Arizona republican., 1918-01-20
HEALTH CAMPS F0RCONSCR|P TS
 WH0 ARE SICK
Rx Erederic J. Haskin

series Of special camps lo WHICH drafted men who are physically unfit for service may be sent for treatment is provided in a bill which Senator Pomerene of Ohio has introduced in 1 the senate. The camps are to be called reclamation camps, and are to be un- der the control of a reclamation camp commission. Men who enlist and are found physically unfit may apply for admission to such camps. AS soon as a man has been put in good physical condition he will be certified for ser vice in the army.
 This bill expresses a feeling which | is in evidence throughout the country and is reflected in congress that some thing must be done about the health of f the nation. For some years past the | statisticians have been pointing out to i us that while we have nearly con- quered many of the germ diseases, the | degenerative diseases are on the in- | crease. This presumably is due to the increased crowding into cities with | resultant increase of sedentary and | otherwise unhealthful occupations. Now the draft comes along and re- l veals the fact that surprisingly large 1 l percentage of the young men of draft | age, which the orators call the flower | of our manhood are physically unfit l to bear arms. It is stated on good au- thority that twenty per cent of the registrants have been found to be | syphilitic This is the other menace to our na- | tional health which the statistics do not show because the venereal diseases are often recorded as something else, l and many publications prudishly avoid printing their names. In England it 1 lar be +i,a hut now the English papers mention these 1 diseases in the headlines. They do this | for the same reason that they mention 1 the Germans in the headlines; namely, that the venereal diseases constitute d 1 great national peril. They are now | threatening to gain a similar place in ! this country. It is estimated that we now have twenty million syphiltics, and there can be no doubt but that our armies will bring back infection from Europe.
 These diseases, then, amount to a world plague and one of which the scientists of all the world are well aware, but toward which the laity takes as> cavalier and prejudiced an attitude as our great grandparents did toward sanitary protection against germs. It is urgently necessary that
 
 state of affairs. The scientists point out that unless the public can be con- vinced that this is not moral ques- tion, but a question of health, and that concealment and ignorance of these diseases utterly wrong, the struggle of science against them is greatly handi- capped. The world today faces plague | of these diseases, spreading as much by innocent as by immoral means, which is threatening to become almost as serious as the plaques of old.
 The proposed series of reclamation camps is intended largely as a cura- tive measure directed against these maladies, just as the work of the con- msision on training camp activities is preventative measure. Doubtless the reclamation camps could also do a great work in building up by drills and exercises the men who are defi- cient in physical development,
 In addition to these efforts to check the spread of contagion. both the pub
 lie health service and the army medi- Cal corps are taking an important part Tn the great movement to better our national health, which has sprung out of the war. In this respect as in so many others, the war has been an ac- counting, which has shown heavy de- ficits; and the nation has put forth splendid efforts to meet them
 Thus there is large constructive element in the work which the public health service is doing in the sanita- tion of the environments of camps. The Jurisdiction of the army medical corps is limited largely to the camps them selves; but the health of the soldiers Is dependent upon conditions in the communities surrounding the camps as well. Hence the public health service has been delegated the task of clean Ing up these communities, and it is proceeding about it in asmost thorough manner. Water supplies and sewage systems milk supplies, soda foun- tains, are all coming in for a thorough oVerhauling. Flies and mosquitoes are being exterminated, and their breed ing places removed. The work that is belng done is permanent work. None of these communities will again be un- sanitary after the war. The public health service is taking advantage of the opportunity to clean up a number or typical communities, and to point to them as examples for others.
 In the. plans of the army medical corps to care for the sick and wounded men who are brought back from the , European fronts, there is also a large constructive element for they plan, not , only to re-educate the maimed, but to , educate the convalescent whether they , are maimed or not. The federal bureau
 Of vocational education is aiding in this work with a study of methods. The
 army medical corps is now building | and requisitioning hospitals in various !, parts of the country in which this work of rehabilitation will be car. ried on.
 Among the European belligerents, the war has been a plague of ill-health |, France, perhaps the most civilized country in the world, has been se' back many decades in the battle ot
 science against diseases. The venerea T maladies are reported as spreading rap. ' idly while tuberculosis is almost a, deadly as the enemy England. too has suffered heavily, while the half
 Darbaric countries of the Balkans havt . been desolated. Serbias pitifull,
 ignorant struggle against typhus i typical.
 IT Will the war take a similar toll i,
 America. There is much reason fo
 hoping that it will not. It is true W.
 lace the same dangers as the othe
 belligerents. We have already see]
 now diseases thrive in the trainin
 camps. Yet all medical authoritie
 and strangers in the city we exten,