The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1917-12-27
HEAT AND HEALTH DURING WAR.
Little Talks on Health and Hygiene by
Samuel G. Dixon, N. D., IL. D.,
Commissioner Of Health.

life. The young of man or Of
the lower animals in their first
days in the world make from
their food heat enough to sustain
life, and the small nesting ami
mails require the heat of their
parents.
The cry of freezing to death
for want of fuel has gone up and
the responsibility has been put
up to government officials, rail-
roads, etc. We have heard.
however, very little about the
individual responsibility of the
great economical scheme before
us in the time of war.
The ash pile of the poor and
rich, on being exposed to a good
shower of rain, assumes an al-
most black surface. A large
proportion of it is carbon and
rich in heat producing units. The
forests, near and far away, are
full of good fire wood. Near
large centers of civilization we
see in the fields or commons lots
Of wood, boxes, rubbish of vari-
GUS kinds, and we find in the
cellars nearby expensive anthra-
cite coal.
Many foreigners put US to
shame by collecting these waste
products that can be used for
fuel and today many of them are
rich in heat-producing material
to see them through the winter.
Some time ago, visiting one of
the large State hospitals, and
with a full realization Of the re-
sponsibility Of having thousands
Of patients unable to take care
of themselves. | found the heat
question looming up. To guard
against the threatened shortage
in fuel we doubled up our CRATES
so that we could have those on
which we could burn wood, soft
coal or anthracite coal. This in
creased our chances Of being
able to guard against having
these poor people suffer from
cold during any emergency that
might arise.
Before leaving there / could
hear the echo of the woodman's
axe telling trees that would
never be of any account except
for kindling-wood. This wood
was being stored, and as oppor-
tunity came, with the teams 60
ing to and from various points.
we filled our empty wagons and
hauled the wood to the heating
and power plants of the institu-
ton. Therefore, today, those
State institutions feel fairly COM
Portable as to the prospects Of
getting through the balance Of
this cold season.
Where there is a will there is
usually a gay, but our people do
not seem to appreciate their in
dividual responsibility. 1t is a
pity our people do uot realize
that wood and coal or those COM
bustible things that will produce
heat are worth more to US today
than gold dollars. l feel sure
that if the heaps of ashes men,
toned were covered with gold
dollars there would be almost
bloodshed in the scramble to col
lect them, but those gold dollars
will not give you warmth in the
very cold weather or cook food.
which is essential to life. 1t
therefore becomes obvious to
anyone who will read or think
that the coal in these ash piles
and the wood in fields, forests or
on the commons, are more valu-
able under the present circum-
stances than gold itself.
Let everyone turn his thoughts
to his own individual responsible
ties and seek to detect any waste
of combustibles and conserve
! them with more energy than he
would conserve tn almighty
dollar. No ashes should leave
the home that have not been
screened and picked. No wooden
boxes or other things that are
made of combustible material
, should be burned or wasted on