The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-09-01

H. lhff shee tolantftf th8 trade
inns usIoima
"Maa ~ these thlsft hstt hesa
Icing NHuHh % rhtatlaas ana fnf
ivran ihty have geographically uifed
iht reforms which uould pfen ihis
pfctthti,e work in thc haiion. lhe
lin4es ana In iho Hume, hut hatd en-.
codntere1 siHenlaf indifference or
antagonism fobm mos, legislative
bodies AMI from otherwise Intelligent
people This was In part because 90
The iaity medicine has always been a
mystic sc cncc, and still more because
until recent years ours has been a dis.
eordnut profession. This discord was
20 some extent between tho different
systems N practise, but far more be.
tween physicians competing for pat.
rouage in tho same community, often
fostered by their Law IT ends The
same condition existed in the clergy,
dividing the religious world into hos.
tile camps, and in Oh the other segre.
gated csllings until recent years, law
yers alone living in the aggregate and
escaping the curse.
A few years ago when our profess
sion was aroused TO the enormity of
lthis evil, to the baneful effects upon
its own members and still more upon
the people, broad movement was
started for its determination, and
probably never before in history did a
reform 50 sweep a profession, until
now, regardless of schools, OF pathiNs,
oars is rapidly becoming one of the
most harmonious Of the eallings. This
curse of discord had existed so long,
however, that It had created senti-
ment or prejudice against the profess
sion which is fixed habit of thought
with most people except as to their
own physician, which did not disappear
with the removal of the cause, and in
spite of the rapid advances of the pro-
fessi6n, and the heroism and indi-
vidual worth of its members, this is
almost as strong as it was a genera
ton ago. l speak in the light of an
experience which has come to few men.
have been State health official, and
as such, represented my profession be-
fore my legislature for thirty years,
and often before the congress at Wash
ington. Once or twice almost every
day for six years l have spoken ON
luiE cubJCCl " DOBuidE huuAtnGGb IL
every section of the Union, laymsn
discussing it freely at the close of my
talks. In this way have been able
to make a study of doctors and what
the people think of them in very
broad way, have found this sentiment
almost universal, and it is on this ac-
connt mainly, that it has been so diff
cult for us to secure and enforce our
legislation.
Fatal Lack Of Authority.
Yon will first be shown how this
feeling against doctors has affected us
as nation. For lack of authority for
medical officers during our war with
Spain, we lost sixteen of our soldiers
from preventable disease for every
one dying as result of battle, and
eightyfive of each one hundred were
inmates Of the hospitals. During the
longer and more severe war in Man.
chIria. with full authority and rank
for their doctors, Japan lost but one
man from disease for every four killed
in battle, and buts fifteen of one hun
bred were in the hospitals. We ha6
known of this danger to our armies
and had begged for proper authority
for our army surgeons, for twenty-five
years, and since these wars, with the
object lessons Of Cuba and Manchuria
, before the congress and country We
are still begging, and practically the
same dangers yet face our armies IL
the event of a foreign war. Facts OF
the same kind almost without number
might be given to show that except
in the emergency of epidemics, no 9th
er nation has been and still is so Grim
inally negligent of the health ant
, lives of both its soldiers and its citi
, zens.
/ Bad as is this record for the ma
, ton. that for most States is little bet
, ter. Probably at least one-third Of
: those sick and of those taken to you
+ cemeteries every year are afflicted
tn diseases which ought not to oc
, cur About one of every ten deaths
> are from consumption, and in spite o.
} all the talk about preventing it, 20,
now have a large tubercular pOpula
? tion. This is not an inherited dis
. ease, and if all the expectorated mat
: ter from every case now in the Stat
? could be collected and destroyed, a
your health officials and physicians ar,
. earnestly trying to do, until all nov
D sick of it either recover or die, ant
other necessary precautions be taken
, yoa would soon have none but import
ed cases. You have large sick an,
death rate in the State from typhoi'
fever every year. This is not only /,
! preVentable, but the most typical o
: the filth diseases No one can have j
!. except by getting into the mouth some
. thing from the bowels or kidneys o
I some one who has the disease, usual,
+ carried there by water, flies or milk
! Medical literature abonnis with &C
commits of fatal epidemics from al
these sources in cities, towns, countr.
3 districts and military camps. If thes
Z discharges from every case of typhoi
g fever could be systematically disin
! feeted, clean water and milk provided
n and flies gotten rid of, there would b
0 typhoid fever. There is also
d large SEX and death rate from dipt
n iberia, dysentery, scarlet fever