Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-01-30
BANKER
WORCESTERSHIRE
A. |. Mills Talks On PreVen-
ton of tuberculosis at
Joint Session

just before adjournment yesterday
afternoon the house and senate held a
joint session for the purpose of listen
ing to an address on tuberculosis by
\. l.. Mills, president of the Society
for the Prevention of tuberculosis. and
former speaker of the house of repre-
sentatives in 1905.
He spoke in favor of senate bill l2j.
introduced by Senator Moser, which
relates TO the establishment of tuber.
culosis sanatoriums in the various
counties of the state His particular
subject was The tuberculosis Problem
in Oregon.'
This problem was easy to state, he
said, but it was far from ISOLATION, and
up to date little consistent AID per-
sistent work has been done to help
fight the plague. He declared that in
many places he found resistance in
place of assistance.
During the past year he said in Ore
gon there were 671s deaths and of that
number 697 were caused. by tubercnl-
osis. One out of every ten persons
was doomed unless adequate lrecau.
tions are taken. He declared this
plague must be brought under control
just as other dangerous diseases have
been. He asserted that it requires
organized effort and the backing f
public opinion. No section Of the
state is immune from the ravages of
the plague. In 1915, in Portland, he
said fbppn O11p loo L.. I e a. 4
number 23l We're caused by tubercul-
osis, or an average of about ten per
cent of the total humber.
He stated there were approximately
1900 people afflicted with tuberculosis
in Oregon. Suppose there were that
number of people i'll with small pox
he suggested, and ten per cent were
dying each year What would the
people not do to stamp out the disease?
he asked. Yet he declared the people
sit idly by and see the members of
their family die and do not make any
effort to stamp out the sceurge.
tuberculosis takes annually as many
people as were killed in the Civil War.
he declared. The pity of it all was
that it needlessly sacrifices the youth
of the country. Statistics show that
onethird of those who die Of this dis
ease are between the pges cf Is and
45, The scourge spreads by neglect,
lethargy, and apathy Ever one there
fore is made an accessory in this crime
of neglect.
Formerly he said to he declared 10
be consumptivc was the same as re-
ceiving a death sentence. Nhw uoIe
need despair, if society does its part.
Instead of cooping the patient up in
close rooms, giving medicine - langcr-
Gus character, and avoiding drafts, the
seldom used, and alcohol is banished.
Dirt and dust he said were the refuge
of the tubercle bacilli
The poison is everywhere, he as
serted and it is the duty of everyone
to see that it is cXterminated There
never was an autopsy of man or wo-
man over sixty years of age but that
the sears of tubercule bacilli were
found. That the patient did not die of
tuberculosis was on account of the
strength of the body in resisting.
There is no hotel, lodging house, or
hospital that will receive tuberculosis
patient. They have no place to go,
unless it is to the poor house. He sug-
gested that tuberculosis hospitals
should not be located at or near the
county poor farm, and that the patient
be given a chance to pay for his hoard
and medicine so as to remove the faint
of public charity.
Tn closing he said that the reports
of the nurses employed to visit various
places and report as to the locations of
the disease read like trip to darkest
Africa regarding the conditions and
knowledge concerning tuberculosis and
its prevention and cure. He declared
that it was only by united effort that
the purpose can be accomplished when
this plague shall cease to be daily
menace.