The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-01-23

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and die.
Feed On Red Blood.
But let me tell You now the worm
works. The doctors say Il fesds OF
the red corpuscl.s Of the blood Inns
IS the life-giTing fluid, ana a soou
healthy man ought to have i've or SIX
millions of them III every cubic mill
~ e,cr of all the blood that flows
through his veins. Not long ago, m
asI1i,oh as | Was far under par, mao
ny own blood examined. 4 Doctor
lal bed 4 pin into my ear and took Out
a drop of MY blood ana tested il. tie
found that there We're over fivc mi
lion red eorn}lscits per cube. ana
even this number mad" htH SNAKE MS
head and look serious: Now the Porto
RlcAn with the huokworm has only
two and onc-half million Of these red
corpuscles. SO you can see where ne
stands. Another part Of E1y test was
rs TO the hemoglobin, which also re-
latas 10 the quality Of this blood. II
the test rises 10 100 per cent. It IS eX-
Cellcnt. My test showed 50, and now
after treatment it has risen 10 ninety.
The average Porto l:ictn with the
uorrn> has only 40 per cent. OF that
stuff in him. and nevertheless nI.on
sLch Il physical! condition he has had
T. labor from daylight Ia dark on the
sugar estates and in the coffee plan
tatiDIs. He has been 4 sick man all
the time, but he has had To work. z
curing Of hundreds OF thousands Of
such people is a part Of what lncle
Sam has done in Porto Rico
\ Sanitary Island.
Indeed, the prcsert plans III the
soT"rn:ncnt arc such that the island
is now about as sanitary as any part
CT Latin America. At the time We
i! i1H1 hold thu Hnaih r.Atn yHlC .ihtIIt
forty per thousand. 1t is now only
twenty-five per thousand. and this
compares ~faQOrably with any other
similarly populated country.
We have practically wiped out the
smallpox. When ! visited h island
, twelve years ago il was raging, anC
: at that time our government under
/. took the greatest vaccination job Of
| all history. 1t had the army start t
! work to Vaccinate the whole people
There were at least 900. 900 sore arm:
: on the island during my stay, and thu
: people were so disabled in places tina
I the work practically stopped. Among
J the places / visited was 2 vaccine
farm. where the army surgeons hat
1000 cattle. ranging from 8 month.
to a year old. They used these to ge
y vaccine matter, taking as many as 2,
coo points from a single beast. Sine,
= then the vaccination has kept up from
q time to time. Twenty-six thousan,
persons were Naccinated last yeaI
and the doctors keep their eyes on tn
@ children. AS a result there is II
n smallpox in Porto Rico, and very rey
q cases Of variolOid.
& The Water Supply.
q Al the time we took charge the wa
O, ter supply was bad almost every
/ where. The StreArns were used 2
l. public sewers, and the people too
their drinking water from them. /
all OF the cities | found wells not e
20 from the cesspoOis; and the doctor
ne estimated that 5o.oo0 houses had CT
II terms whose water was polluted
re that way. The custom Of burying tt
ST dead was another source of diseas
10 lie cemeteries were crowded, ar
= great piles OF skulls and other hums
ne bones were found in some OF the1
d Uncle Sam has caused new cemeteri
a to be opened; and he has establish,
IN IN remote districts many new one
us where free burial is given to the poo
w Porto Rico has now it's own heal
IS department, with an advisory boar
u consisting OF a health supervisor,
physician. a druggist. q lawyer and
civil engineer. A great deal is bel,
TN done to wipe out tuberculosis, and t
Il general condition Of the people is ]
ise per cen better than ii has been t
rni fore.
he Roads For Porto Rice
ct. Next to the hookworm, one OF t
biggest things Uncle Sam has done
Porto Rico has been in the good roa
vet movement. He has started the uo,
he and the people have furnished |
IN. money to do the business.
Az There is no part Of the Uni,
IN States which has such u road dev
RI opment as has had Porto Rico sill
US We took hold. AT that time the
land had TO miles of good highwa
These were built by the Spaniards a
mainly for military tt
consisted OF one long road across
ano nounuains from the Caribbean sea
II Atlantic n some branCa 70:
us running here and there These IN
viii tery roads were as good rs any dri
'ep- ways in the United States. They v
sgs. rs smooth as the floor. without D
men Dies or ruts. and they wound II
up way III easy slopes over the mo
an. tainS- IN some places they hun.
lost the S!des OF the hills and in ,rr
han the nlade the innnmerable h3rs j
,irf- ,,lrNs<. So that yn,1 ra;,iI -.. 80 -