Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1917-11-14
SOCIAL EVIL RAvACES
TROOPS

tary efficiency, Josephus Daniels sec-
retafy OF the navy, in an address before
the clinical congress of surgeons of North
American appealed to the medical profess
SION to end the false double standard
1hat decreases military effectiveness
The profession, he asserted, must share
its part of the blame for the ''unpardon-
able prudery that endured q fostering evil
rather than have it exposed and eradi-
There is not an army in the field
whose effectiveness is not reduced by rea-
son Of immoral disease" said Secretary
Daniels. THE navy suffers likewise and
business halts because Venereal diseases
destroy the manhood of workmen and
fighters During the last statistical year
days sickness from small group of alb
soiutely prevented diseases or rather dis
eases contracted by sin. This means
that every day throughout the year there
We're 456 men disabled by this Disgrace
Iul malady. Add to that number those
required to care for the disabled and we
have enough men on the non effective list
each day to man a modern battleship
And this does not count those who, though
diseased, were not disabled or the evil
OF the loathing danger of contagion to the
CLEAN members of the crew.
How Army Checked Disease
''In the navy in 1915 there were ad-
mitted for treatment for venereal dis
eases III persons in every 1000 and in
the army 81 for every 1000 the number
in the army having decreased from 145
TO the / 200 after the passage of an act
stopping the pay of all soldiers admitted
Tor treatment for a venereal disease.
The new navy law stops the pay
of men 50 afflicted and probably win
reduce the number to the army ra-
the pay Of men SO afflicted and probably
will reduce the number to the army ra-
ito but these figures show condition of
immortality upon the part of the minority
IN both arms of the service that chal-
ienges the thought of The authorities.
In civil life the number afflicted is
quite as large proportionately as in the
military service. 1t has been printed
that, Hecht of Vienna stated that at one
time the equivalent of three entire Aus
trian divisions of So 900 men was under.
treatment for venereal disease while the
German army in Belgium, representing
only small part of the total German
forces, is reported during the first five
months of it's occupation to have furnish
ed $4,000 such patients. Canadian and
ages OF this disease The late figures
from the British army gave rs, 900 cases
and all other countries have also been
weakened
Menace in War and Peace.
Sir William Osler places these infec-
war and in peace. The time has come to
reallze that this subtlest foe of humanity
must be conquered, and it cannot be con-
4uefed by denying its existence saying
1t is a. necessary evil or applying palia-
tlves. 1t is deadlier than smallpox or
cancer or tuberculosis. A Canadian au-
more
terrible for Britain and Canada than
VlmX Ridge, the Somme and Lens
.,he remedy? There is but one-con-
Thence. 1t must be preached in the
home in the school, in the marts of trade
in the pulpit and military camps and
among shlpmates afloat The eradica-
tlon OF the evil effects must be thorough
put the teacher who viii be heard and
needed when the teachings of all others
VIII ian on deaf ears is the word of au-
thority from the medical profession
G or off Iaa
10 call them to clean living, souls and
TOO many youths hardly realize thew have
a soul. But they know they have bodies
ana the doctor is the man to whom they
trust the treatment of their bodies When
ne breaches confluence as the only rule
81 ne 70 young men and points out the
dlre penalty for lapSes his words have
weight no other admonition possesses
Tell Our Youths the Truth"
ou gentlemen of the medical pro-
fession deal with life and death You
bring the bodies into the world and YOU
close the eyes of the dead Yours is
the ministering function, the intimate
touch, and out CT such realtion YOU can
ENJOY an amazing power of suggestion
lt is this power that America calls upon
you to use. Tell our youths the truth
1t is a duty laid upon you not by the
moral law alone, but by the law of self
preservation that operates in nations as
well as individuals. That duty is i'm
pefatlVe upon you now as never before. If
you perform it and our young soldiers and
sailors need your wise counsel-and many
Of them will follow your teaching with
lasting gratltude-you will contribute
more to the winning of the war than man
ufactures of Shells
Confluence is no longer a matter of
morals only, though it must be enforced
as the cardinal doctrine of morals. #
has come to be seen as having it's base in
the great law Of nature. New truths must
take the place of ancient lies. We know
now by the testimony of science that
there is no foundation for double stand
ard for the sexes. To preach it is to
preach immortality and lowering Of man
must be driven out by the truth
Only God will ever know the toll in
blood and tears that this lie has taken
from the heart of the world-the price
that the health of the race. has been
made to pay for it's submission to a
historic, falsehood; young lives ruined, flu
lures cheated of promise, children called
upon to suffer for the snss of the faith
ers, innocent women robbed of the right
OF happy motherhood and the virlity of
a nation Slapped at it's very foundations
To-day as never before American
manhood must be clean. We must have
fitness. America stands in need of every
ounce of strength. We must cut out
fha 5capapr If vuo17I6 live