The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1915-12-15
A TUBERCULOSIS DAY SERMON.
Your Responsibility i'm The Anti-Tu-
bcrculOsis Campaign.

campaign. Aside from the purely
altruistic and humanitarian motives
which should stir any strong man to
help those who are weak and suffer-
ing, l propose to show that every man
and woman in this community has an
additional triple responsibility in the
worldwide fight that is being carried
on against this terrible disease, tuber-
Iculosis.
Scientists have informed us that
tuberculosis is communicable, in
fectious disease, and that it NAV be
cured if it is taken in the early stages,
and prevented from spreading to those
who are we'll if proper precautions
are taken in time. Starting on these
scientific foundations, 1 maintain that
every man and woman in this COM
munity has a responsibility for the
stamping out of tuberculosis from our
midst.
First of all, you have a responsible
lity as an individual residing in this
community, living under an organized
society. Your responsibility in this
capacity is purely selfish one. 1t is
for example, toward the protection
of your own health. If 1 could show
/ you iii some dramatic way how the
subtle menace of unprotected con-
Sll ~ in iJct
dermine your health or that of your
family, it would not take long for you
tC realize your responsibility in the
control of this disease. While I can
rot demonstrate this condition in such
a way that you would be shocked at
once into action, can appeal to your
reason. The consumptives who walk
the streets of this town, spreading
through careless cXpectoration or
through contact more or less close
with other individuals in the COM
munity, the germs of their disease,
will sooner or later come in contact
with You, your wife, or your Chill
dren. Your responsibility as an indi-
vidual is to protect yourself and
your family.
! Your second responsibility is as a
citizen of this community. The mere
fact that you have agreed to live here
and have tacitly or otherwise made
yourself a part of the civic corpora
ton which we call our city or town,
gives to you a responsibility for every
other man in this community who calls
himself your fellow citizen. Any ca
tastrophe or disease which impairs
the efficiency of one or more members
of the community, weakens by just so
much the efficiency of the entire citi-
zenship and impairs usefulness of the
civic body to it's individual members.
The menace of hundreds of consump-
tives inadequately cared for places up
on you as a citizen a responsibility
which you cannot evade even if you
wished to. If you are true to trust of
your citizenship, it is your duty 20 see
that every consumptive in this COM
munity has adequate hospital nursing
or other provisions that will tend to
promote The cure of his disease and
to check it's spread to others. AS
citizens We hear a great deal of talk
about the question Of taxes and every
time there is an attempt to levy an
addition mill or a fraction Of a mill
for disease prevention, some misguid-
ed citizen who values property more
than he does health makes a demon
stration. That man is not fit citi-
zen of any community. If the things
that you wear and the house that you
live in are worth more to you than
the God-given body and the mind
which energies it, the sooner you re-
move yourself from organized So
ciety, the better for you and society.
IThere is no issue, strictly speaking, be-
tween taxes and health. When health
is at stake, your citizenship demands
health whatever the expense
Finally you have a responsibility as
a church member. We talk very
lglibly in these days of brotherhood and
hint at all kinds of universal brother
hoods, national brotherhoods and To-
|cal brotherhoods, to say nothing of
religious brOtherhoods by the score.
brotherhood is the very essence Of re-
ligion. 1t roots back to the earliest
times, and, with the development of
citivlzatiOn, has been attaining a
higher and higher realization Of it's
ideal. But brotherhood is more
than a mere silent assent to q prin-
ciple. 1t is a dynamic that demands
service for those whom we call broth