The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-10-03
DR.. WILEY TALKSON LONG LIFE
SOME DISEASES ELIMINATED
AND EXPECTS MORE TO 90.
Tells civic Federation Department Of
Pure Food AMI Drugs That Every one
ShOuld Expect a Natural "DissOIu.
ttOu''-IDr. Rl,st,y Cxu,atus n RcDOrt,


tion"-Dr. Rusty Explains a Report.
DR.. Harvey II. Wiley, chief food ex-
pert of the United States Department
OF Agriculture; DR.. +. Eliot Harris.
member Of the committee on Legislature
and ethics Of the American Medical
Association. representatives of food and
drug associations and others presumed
TO have expert knowledge on drugs dis
cissed the subject Of pure food and drugs
yesterday at the first regular session of
the new pure food and drug department
rooms Of the New York Board Of Trade
and Transportation. 2o3 Broadway.
Plans for bringing about uniform
State legislation were talked Of and Presi-
dent Seth Low Of the Civic Federation
was empowered to appoint a committee
Of fifteen to carry out the objects Of the
new department.
brief exchange OF words took place
at the afternoon session between DR..
Harris and DR.. H. II. Rusby Of Columbia
University. expert employed by DR..
Wiley, the payment Of whose fees caused
controversy in the Department Of Agri-
culture a few weeks ago. over a report
made by DR.. Rusby which was quoted
by DR.. Harris relating TO laxity in the
suppression Of impure food and drugs.
Or. Rusby took exception to the quota
tion from the report on the ground that
1t referred to condition OF affairs which
does not exist at present. DR.. Harris
replied and finally said he agreed with
DR.. Rusby.
The reference by Or. Harris was to
report made by DR.. Rnsby in 1908. DR..
Rusby asked for the floor and said:
Tho report that DR.. Harris refers to
applies to conditions existing in 1903
which do not exist now. Matters have
improved greatly since then and the drug
houses generally observe the law fairly
and honestly. I made a report four
years ago in which showed how things
had changed for the better then. and since
then they have changed marvellously
for the better"
At first it looked as II DR.. Harris was
inclined to go into controversy over
the matter. He referred to a report
which was made in July Of this year in
I which he said reference was made to
drug houses Of high repute which did
not obey the law and then he ended briefly
! by saying he agreed with DR.. Rusby.
| Mr.. Low presided at the forenoon
I session and announced that the object
OF the meeting was to give the fedora
tion some insight into the pure food ques-
ton. and after some remarks on the neces-
sity Of uniform State legislation he in
/ troduced DR.. Wiley. who said he would
make his talk general and not 90 into
controversial matters. The audience
seemed to think he referred to such mat
ters when. after saying that he came
from college a sick man and one that was
likely TO die young. he added:
And IL ! had ! guess a good many
folks would have been better pleased than
I they are"
DIR, Wilev continued:
| As civilization advances and popula-
| ton increases man as the individual be-
4 comes less able to look out for himself
| and the State must become more pater-
| nal The quarantine law Is a most strik-
ing example OF State paternalism. In
| olden days every one was in a position to
know when a contA gious disease was in
a community. In cities like New York it
! is impossible for the individual to know
hence tho disease placards and quaran-
tine. Drugs are not the fetish they were
| fifty years ago. but they have TO he safe
|
We have what you might call new sci
ence, a delving into and an exact tabula-
| ton OF drugs and their exact action on
the body Medical knowledge no longer
worships schools but rather adopts every
thing that science has proved helpful"
| vanced as a result OF the new attitude OF
the medical world. He referred then to
diseases that had become extinct and to
others which he said he believed would
eventually become extinct.
| Il am not advocating or expecting per,
petual life." he continued. -but a natural
dissolution is possible for every one. and
| for that reason l advocate national
board OF health. with the head OF the de-
partment in the Presidents Cabinet. Such
a department. would be great asset meas
ured by monetary value alone. For forty
years the Department Of Agriculture as
separate bureau was a weak and puny
thing. To-day II Is great organization
and II is so because IL is an executive Cabi-
net department. Efficiency Of the nation
units. Take our army. our civil war and
our Spanish war history and the latter
are terrible things to read Of"
| DR.. Wiley did not want to see world
peopled with old people. he said. but he
wanted TO see people live so that when
one faculty died all died, and to see dis
ease prevented.
DR.. Lucius J. Brown. president OF the
State and National Food and Dairy De-
partments, said that drug adulteration
was the most despicable practice imagi-
nable, which, he said. in its lowest form
is simple larceny and in its highest may
be murder"
DIR. Thomas Darlington. formerly Of
the New York BOARD Of Health. gave
statistics TO show how much the death
rate had gone down among babies through
better knowledge Of the evils Of con-
tamnated milk,
Speeches were also made by George
l.. Flanders, former president of State
and National Food and Dairy Depart
ments, Albany; William c. Breed. counsel
for the National Wholesale Grocers
Association Timothy Healy president
OF the International Brotherhood of
Stationary Firemen. and others. Mr..
Healy, who was the last speaker. made
the audience sit up by saying that he
remembered factory where bread was
made twenty years ago in which the
work ers when they rested sat on the piles
Of dough and that the bread was some
times nearly black from the dust that got
into it.
Mr., Low is expected TO appoint the
committee of fifteen to carry out the
objects OF the new department some
time this week.
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