matters relating to their
we'll being. both moral and physical. The
establishment Of national department
of health is almost necessity
Measures for Conserving Health.
DR.. Wiley advocated as measures for
conservation of health the enactment of
laws preventing marriage between per-
sons in poor health, segregation of per-
sons afflicted with tuberculosis and ty-
phoid fever and legislation compelling
factories to remove from the larger cities
to small towns and country districts.
He decried adulteration of food and
cold storage plants as injurious to health.
The title of DIR. Wiley'S address was
'.rhe Public Health. Our Greatest Ma
tional Asset"
II have always been in deep sympathy"
he said with the movement looking to
the preservation. for the common good. of
the natural wealth of the country.
There is one natural asset, lying at the
very basis of the prosperity of the coun-
try, which is sometimes overlooked.
namely, the normal functioning of the
human machine. which is commonly eX-
pressed by the term health.
This has more to do with the happi-
ness prosperity and utility of the human
organism than any of the other natural
assets which / have mentioned
Dangers Outlined.
LET us inquire for a few moments into
the dangers which confront this vast in
vestment.
First of all, there is heredity. Weak
and diseased parents are apt to trans
nit not always specific diseases, al
though sometimes so, but an unresistant
organism to their children. which causes
them to fall easy victims to the first
invasion of disease.
Persons afflicted with incurable dis
eases, or who are imbecile or otherwise
grievously beset, should be prohibited
from marrying. OF course. ( realize that
marriage is sentiment and not prin-
ciple. but the power of the state to pro-
tect its citizens from disease may be
constitutionally exercised before as well
as after birth. Man is entitled to the
protection of the state when he exists
only as a mere possibility. l therefore
urge the establishment of regulations by
the state to limit marriage to healthy and
normal individuals.
I'm the second place, the Invested health
of this country, in the health of its citi-
zens. is threatened by poor nutrition. The
organism not only needs the normal
amount of food to enable it to perform
| its functions. but also to enable it to keep
a small reserve for use in emergencies.
/ am not a believer in the starvation the
| DRY of diet, nor in the limitation of any
| of the essential elements of food to
minimum.
Entitled to Pure Food.
'"Third The human animal is entitled to
| a pure and wholesome diet The invest
ed health securities of the country are
| constantly threatened by debased and
adulterated foods. 1t is "a mistake to sup
pose that any exigencies of the food mar
ket ever justify the debasement or adul-
| teration of food. There is no condition
| of just political economy which can be
urged as an excuse for such an action.
] Again by what principle of political
1 economy can the practice be justified of
| its taste has vanished and poisonous deg
radiation products have been produced.
| The state can not be too carefully safe
| guarded in the character and the kind of
| food products offered for sale. The aggre-
! cation of population in great centers in
| creases the difficulty of feeding the peo-
| pie. but does not justify the production
| of nnwholesome and improper food
| Fourth, The problem of excluding
| these organisms which produce disease
is one of supreme Importance, and, as it
has been recognized as legitimate func-
| ton of the state to establish quarantine
lSfa
plication of this principle to secure great
| er protection of the public health cannot
be regarded as unconstitutional The two
great diseases which decmate the human
race at the present time are tuberculosis
and typhoid fever. both of them specific,
infectious and contagious diseases. We
| segregate those suffering from smallpox,
yellow fever and leprosy, while we per-
init without sufficient regulation the ex-
istence of peripatetic tuberculosis and
typhoid fever.
Duty of the State.
! 1T is the duty OF the state in my
opinion. to segregate those suffering from
these threatening dangers. In so far as
sentiment is concerned, it is no worse TO
be segregated for tuberculosis than for
leprosy. 1t is hard in both cases Ii
sewers the ties for the time being of fami-
~ and friends, but, as Tennyson says:
Are God and nature then at strife,
| That nature lends such evil dreams?
So careful of the type she seems,
So careless of the single life
1.-The states and nations of the earth
should cooperate in well-planned cam
paign to further stamp out these two
dreadful diseases. which have made such
| inroads on the health and prosperity ot
all the peoples of the world.
| Fifth a danger threatens from the ag-
gregations of population in the great CEN
tiers of exchange of the community. The
man whose foot never touches the turn
ed soil cannot be said to be healthy The
/ great manufacturing enterprises should
be segregated and confined to the smaller
places furnishing the raw materials, and
where each workman may have a garden
and front yard where his leisure hours
could be spent in healthful cooperation
with Mother Earth.
| Cities should be reserved for exchange
and manufactures should be rigidiy eX-
cluded therefrom. This state or nation
should see to il that every artisan en-
gagged in production should be provided
with lot where he can breathe the fresh
air and touch Mother Earth. II we ad-
NIT. as 1 do, that eight hours day are
| sufficient to be spent in manual labor
We should provide an opportunity for the
artisan to spend eight hours more In
normal employment for his own beneh,
and for that of his family. How infinitely
superior is the garden to the saloon foI
this purposei If production were elimi