The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1915-09-28
v AR
On tuberculosis To Be Start.
ed At Conferences

New York, Sept. 24--The fall cam.
paign against tuberculosis in the U.
S. will begin next week, when two
big conferences Of experts will be
held. At indianapolis, Ind, and El
Paso, Tex, the leaders in the great
warfare against the White Plague
will gather for conferences where re-
ports, plans and aims in the long up.
hill battle will be discussed.
At the five sectional conferences
that will be held this fall, nearly ev-
cry state will be represented, and it
| is estimated that more than 10000
| persons are directly interested in
| the tuberculosis fight in this country.
More than s20,0OO,OOo was spent
last year in the campaign against
| tuberculosis in the United States.
| New York state alone spent over
| five millions, Illinois was next in
line with s2,325,O00, Pennsylvania ex-
| pended over two millions, Massachu-
sets over a million and half, and
| Colorado was fifth with an expendi-
ture of sS3S,OoO.
| The burden of institutional care of
| the consumptiye is being shifted
| from the private purse to the general
public purse, according to statistics
compiled BY the National Associa-
ton for the Study and Prevention of
| tuberculosis. OF the twenty mil
lions spent during 1914, 66S per cent
| was derived from public funds, either
| federal, state, county or municipal,
| as compared with SO per cent in 1909.
For institutional care and treatment
in hospitals and sanatoria, approx.
mately s17,90O,00O was expended in
| 1914, the other three millions being
devoted to the operation OF anti-tu-
| berculosis associations, the open air
movement, and educating the public
| to the extent of the disease.
That for every tuberculosis death
ten more people are infected, is the
| statement of DR.. Halliday Sutherland
| of the st. Marlyebone tuberculosis
| Dispensary, speaking last December
at the Edinburgh Congress of the
| Royal Institute of Public Health. Dr.
| Sutherland characterized the situa-
| tion as "a story of human folly and
of mans cruelty to man." DR.. Suth-
erland continued: "The turbid stream
of infection flows through the high
ways and byways of our cities. In
| fection passes from man to man,
| from husband to wife and from par
ent to child" The eminent physic-
| ian carried the picture further by
showing how the man once infected
| is handicapped in the economic strug-
gle. He is readily tired and seeks an
easier, less well-paid occupation.
There is less money and less food.
| The infected woman is less able to
look after her home and children.
So they go to the slums, and find the
| overcrowding, the unsanitary sur
roundings, the closed window, the
ShCapCoI loOu III lilC uCoiCol liui hCt
all influences that are best fitted
] to fan the disease.
"Thirty per cent of our English
school children" said Dr. Sutherland,
"show the disease in it's Seeding
stage Sixty per cent of the adult
population have been affected"
The saving factor that experience
has evolved, says DR.. Sutherland, is
the tuberculosis dispensary, provid-
ing for treatment in every stage of
the disease. The early cases do not
and will not seek advice, so the spec
ialist follows the well-known case
to the home There the contacts are
examined and the disease fought.
The home is recreated. Even the
meanest of houses can have the win
dows open, the walls painted instead
of papered, the filthy carpets and
hangings removed.
Another interesting phase of the
tuberculosis fight in Europe is the
statement of Prof. Landouzy, dean of
the Paris Faculty of Medicine, who
forecasts that he war will contribute
at least 10000 tuberculosis patients
to France alone. Contrary to the
popular belief that the nardships of
campaigning strengthened men, Prof
Landouzy shows how the terrific
fatigue which soldiers on the firing
line must endure leaves its perma-
nent marks.