Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-11-10
PREPAREDNESS
IN SANITATION
THEME Of BLUE
ourgeon-ge0eraI Rupert Blue
Makes Notable Address
Before Convention of South
ern Medical Association,

N' NoNN'Na 5ouRSAt SPECIAL LuAsEp NtEEl
Dallas Tex Nov. Sanitary
Preparedness the subject of an adj
dress tonight hy Or Rupert Blue. sur
seon general of the public health SerY-
ice. before the Southern Medical as
sociation. was defined as THE main-
tenance of the body of man ON a war
footing against disease Ii was fur
Their described as "a condition i'm which
IAN able bodied vigorous society.
clothed i'm the armor of hygeuic
knowledge and fortified by adequate
sanitary defenses. IS equally able to
withstand the shock of arms and the
continued strains of the occupations
of tranquility"
The sanitary preparedness of a ma
ton, said Dr. Blue, means not only
the health Of the fighting unit, but 90
the mothers who are TO bear them.
and of the civilians upon whom both
IN TIME of peace and of war the mill
tary forces must depend for food and
clothing and the weapons with which
to fight Community health is, there
fore, the an important prerequisite,
and i'm order that we may have mill
tary preparedness we must first of an
have sanitary preparedness
should Teach Children.
The first step i'm the creation OF
sanitary preparedness is to teach the
citizen the value of a sound body. IT,
upon the plastic mind Of the school
child the simple truths of sanitation
are impressed we will gradually
create people i'm which sanitary liv-
ing is a habit If by child hygiene we
produce better and stronger men and
women, these in turn win have learn
ed that mating with the weak and
defective produces weak and defec-
tive children Thus we viii have
practical eugeuic betterment
1T may truly be said that the fate
Of kings and nations has frequently
depended upon so minute thing as
the typhoid bacillus, OF the plasmo-
dunn of malaria. We are able by the
use of typhoid vaccination TO control
the one, and by anti-mosQuito meas
ures TO prevent the other, but until
the people of our country have learn
ed the lessons Of sanitation il will not
be possible to eliminate either dis
ease, or to maintain a citizenship the
great bulk of which is physically fit.
unfortunately it seems as though
the human race can make sanitary
advance only through the bitterness
of previous experience, and it is very
difficult in the absence Of the threat
of epidemic to arouse much interest in
sanitary betterment
sanitary Laws Revised.
"UnConsciously We have been strtv-
ing for that end The decade i'm which
we live has witnessed the growth and
expansion of all of the health forces
of our country. The body Of the sani-
tary laws has been revised amended
and extended. Appropriations for the
prosecution of sanitary measures have
been increased. The sanitary propa-
ganda has been carried TO every por-
ton of the United States, and we see
men Of high attachments adopting the
profession Of sanitation as life work
The collection of morbidity and NOR
tality statistics has but impressed
upon us the necessity for increased
work along these lines. The inVesu
cations into the causes of commune
able diseases and the evolution of the
means of their control have been such
that many of the major pestilences
have almost been relegated to obliV-
ion
Or. Blue added however, that
deaths and disabilities from the COM
moner diseases continue at a high rate
WIN lltdIl ulStdNtH IltduAilH A'ih lA-fhf ]
OF recruits examined for the army and
navy in the fiscal year ended June 30,
1914. he said over 10 per cent were
More than II " per cent
were or account of heart disease and
at least 80 per cent were from wholly
causes.
Inevitable Diseases.
"A large proportion of the causes
of rejection" said DR.. Blue, may be !
traced to the so-called inevitable dis
eases. When we realize that pract1c- /
ally all of the diseases Of childhood /
are preventable and entirely unnec- /
essary, and when we put this knoWl- ,
edge into practice, we will see an
enormous decrease in heart disease
rheumatism and nephritis. II VIII ne |
found, also that deafness will be less !
frequent, and that defective vision VIII /
be diminished
"A great trial Of arms takes the /
most physically fit Of the community /
II leaves behind the weaker elements, |
part of whom must be supported by I
the strongest left behind, who In adj |
dition must support the men who an |
at the front Man is an animal OF /
slow growth and relatively long life I
It will therefore take time 70 elltnl |
nate the weaklngs in order that they /
may not be a factor in the ieduclloh I
,f IN. affisipnpEr Of pur nation.