Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1915-03-03
THE TUBERCULOSIS QUESTION.
Dr.. Johnson's Fifth Letter.
Editor Willmar Tribune:

l wish to call the attention of the |
readers of the Willmar Tribune to an
article on the tuberculosis issue in |
the Ladies' Home Journal, March |
Number, page S, by the noted writer,
Samuel Hopkins Adams.
AS long as question of science re-
mains merely theoretical. the differ
ent views of scientific men are
of minor importance to the gen.
eral public. But when these scien-
tific views become the basis for
practical operations that involve the
expenditure of millions of dollars IT
public money, and the rights and lib.
critics of individuals, and the welfare
of society then these theories natur-
ally become the subject Of investiga-
ton and scrutiny.
The gist of the tuberculosis Ques-
ton as it is forced unto us here in
Minnesota by the Public Health AS
sociation-a campaign association or
gained to promote certain legisla-
tive enactments-rests on the theory
that open cases of tuberculosis-that
is, persons who expectorate tubercle
bacilli-are dangerous to healthy
people around them. Now, it is not
denied that the tubercle bacilli may
be transferred from a person expector-
ating them to another person in the
near vicinity. But on the other hand
actual observation everywhere proves
that on the whole persons living in
immediate contact with open cases
eat with, sleep with, and kiss the viru-
lent consumptive very seldom catch
es it. In other words if consumption
is contagious it is very mildly contag-
ious,-not anything like scarlet fever,
measles or small pox.
It doesn't take a doctor to prove
the above statement. There are in
Kandiyohi county today living, and
we'll, several thousands of persons
who have sometime in their lives
lived in close proximity to open tuber-
culosis cases. The readers of these
lines know of such cases everywhere
in the county. Now these facts are
facts-and facts are stubborn things.
DR.. Hill of course ignores such facts
by a wave of the hand-but the facts
are there still.
And so the question recurs: Are op-
en- cases of tuberculosis dangerous to
other persons, to adults? I answer,
No. The latest investigation in medi-
cal science says, No. Every day ex-
perience all over the world, and sci
ence say, No. OF course, DR.. Hill, the
Ex-Sec. of the Minnesota Public
Health Assn. engaged in promoting
isolation hospitals, says Yes, because
| if he for moment admitted that con-
sumption is not very contagious he
would have no campaign issue.
But truth is mighty and will pre-
vail. The truth that the tuberculosis
germ-while communicable from per-
son to person is not dangerous to
adults,-will not cause the disease in
adults, as a rule,-has finally leaked
out to the great public. Mr.. Samuel
Hopkins Adams, the noted public
writer has caught on and as he is not
bound by medieval medical ethics he
tells the truth openly, and better than
any Of US doctors could do. And this
article in the Ladies' Home Journal is
epochal. Millions will read and heed
his words that wouldn't pay any at
tention to the few doctors that have
been trying to tell the people this
glorious truth.
You, mother, father and grown up
sister and brother, you need not be
afraid of your member of the family
that is dying of consumption,-we
make an exception of children, be-
cause they have not yet acquired i'm
munity. You, parent need not send
away your beloved son or daughter to
the tender mercies of hiring nurses.
You can keep them home and hold
their hands while they pass to the
great beyond. You are running no
risk, practically none.
This great truth-of the safety of
adults around persons with advanced
consumption, seems to be news to
Mr.. Adams and is no doubt news to
many people. But it is no news to me
or to thinking up to date intelligent
general practitioners. But we never
could get a hearing on account Of the
noise of those who had hypnotized
themselves into the terrible abces-
sion that consumptives were a species
of blowing snakes that poisoned their
immediate surroundings.
Mr. Adams in the article in question
d'sposes pretty we'll of this DOGGY.
Get the March number of the Ladies
Home Journal and read his whole ar
ticle. And for those of the readers
of the Willmar Tribune who cannot
get a copy ask the indulgence of the
editor for the following quotation:
Health authorities, anti-tuberculo
sis organizations and the medical pro-
fession in general have for years been
teaching that we catch consumption
from our fellows, much in the same
manner as we contract cold or mea-
sles or diphtheria. Thus there has
been inspired in the public what is
technically known as phthisiophobia,
the unreasoning and cruel horror of
any person afflicted with tuberculo-
sis, a horror often expressed in a
tragic ostracism of the unfortunate
victim. In the light of the new theory
all this fear is without basis. Both
in the interest of justice and human
ity to the consumptive, and that the
public may better understand how to
avoid the scourge, it is of the highest
importance that the truth about the
Great White Plague, to which the
medical profession is now broadly