The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-06-05
NEEDLESS ILLNESS
CAUSE Of HUGE
ECONOMIC Loss
Association of Life Insurance
Presidents Considers Plan
Today for National Regis
tration of the Sick.

new 1ufkf June ON the Eiuuuh
that illness in this country b. causing
huge economic losses, mounting every
yoar Into hundreds of millions OF dol
'ars. The Association # Life Insurance
lttsidcnts was urged to-day TO aid iu,
a. movement fot "a comprehensive sys-
tenn of reporting cases of %siCkucss
throughout the different states. along
the lines that deaths are now reported
IL Mas declared that much Of the ~
hess uf today IS needless and thut the
nrst step in prevention must be Sc
vur3tp Knowlvdgo as Co the occurrence
OF sickness. She recommendation WIS
made by Dr. % /. Dublin, llfe IN.
surancc statisticiun. of this city. a
model law to provide FOR such reports
has been prepared by the conference
Di state ana territorial health author
tiles Ia conjunction with the United
states uL ".o health service. An effort
Is holng made To- interest large hus.-
Ness n industrial concerns in tho
movement principally on the ground
of the resulting hegcnt To
them BESIDES, 10 b. pointed out that
only reduction OF economic loss VIE
without additional Cmorf. or ,Xpeuac,
hrinE cuncurrcutly a vast reduction In
social loss, including physical snfcr
ms, dependency, lack of education and
training and other results OF illness
thar lower the standard OF family and
community life.
"Thc life saving campaigns OF tn
last few decades have borne fruit,
said Dr Dublin Ia his recommend
uon. The death rate has been low
cred aud the average span of ltfc cor-
t,spuudingis heightened. Deaths from
certain cases. especially from typhoid
lever. au8llloX. the Infectious dis
eases of childhood. and tuberculosis
have been reduced The amount 80
81. kucss. on The other hand. has NJ
bv,u controlled to any Improbable uc-
gree. There is SIN TOO much sickness
among us. Indeed, thcre are those
Who. with some authority. maintain
ufat Illness has actually Increased in
spite uf AN the saving in mortality
Tho ucNt twenty years must. there
fore. soe Uur activities in health WORK
directed especially Go the control OF
disease ~ Wc avail ourselves Of our
present knowledge of sanitary science.
we can reduce the incidence Of Illness
fuliN as much as We have already cut
down our death rates.
'Thc basis for any campaign against
sickness must be an accurate know
ledge oi lts prevalence. just as the
reduction ui mortality Is f%urthcrcd aN
q complete registration % deaths aud
their causes. so our efforts Ia reduce
the frequency OF disease depend upon
machinery for reporting the cases 81
sickness. their causes. and their dura-
ton, Tor each group in the commua-
ity. For this purpose, b. b. not SUM
Client 90 know only. as We do now. the
number Who have died from any par
u,ular couse. We must henCcforfa
place oar emphasis upon the cases of
sickness themselves They are social
ly more important than deaths ura
oar prosrJmmc must more and more
prevent their occurrence and effect
their control The state must. there
fore. boz the first Instance. see that 100
uroFsutablr diseases are recorded that
W may las our foundation Tor efficient
sanitary adm nistratiun.
Health departments have Ions rea-
lizcd th, importance Of registering
disease Al lrst they required the re-
porting Of the pluguvs such as small.
puN. yellow fever. cholera, etc. Later,
the list ws8 extended 20 include the
acute infections. especially those OF
childhood like diphtheria, scarlet
.cyor and measles. with the develop
mcut of thc germ theory uf disease.
the reporting OF tuberculosis Aas iu-
cludod first on "a voluntary, and alter
ON a compulsory basis. FINALLY. in
some of the more advanced states.
certain non-iufcctlous diseases. such
as cancer. p|ollagru ana even "a few
Oi the o-ccuputiunhi diseases, have been
made rcpurtablc. Al the present
time, marty an states Of the union
have laws requiring the reporting OF
one OF more of the preyentable dis
eases.
y Important aspect OF our state
health work shows up 10 SUCH poor
advantage as does the %resistlatlon ana
control Of tho ~prcVcntablc Diseases
We arc here concerned with candi-
lions which are responsible from
year Go gear for large economic losses
and set we have only the crudcst ma
chincry for checking them PROBES
sor Irving Fisher 81 Yale has estim1t-
ed that about three million people are
seriously 100 at any one time in tho
tniled States, OF whom about a hale
are suffering from -prcventahlo causes
The economic losses from such ILLNESS
Dec declares to be no less han ave
hundred million dollars annually IN
vases q AN oqgal sum Ia doctors
fees, drugs and other necessary medi-
cal accessories. These figures, he be-
l.c,es, are conservative, but D. IL OBJ
viousiy impossible 90 make any osti-
mate which win approximate tho
truth in view OF the total absence n
reliable Information. IN fact there
are no records OF illncss.i ga the coun.
try excepting the very f-ragmentars
reports Of u few states and some cor
poratlons, Whatever DE the oxnct
amount Of loss sustained. through
sickness. effective registration VIII
help materially 90 reduce Il and Wiz
thus Yield q big return Ia the com-
munities On the relatively small IN
Ncstmcnt required.