The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-06-18

I | from a personal viewpoint the struggle | l through which thousands-both black |
 and white-are goins.
 There was time when I had no more Idea that the dreaded white plague would ever carry away any member of my fam fly than the average American has that Berlin will ever be the capital of the United States. The real reason that tu- berculosis takes away so many of the people is that the leaders of both races, those responsible for health conditions everywhere and have the power to change them do not realize that disease is no respector of persons any more than the Lord is.
 Personally do not know where or when I contracted the disease. I do not know when my wife contracted it. I do not know that l contracted it from her and do not believe that I did I do think that because of the arduous task of caring for her and making the money upon which to do it at the same time my system was so run down that it was im- possible to withstand any attack I might as well have been victim to any other disease.
 Travelling around the country sleeping in this or that place, riding in filthy Jim Crow cars half the time, unable to go to bed, denied the ordinary comfort of a meal in a dining car, and often forced to ride all day without nourishment. there is no telling where or when one contracted the disease.
 During all these years I have had the privilege of reporting many sessions of various negro gatherings where health conditions were discussed. have often remarked to others that none of the dis cussions seemed to take in the most im- portant feature-the individual who had it. l wish it were possible for me to detail faithfully for the benefit of others just what l have had to undergo to get any kind of advantage of tuberculosis.
 1 can easily see why so many negroes die of it. The first thing the physician will tell a sufferer is to go to the noun tains. That is very well said and the average physician looks very wise when he so advises a patient who has paid his last dollar to that physician and has not ear fare to Bessemer to take long trip to Colorado. The cure of tuberculosis, if cure can be effected, requires a lot of determination, will power and more money.
 The average person of my race in most
 
 tion than his judgment. It is not an easy matter to forego the theatres, to give up going to church, to live abso- lutely to ones self When that can be accomplished, the little association one has to do with others often occasion such sights and insults from a natural fear of the disease on the part of others, that the very soul of a tubercular patient is crushed out. Better be dead the weak Is likely feel than tO he OUtcaSt
 The physician prescribes absolute rest, fresh air all the time and the very best of food. Three of the most expensive items in the catalog. Now what is the negro who has no money ana rewer friends to do but die? How Is he going to rest when he has no money? How is he going to stay in the open without sufficient clothing for himself for night and day? How in the world is he going to get the very best food when he is forced to pay cents a pint for milk, 40 cents dozen for fresh eggs, and the de- livery boy can easily push his 5O-cent steak through the keyhole?
 My heart in, my own suffering has gone out completely to the thousands of my own people who are suffering daily with tuberculosis and have no way of curing g themselves. The average man and wom- an, the moment the doctor says they have lung troubles simply go home and prepare to die. The average negro views tuberculosis with a passivity that is pa thetic. He is schooled into a knowledge of it's deadliness and knows that outside of his immediate family there is no one who is able or inclined to lend him helping hand. Otter because of the crude methods he has to employ and the crowd ed and poverty stricken conditions under which he lives, he feels that his early death is about the only means to prevent others from his family from going the same route
 What can be done? Cannot state compel the physician and the family to turn the tubular patient over to it's care not only to relieve the suffering of the patient and to make his lot easier, but to safeguard others of his family and his associates? Tuberculosis is going to kill as many Americans this year, I venture to say, as the Germans will kill. This is no criticism. hope it will be regarded as plea. There is no one individual that can handle this situation. The state has as much right to isolate and care for the individual suffering with tuber- culosiS as it has to care for the small poX suffered. The one disease leaves only ugly marks on the face; the other leaves a grave.
 To beat this disease, I first had to realize that l had it. I did not delude myself with the foolish fancy, as many would have me, that l had only a deep cold' I did not allow my good friends, however kindly disposed to stuff me with a lot of patent medicines, because they had an uncle an aunt 20 years ago who had a cough Just like mine. acted upon the assumption that the physi- clans to whom I was paying good hard money knew more about my case than the village gossip. I was determined that Is was not going to die right now, and did everything that my physicians thought would keep me here little longer.
 No matter how interesting the musicale at the Y. M. I. might prove to be, no matter what the inclination was to go to this thing. or that, or to entertain few moments longer a friend who was kind enough to call, when the hour came to lie down I did so. I have never eaten quite as much good food in all my life, and I suspect I have cultivated epicurean taste that is going to give mo some trouble afterwards. I have consumed more milk than any Jersey calf, oxl 1,,. Stornorh >Uac ooJ1 st1,a e,a