The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1916-05-09
Many Children Grip
pied Because of Neg
lect, Says DR.. Price
HOUSING PROBLEM
is VERY SERIOUS
Health Officer Urges
Cooperation In Adj
dress to Doctors

TdIeilts uCI I AHoW tuc physAS"A
defects of their own children, DR..
William II. Price. city health oficer,
declared in an ADDRESS before the
Wayne County Medical association,
Monday night, in its rooms at No.
SO High-st. east.
Seriously crippled because OF neg
lect. there are many children who
might have been saved had their az
fiictions been taken In time, he told
the doctors, while the increase in
heart. kidney and arterial diseases,
the symptoms of which are undetect-
ed my family physicians, rake tho
business of thoroughly inspecting tbs
school children Il tremendous field.
Twenty per cent have defective eyes,
seven per cent defective hearing,
and many bad tonsils and aderoids.
"a man of 40 today has much mar
rover span of life !ef. him than did
his grandfather al this age" assert
ed the health officer. Stress u
present day We makes many per-
sons victims of those diseases.
which, II taken in time might be
STAYED off,"
The work of visiting nurses was
also touched on, and the same ele-
mental ignorance of tie laws OF per-
sonal hygiene and diet was declared
to have been disclosed here too.
Beer, sausage, coffee and cucuni-
bers are not good for babies" he
said. but it was astonishing what a
large number of parents didn't know
this until the nurses told them.
As the simple result OF supplying
information of this sort, trained
nurse survey showed a great drop
In infant mortality.
Housing conditions in Detroit were
scored by Dr. Price on the basis OF
the Investigations of the board of
health, which he said showed that
the residences that had once given
Detroit the name Of being city of
homes have developed into some OF
the most reeking tenements on the
continent.
"In houses designed for one fam
lily, there are many cases where
from two to FIVE families are living
in an unbelievable state Of squalor,'
he said. in a single one-story cot
tage that came under our observa-
ton, father in an advanced state
Of t,thA 0tss al nil
his life and young child; boy of
13. a girl Of Is and lad Of s werA
sleeping in another bed, two other
children slept on the floor, while
other families were housed in the
same place.
These are the conditions that
decrease the level OF Detroit's citi-
zenship and put premium on tuber-
culosis and indecency. II is De-
troit's greatest problem, only 10 be
met with a housing law that can be
adequately enforced.
Introduced by DR.. t. A. McGraw,
chairman OF the public health com
mjttee of the association, who APP
pealed for strong cooperation be-
tween the physicians and the health
board. DR.. Price developed this In
PRODUCTION by saying that the same
attitude was necessary on the part
Of the general public. He declared
that the way to get adequate public
support for the work Of public health
was to show the public that they are
getting return of from 500 TO 500
per cent on the appropriation that
goes to this purpose.
THE cause Of public health is al
lowed 10 interfere with personal lib
erty more than any o,her authority"
he declared.
In a preliminary talk on the So
Geological aspects If the science Of
preventive medicine, he said that
the ideals of service of the present
make physical fitness and efficiency
of paramount Importance.