Norwich bulletin., 1911-03-11
OUR PLAIN DUTY.
Why the State Should Provide Homes in New London and Middlessx Counties

Nounsses' 7.
 If present conditions pessist, 100000 of the people now alive in Connecticut will die Of tuberculosis. The white plague claims in death nearly 250 per sons year in New London county and agitation about the contagiousness or the disease, the poor consumptive of Connecticut Is dropped from the pay roll in the office or factory months be- fore earning capacity ceases, and pe- cause of our work he receives every year. if not less of love. at leas. t, tes5 of that affectionate,' tender attention that he expected in his last sad days.
 We forbid his wife to kiss him. We warn his children to avoid him. we put him on the public record as a danger to the community. We snrInh advise hotels, hospitals, sanitoria ana boarding houses to refuse him admls- sion. We make an outcast of him.
 In simple justice we owe him place of refuge We owe him place or refuge whether we ever get our money back or not. If he were an animal we would kill him. But he is our brother our sick brother. To preserve our self respect we must give him place of refuge. That the children who Will grow up in Connecticut in the coming years may not grow up utterly selhsn and hard of heart
 First and foremost, then, our battie- cry must be 'teducat ation." The educa-. ton of the state and the education or the individual. The state must De ap- pealed to on the ground of humanity and political economy.
 The wealth of a country depends upon the producing power of it's peo- nIa. Each life has money value and the ending of this life is dlStlnct financial loss to the state. It has been estimated that in the United States the annual loss in money from deatns from tuberculosis is $330,000,000, while the yearly loss to this state IS esu- mated at s10,000.0 900.
 The illness incident to this disease is likely to be protracted and we must count against the welfare of the state the loss in wages: expense in caring for the sick; the maintenance or .,.a aea ae. pendent families; and include in these items the direct tax on the state TOT the support of hospitals. sanitoria, homes for dependents and free school ing. All these are results of the iacK of earning power of the an1lcted mol vidual. Over 30 per cent or the oeaths 1T ; from tuberculosis occur between the ages of 15 and 45. The greater pro portion of these die between the ages of 25 and 35, and this is the time or the greatest earning capacity. A large proportion die between the ages or 10 and 70. Iul8 meAIlS tOdt tiiS AAS AAeS ended soon after the child has left school, before it's earning capacity has been demonstrated. Here the direct loss falls on the state in the cost or the education of these children with no adequate value returned. From an economic point of view we educat children at the expense of the public in order that they may be more useful citizens and more readily able to bear their share of public duties and the expense of government. Here, then, IS an actual expenditure with no return. A system of financing that could not be met by any business concern with out the prospect of ultimate ruin An actual loss when measured in dollars and cents. This loss cannot be avoided or met by simply stopping the order to remedy the evil, but where it is outge now the income later, due to prolonged lives and healthy citizens, will more than onset our prodigality and insure a far greater income with no loss in the future. The time to act is now, before the financial burden becomes too great te be borne.