El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-13

I great. deal TO develop our soil. We
! spend millions Of dollars annually ~
| Keep fever away from our cattle and
| cholera away from our hogs We
! spend other millions on the svDsT
( moth, but we let the health of the
community take care of itself
th1nk the development of the people
and fitting them TO do their work in
( the world IS quite as important as
increasing the crops and protecting
the hog. Take the fight against the
! mosquito, the fly and the hooI1worm.
Ihey are the most destructive ami
~ mas t5 on eartn, and the money spent
IN their control viii bring more divi-
dends than that laid out on the boII
weev1 or the Texas tick
Fighting the HoOkworm.
But are. we not doing a great deal
as TO the hookwOrm, Mr.. Secretary? %
/ asked.
Yes. the work is going on in every
state from Maryland to Texas and
from Florida to northern Kansas. The
pest is prevalent in all that region. II
attacks the rich and the poor. but If
Is especially dangerous TO the bare
rooted boy. for the worm usually goes
IN through the bare feet Nearly All
country boys Of the south 90 hare
footed and nearly all are infected In
one county 1900 school children were
found that 46 percent of the Wbi+eS
and 81 percent Of the negroes bsd
hookWorm IN another school IS Der
cent of the children We're infected
Inc doctors IN Porto Rico say that
man with the hookWorm is only
half a man, and the verdict OF +bs
teachers OF the south is that the
scholar with the hookWorm is onIV
mar a scholar Indeed, doubt whether
any man or woman who has the hook
worm is half a man in his or her af
ficiency. I think our develonrne,+
along such lines is quite as irnDorfar<
as crop development,
do not think the importance Of
rural health can be oveTestirnsfo1 u y
continued secretary Houston. ssi+
should be advanced in every Dossibie
way and that especially as related to
the schools.
Bad Teeth Cause Failures.
we have now 100000 pupils in
the schools Of the United States. and
a large percentage of them fail To
pass each year, not because they a 70
mental detectives, but on account Of
their health DR.. Gulick has been in
Vesugating the matter Out of 250
600 failures he found that 16 Darce,,,+
had not been able to pass an a.
count of i'll health. About nine ner
cent of these failures had bad +ae+b
adenoids, defective vision, and Ofba:
things which kept them hack n
found that the children who had baS
teeth were on the average six months
behind those with good teeth In
deed, Dr. Osler says that more DANA ea
is done to our health bV had $50
than by alcohol 1 think every child
should be examined as TO such r6a+fare
whether his parents wish it or MOI
and that ne should be put on the road
to health.
In another investigation" the sec
rotary continued. "S2, 600 children w.
examined, and Of these over Sc 0o9
proved defective either as to fhoiT
breathing, sight, tonsils, teeth or as
to the working of the skin. Thru
three thousand out of the 81 600 bs5
bad teeth. This condition prevsiiaJ
largely throughout the country sebooIs
1t is being Investigated and uemediad
to some extent IN the cities The work
should be extended to every school in |
the land"
The Country School House.
But how about the rural school From,
an educational standpoint said 7 II
thought one of the proUdeSt things Of |
which America could boast was nc
country school house"
That may be so in widely separated I
Individual instances" replied the secre- /