The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-08-13
MANNING c.. WEDN ESDAY. AUGUST l3 1913
HEALTH AND THE HOME

HEALTH AND lHE HUME
HEALTH PROBLEM DISCUSSED
BY DR.. E. A. HINES.
Secretary Of the South Carolina Med
ical Association Before the Con-
ference for the Common Good.
Health and the Home" was the
subject Of an address delivered by
E. A. Hines, NJ. D., of Seneca, Secre-
tary Of the South Carolina Medical
Association, at the Permanent
Homes" session Of the Conference
for the Common Good, held Yednes-
day night in the Columbia Theatre.
DR.. Hines remarks are given here in
full:
The health conditions Of the home
and the home life in this country,
owing to our freedom OF thought and
action have given sanitarians the
most difficult problems they hare had
to face. The mans home is his castle
and his rights sacred. In far too
many instances such man considers
the health officer an invader Of his
rights and privileges rather than as
a guardian angel. Many times the
home presents the weakest link In
the entire chain of preventive mede-
cine, whereas it should be the strong
est.
Indeed the very foundation Of mu-
nicipal sanitation is the home and the
same is true in great measure in the
small town and rural district. It
would be Of intense interest to trace
historically the intricate relationship
between the health Of the Individual,
the State, the nation and the home.
We would find this ed1flce frequently
to have been built upon the sands OF
ignorance, blinded predjudice, and
judgment rather than upon
the solid rock of teh unselfish recog-
nition CT the truths Of sanitary sci
ence. John Howard Payne had in
mind the ideal when he penned his
Immortal poem, Home, Sweet
Home" and for more than nalf a CEN
tury this lofty sentiment has inspir-
ed our Southland with romance, leg
end, song and hospitality. We Of the
South have thus glorious inheri-
tance, but this is not all that has
been handed down to US. Unfortu-
nately mingled with the refrain Of
Home, Sweet Home" We discern es-
pecially the discordant notes Of ty-
phoid fever, tuberculosis, pellagra,
hookworm disease, malaria, diseases
of childhod and diseases sociologic in
their nature.
Any one Of the malidies mentioned
could easily engage our attention for
the time allotted me. The great white
plague, tuberculosis, is preeminently
a home-born disease. Listen to the
words of Sir William Osler: "In four
hundred homes Of this country there
is lamentation and woe tonight. hus-
bands for their wives, wives for their
husbands; children for their parents,
parents for their children, a mere
repetition of yesterdays calamities.
And if the ears Of your hearts open,
you can hear while I speak the beat
ings of the wings Of the angels Of
death to the four hundred appointed
for tomorrow.
1t augurs well for the future Of
our beloved State that we are here
this evening to reason together on
this highly important subject. Most
of the ills from which we suffer in
the domain of preventable diseases
are due to social rather than individ-
ual offenses, and therefore the rem
edy must be found in the treatment
Of the social organisms rather tran
of the individual.
The improvement Of hygienic con-
ditions in our cities, towns and ru-
raj communities requires a certain
amount of specific regulation. Such
regulation must be based upon prop
er legal enactment, either on nation
al or State laws, or on municipal or
dinances. Restrictions Of personal
liberty, so necessary at times, in or
der to be enforced and to be OF any
value must be understood and backed
by the public. 1t is extremely impor-
tant then for legal and social reasons
we lose no opportunity to inform
ourselves, as to the marvellous ad-
vance in scientific knowledge regard
ing the causes of disease, the meth
DDS Of transmission and tho most ef-
fective means Of prevention. The
rapid advance of scientific knowledge
today not only in medicine but all
along the line in the allied sciences
fill US with wonder. Scarcely year
passes that some actual life saving
remedy or measure has not been
brought forward for our benefit.
It is almost inconceivable that but
little over 100 hundred years ago
our forefathers were burning witches
at the stake. I mention this here be-
cause to a certain extent the witch
may be considered the predecessor
of the modern scientist. At time
when no systematic knowledge Of ma
ture existed, it was taken for grant
ed that the future could be predicted
and controlled by appropriate ac-
tions and expressions, through sym
pathetic magic. or potent formulas,
Of which the wise" man or woman