Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-07-03

the usual instead of the unusual hin
for our people to proclaim Pennsyl-
Vania's greatness. 1t should be the
usual instead of the unusual thing to
defend her fair name against the
tongue and pen of her slanderers and
the m~uckrakers within and without
the State, because students of her his
tory know and fair-minded people
agree and statistics demonstrate that
she has done more toward the up
building and development of this ma
ton than any other State.
Under the administration of Gov
ernor P~ennypacker, when so many
good constructive measures were en-
acted into law. the Health Department
which we now have, SO ably directed
and conducted by DR.. Samuel G.. Dixon,
was made possible. Although hi was
only nine years ago, to-day the fed
eral government states that in public
health records Pennsylvania represents
the keystone of the statistical arch of
the United States From 1905 until
now Pennsylvania has waged war with
untlring energy against disease. with
the result that $4,000 lives have been
saved from death by typhoid fever
alone; one-half of the waters of the
state used for domestic are
being filtered; ninety-one sewage dis
posal plants have been constructed.
and by cooperation with municipali-
- ohN 4ilNlNiuudlS Oh the State
typhold fever has been reduced 81
per cent. since our health laws went
lDto erect. Diphtheria has been
lought from 667 centers from which
antltoXin is furnished by the State free
To the doctors for their Door patients
and to-day through this curative AGENT
and agency the lives of $4,000 children
nave been saved.
The greatest single cause of death
IN TINS State and in the civilized world
is tuberculosis. TODAY P~ennSvIvania
stands ahead of every other State in
the Union in caring for her INDECENT
sufferers from the great white plague.
since 1907 the death rate from tuber-
culosls has in Pennsylvania been re-
duced IL per cent. All communicable
diseases have been fought by we'll
organized corps of health officers until
to-day we have saved to our population
6O,OOO more people than would have
been here had the death rate of 1906
prevailed until the present time. The
Health Department is on guard every
minute of the day and night and is
never found unprepared when emil
demlcs are to be stamped out and
lives saved. INV
1T is not to be wondered at, there
fofe' mat PENNSYLVANIA is proud of
thls splendid department. Other States
are awakening to the results we are
obtaining and following in our foot
steps in enacting similar laws and
creating health departments patterned
AFTER ours land foreign governments
frequently inquire as to our public
health work
Next in importance to health and
life is education. 1t is more than likelv
everyone here has at some time at
tended one of the $1,000 public schools
or u State and is more or less
familiar with the work in these schools
out unfamiliar with the system now in
effect. " In the last three vears
Pennsylvania has made greater nroe9
ress along educational lines than in
any similar period of her previous his
tory. Among the salient ~eatures are
the passage of our present excellent
school code. the creation OF a State
Board or Education. the closer super
Vlson or high schools. the introduction
or the study of agriculture in the ele-
mentary and high schools, the estab-
fishing of manual training schools and
evening schools for adults who desire
training in their respective vocations,
and the establishment of a Bureau Of
MedlcaI Education and Licensure.
AS To Agriculture
I'm a State such as ours, with its
large cities and busy marts, its flaming
and rich mines. we are prone
to forget at times the greatest and
most important industry in all the
world, namely. agriculture. The work
of the Pennsylvania Agricultural De-
partment in all its branches is both
educational and governmental. When
the country was new and our soil was
full of native fertility little need was
felt for instruction in the Fundamental
principles of agriculture, but after be-
ing under cultivation for a long period
of years apparent soil exhaustion and
consequent failures in crop production
showed the necessity of specific in
struction in methods of conserving and
restoring fertility to our rundown