Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1914-12-11
1.-THE POWER OF THE PENNY"
Association Issues
Bulletin Showing What Has
Been Accomplished in
Practical Results

"The Power of The Penny" might
well be the name of the six year re-
view of the fight in Wisconsin
against tuberculosis and other pre-
ventable diseases which has just
been issued by the Wisconsin Anti
tuberculosis Association as a special
issue of the Crusader" The review
is an attractive, paper-bound book OF
ninety-six pages, profusely illustrat-
ed from photographs representative
of the various lines of health activ-
| ity in Wisconsin made possible by
| the pennies accruing annually from
the sale of Red Cross Seals.
In these days when the sanatoria
for incipient and advanced cases Of
tuberculosis, the visiting nurses, the
| health lectures, educational eXhiD-
it's, window displays, and popular lit
erature giving in easy-to-read form,
facts about disease that every man,
woman and child should know, are
recognized agencies in the states
organized fight for stronger, better
individuals and healthier communi
ties, it is difficult to realize that
| they have sprung into being in Wis
consin within the last decade.
Ten years ago, there was no Wis
consin Anti-Tuberculosis Association;
there were not tuberculosis sana-
tcria, no open air schools, no visit
! ing nurses, no health lectures and
exhibit; in short, there were no or
ganized agencies in the state to
combat consumption, Each year the
disease was sweeping off a number
of persons equivalent to the popula-
ton of towns the size of Columbus,
Delavan, Jefferson, Reedsburg or
| Waupaca This calamity was repeat
e1 year after year. No one, COM
paratively speaking, knew about it.
No one, apparently, cared about it.
Even the best informed men and
the ones most keenly alive to the
necessity Of an organized effort to
check the ravages of the disease,
had no way CT knowing its extent
in the state through surveys and sta
| tistics They were yet to be made
and compiled.
There years ago there was no
place in the state of Wisconsin to
which an advanced case Of tubercu-
losis could be taken for sanatorium
care. In 1908, when the Wisconsin
Anti tuberculosis Association was
organized, there were $500 deaths
from tuberculosis in the state. In
1913 there were 2,343, figure which
would have been increasd to 2,617
had the death rate of 1908 contin-
ued. In the five years average there
was a total saving in lives of $50
and with the exception of the first
year, the decrease in mortality has
been a steady one.
Zone life saved every sixty-eight
hours" is the message of the exhibit
chart on which these facts are set
forth SIS it worth while?" Beneath
the question runs the statement:
Buying Red Cross Christmas Seals
is more than en- obligation; it's an
opportunity
In looking over the review of the
six years work, the people of Wis
consin may we'll take pride in what
has been accomplished as their work.
The first exhibit sent by the state to
the International Congress on Tu-
berculosis held in Washington, d. G.
in 1908, the exhibit which played its
part in calling into being the the
Wisconsin Anti-TuberculCsis Associa-
ton, was financed by the people OF
the state, and it is the people of the
state-men, women and children
who have financed the movement
ever since
Progress in this work has been
marked with definite accomplish
ments such as the establishment of
many institutions, visiting nurse,
complete programme of health legis-
lation, and a decided improvement in
the general standard of personal n.y.
giene.
All this work, this great campaign
of education, has been carried on en-
tirely from the sale of Red Cross
icf, lie col in, uhi oh
penny of the poor does as much for
state and individual as the penny of
the rich, for to rich and poor alike
the price is the samoa penny for
a seal.