Evening star., 1914-02-15

separate bills known as the Harrison
oliis. which were passed In June last and
winch have remained unacted upon by
the Senate committee.
Ihe Harrison bills are now being con-
s1dered by subcommittee of the finance
committee co e., composed Of Senators w vii
Dakota and Thomas of Colorado So far
as is known there is lit or no opposition
to the Harrison bill and when the whole
nnance committee passes favorahiy on
the BILL 1t will be sent to the Senate and
speedy action is expected. In view OF
the fact that the bill provides for tax
on importation of opium or coca leaves
or their derivatives. the law when en-
of internal revenue of the Treasury De
partment.
What appears to be joker in the bill
is the only thing about the proposed law
which might cause a fight when the bill
reaches the floor of the Senate. This al
legged joker is near the end Of the bill In
a special provision which SAYS that this
act shall not apply to decocaini1ed coca
leaves or preparations made therefrom.
or to other preparations of coca leaves
which do not contain cocaine" 1t is
probable that some beverages or summer
drinks have in them extract of coca
leaves from which it is claimed all of the
cocaine has been removed. The govern
ment, through the United States bureau
of chemistry, has made some examlna-
tons to find out whether the extract
from these decocainized coca leaves is
harmful or not to the human system. but
up to the present time the investigations
have had no definite results. 1t is not
known how the provision exempt1ng the
preparations made from such coca leaves
crept into the Harrison bill. whose pur-
pose was to absolutely kill the trade in
Ia hit forrniDer drugs Tf il can be shown
that the provision included to exempt
anv drink whose habit-fornin" properties
are suspected lis probable that fight
will be made on the floor of the Senate to
strike out the paragraph
The principal fight againSt habit form
ing drugs has been made by officials of
the bureau of chemistry. of the Depart
-~nnt Of Agriculture be"inning dur'n"
the administration of DR.. Harvey w Wi
ley and continued by his successor. Dr.
Carl L. Alsberg. aided by DIR. LYMAN f.
kebler.' who for a number of Years has
been chief of the drug division of the bu-
reau of chemistry and has been included
| among the most persistent objeetors to
the Illicit drug traffic.
| 1t Is estimated that approximately To-
ono ounces of cocaine.would be sufficient
for medicinal purposes each year In the
United States. yet it is known that near
llv 10000 ounces. or ten times the ouanti-
" needed is imnorted. and the conclusion
of experts is that practically all of the
| excess goes into thesilficit drug traffic. 1t
is estimated that there is imported at the
present time almost 100000 pounds of
oni,,-, each wear. although onIv 10000 to
100000 pounds are known to be used for
LEGITIMATE purposes. leaving more than
400 600 pounds to be used by persons ad-
dicted with the drug habit
There is no method of getting exact
T census Of the number of persons in the
United States addicted to drugs at anv
| one time. but various estimates w"fc"
| have been made bv medical authorities
| MACE the nt1rn',er at anywhere from
/ onnn0O to Onah0 With such a large
| number Of nAonle held slaves Of CO.
| caire mornhine heroin and other habit
forming drugs e~nerts Jock unon the il
| licit traffic in drugs as one Of the worst
menaces which this country faces today.
| In a section included in four mountain
counties of eastern Kentucky the gov
| ernment is carrying on an
Fighting imnortant camnaign to
| eradicate one of the most
| AiaeAoAAa' dreaded Of infectious dis
eases, the eye trouble known as trachoma.
and at the same time is conducting an
| experiment in hospital management which
| is setting a new record in economy and
| efficiency This work is carried on in
Perry, Leslie Breathitt and Knott coun-
ties by the United States public health
| service, and is under the Immediate
direction of Surgeon John McMul!en, who
has had extensive experience in cam
paigns against trachorna.
This peculiar disease of the eyes, which
| often results iu blindness, and which
many people believe exists only among
| few American Indians and among some
| of the immigrants who arrive IN this
| country. has been found to be prevalent
| among native Amerie ans in number o.
communities. In the Cumberland noun
| tain region of kentucky the government
! for several years has been conducting
| campaign in cooperation with the state
authorities to stamp out this eye trouble,
| which, in some sections Of the country,
! is merely known as sore eyes or gran
uated ids
| the United States public health service
has established small hospitals where
trachoma victims are treated free of
| charge, and up to the present time more
| than 5000 persons have received help
and 167 important eye operations have
| been performed by Uncle Sans physi-
cans. Each of the three hospita estab-
| lshed is run at the low cost of SO per
day, exc usive Of salaries of the public
| health service officers Although these
| hospitals are run most economically, they
| have proved most efficient and OF the
| 1900 persons treated more than 1850
have been cured and put back into useful
| service in the community. The condition
| of most of the others has been very mu, h
| improved, and # the present progress of
| the work continues public health service
| officers be ieve that trachoma in a ew
| years will be stamped out of Kentucky.
| DIR. McMuilen, under whose Immediate
supervision the three hospitals have
! been established and under whom all
| the work has been carried on, is one OF
| the most experienced men in the United
| States in the treatment of trachoma,
| having for Il number of years been sta
/ toned at the immigrant hospital at Ellis
| Island. Trachoma is one of the diseases
most carefully watched for by the in
spectors of immigrants. 1t is a disease
which spreads rapidly and will soon
| affect a whole community unless consid
cradle care Is taken. 1t is spread In
many ways. but chiefly by the use of
common wash basins and common towels.
In some places children at school have
been known to convey the disease to
others by exchanging or using the same
| lead pencils. slates cloths, In playing
games.
| The news of the cures spreads rapidly
and the number of patients coming for
| treatment has swelled so that it has
become necessary for the government to
establish a fourth hospital in Kentucky
| Each of these hospitals consists of an
ordinary dwelling house which Is rented
after being made thoroughly sanitary.
Each contains fifteen beds and proper
! of