The Washington herald., 1914-06-07
Some Confessions Of T.B.
Present a Vivid Picture

Importance, the expectation Of sympathy
and uncommon attention. To the grown
mans full and awful acceptance Of su-
preme disaster there succeeded the pride
Of the small boy none of US ever ceases
to be. in the possession Of an ailmsnt
not to be ignored. First the chill Of the
terror Of death, and then the dignity OF
Mark Twain's hero when he appeared
with q sore toe at school!
It is now seven years and more since
I began my quest for q place and an
Advancement TO breathe freely and con-
stantly the right kind Of air. and eat in
abundance the right kind Of food. yet !
can say with perfect honesty that have
not yet found anywhere the combination
OF these two factors of cure worked out
satisfactorily at moderate cost for me
and such as I am. The rich, Of course.
can have them easily. But the great
majority of our order are not rich: they
are cut of from their customary earn
ings: they are often forced to depend
on the sacifices Of others-sacrifices which
they would not willingly increase. The
fact Of this dependence. indeed. is the
hardest part of their lot They cannot
escape the thought of 1t for a day. They
are loath to have what they need, II II
costs too much. and nothing could be
more trying and worrying than the con-
slant necessity to pull and strain. to
fight and nag. as they must do IL they
would have 1t at reasonable cost.
Now that. simple as 1t seems. ID the
true problem Of the average TBS ex-
istence. 1t Is not in the main a medical
problem at all. but a practical problem.
sordid problem: a mere matter Of food
and air-and dollars. Yet to present IL
nj fc L.
purpose and motive. For II Is a problem
the public will in the long run. for its
own seIf-defense, have to deal with; 1t
Is the public's problem ultimately. al
though as yet 1t is left to US and to those
who. from kinship or benevolence, are
specially concerned with US.
American Cookery Condemned.
1t has some sggravations that are Pc
culiarly exasperating. Not the least Of
these, in this particular country. is
American cookery-that is to say. the
cookery of such Americans, doubtless the
majority, as can be induced to take
boarders.' and particularly such as can
be induced to take boarders who are
sick. Many of these last. by the way.
are such as have already failed to minis
ter scceptably TO boarders who are well.
Theirs is, as a rule, not merely unen-
lightened American cookery. but cook
cry stimulated by no aspiration and but
little compc tition: cookery seasoned with
a lax indifference: cookery without any
need to be better, and with
an obvious reason for being as careless
and unlaborious as II can be and con-
tinue to be endured. To take 1ungers'
at all, 1t would seem. confers rather than
incurs an obligation. For is not that
the chance of any other
kind Of gainful hospitality?
Ordinarily, yes, 1t is-unless the lunger
lies about the nature of his
ailment That, indeed, is by no means
the limit of his temptation-his necessity
at times-to deceive. or to pretend to de-
reive. For while some communities and
hosts are really afraid of him, some
merely demand that he help them to
hoodwink the other customers whom they
wish 10 attract. In these communities. IL
he respects appearances, his hosts
neither mere keepers of boarding houses
Or managers of hotelsrwill be discreetiy
blind. And such communities are by no
means rare; the practice is common: 1t
Involves. of course much the most seri-
ous danger to the public which our prob
lem presents. That is why the public
must in time take more account of it
and Of us. Until the public does. it must
continue to owe far more to our con-
sciences than We do to the public's con-
science.
Protecting the Public.
That is the truth, and very mildly
stated. The public depends for pro-
lection from such danger as our con-
.inued existence involves. not on its own
'xertions but on ours. To render that
q htfr zlx,~-
With both expense and trouble. We must
ncessantly take. for the sake Of the
public, precautions which are disagree
iole and costly: and meanwhile a great
'art Of the public is, by its attitude to- |
ward us. steadily tempting US, and even
ometirhes fairly compelling US, II we |
would live, to discontinue those precau-
ions and go on as If there were nothing !
he matter with us. The folly and stu
'idity of this attitude II is impossible
o overstate. 1t is of itself by far the
hief cause and source of the persistencei
4 this scourge
Known and recognized and decently en-
reated. We are not dangerous. Stunned
nd prescribed and forced to conceal
nents, We are dangerous. Victims our
elves of this same regime of ignorant
nd self-deceiving inhumanity. we are
allied on every hour OF our lives for a
nagnanimous consideration of Others So
iety can hardly find il surprising or a
rievahce If our human nature should
weaken under the strain of
he incessant provocation it endures from
his strange working of human nature
a general. Why should we alone be ex-
ected to be guiltless. always to our own
ost and sacrifice. of that very form of
1an's inhumanity to man. from which
'e ourselves are suffering more than
nybody else? Yet can honestly attest
hat the vast majority of us are guiltIess
any merely resentful offense: that, as
rule. when We fail to protect the public
is only because the public compels us
, disregard its interest, its safety. This
! what ] earnestly entreat the public.
Or its own sake, candidly to consider. II
either Criminals Nor Mendfcant.,
Candidly means fully. II the public
to be safe from us. II the public Is to
ontinue to have our protection from that
sainst which it failed TO protect us
hen the public must make it possible
,r US to get-it must certainly cease to
lake II impossible for the mass of us
get except by subterfugNwhat We
'ust have to live. We are neither crimi-
ais nor mendicants. We do not ask
avors. We merely revolt against a mean
nd stupid oppression. We revolt against
'norance and against a lie. The public
ouid get rid of US, and thereby makes
5 inescapable. It would pretend. and
ould have us pretend. that We are
owhere. It thereby insures that wei
hall be everywhere 1t proscribes US,
nd thereby admits US.
In general. it Is my opinion that for
e mass Of us-the well-to-do excepted
e sanitarium is much the better ar