South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-10-01
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
DISCUSSED BY PROMINENT MEN

dianapolis Methodist hospital; DR..
Alfred Henry Of the Anu-TuDercu-
losls society. and Prof. T.. L. canine.
superintendent Of schools ia East
Chicago. Amos ~. Butler. secretary
oil the state board Of charities. open
ed the discussion at the afternoon
session. His topic was Social Work
and the War.
The effects Of the great war Ia
Europe are being felt throughout the
world" Mr. Butler said. ''Individ-
ualIy and collectively We are being
called upon 20 do what we can.
Disease Increases.
We have learned from France OF
the alarming increase in tubercu-
Iosis from the Balkan states OF the
scourge Of typhus; from England,
and Germany, of the increase of
juvenile delinquency; from Germany
of the need for more infant welfare
work. from Canada how all ordinary
social problems multiply in number
and completely; from all the coun-
tries at war of the enormous in
crease of mental and venereal dis
ease. May we not expect the same
experience
From the army will come the
blind. deaf, sick crippled. gassed
shocked and the mentally sick-the
wrecks OF exposure and disease. All
must be cared for tenderly, sympa-
theucally. efficiently.
Nor is that all. The ordinary
problems Of life become more COM
pick. Among the population remain
ing at home we must expect more
sickness. disease, immortality, vice,
criminality. more mental and phys
icaI wrecka ge-all increasing the So
cial burden. Are we prepared to
meet it?
The first thing we need is a sur
vey Of the social agencies Of the
state This can be made only by
experts We need TO know our con-
dition and position. Then we shall
know how 20 start"
The burden on the state institu-
tions will he said, be greater than
ever. They must conserve, econ
omize. produce, expand. At the
Michigan City hospital for insane
criminals there is a building full Of
hand looms on which the patients
weave shirting, ticking. toweling,
blankets. The pupils in the Feeble
Minded school at Fort Wayne are
doing work, as are other state insu'
tutions. All of them must increase
their output he said.
Problem of the Mental Defective.
DIR. r w. Terflinger, medical su-
perintendent Of the Northern Indi-
ana Hospital for the Insane at Lo-
gansport, took as his subject the
problem OF the mental defective in
war time.
Insanity, a problem of no mean
dimensions in peace times, becomes
a problem of huge dimensions and
many angles in war times" he said.
Military activities and war time
conditions tend TO actiyate latent
causes of mental and nervous dis
eases.
Mental Disease Prevalent.
Among the troops on the Next
can border last summer mental dis
ease was three times as prevalent as
among the civil population of New
OK state. lie duueu tnaI the
mental disease rate rose from eight
per thousand TO 80 per thousand
during the Spanish war.
The statistics indicate, he said, that
we may expect a half million OF our
own soldiers to furnish no less than
500 insane per year in peace times
and $500 per year in war times.
This would mean that from Indi-
ana's $4,000 troops 900 insane or
mentally defective patients may be
expected each year and the state
should arrange to care for them. he
said. Many Of these. of course,
would have found their way into
hospitals if there had been no war.
in our FIVE hospitals for the insane
there are hardly vacancies for so
men, and the capacity must be in
creased. he said.
Or. Terfinger said army medical
examiners could not be too strict in
eliminating the physically unfit and
those whose nervous condition pre-
cluded their ability 20 withstand the
strain of war. Statistics show. he
said. that about 40 per cent Of the
Canadian casualties never reach the
front They are men who suffer