Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-10-14
GOVERNOR ASKS
ALL TO ASSIST
Appeal Issued to Help Fight
Influenza, Which Is Gain
ing Ground in State

A joint appeal signed by the Gov
states campaign against influenza
and calling upon everyone to give
free service to the sufferers was is
sued last night from the Capitol. 1t
sets forth the, situation as it existed
at that time and to-day officials said
that they saw no change.
The proclamation says:
THE epidemic of influenza now
sweeping through Pennsylvania has
reached such alarming proportions
and is increasing so rapidly that we
feel it our duty to call public atten-
tion to the danger which threatens
the entire Commonwealth, and to
appeal for aid to all citizens, both
men and women.
up to the present time approx
mately two hundred and seventy-five
thousand persons have sickened and
each day records q higher number
of new cases than the day before.
In Massachusetts where the epi-
demic started earlier than here, ten
per cent. of the whole population
have been affected and death rate
of five per cent. of the cases has
been reported.
that commonwealth advises us that
except in Boston and vicinity where
the disease first broke out the num-
ber of new cases continues to equal
the high water mark.
We have no grounds to expect
an early abatement of the epidemic I;
on the other hand all reports from
afflicted districts indicate that con-
ditions will become worse before
they become better.
The great anthracite and bitumi-
nous coal fields, the populous in
dustrial and shipbuilding centers
teeming as never before with thou
sands upon thousands of workers are
alike crippled in their output and
the gravity of the menace to our
continued. output of munitions and
ships is very great, We must save
Pennsylvania's citizens. We must
win the war.
TO deal with the situation the
State Department of Health has di-
vided the Commonwealth into nine
teen districts, each under supervis-
ing medical and nursing officers re-
porting to the acting commissioner
and with the help of all the forces
of the Adjutant General of the Com
monwealth and the use of all state
property under his control has as
sisted in establishing sixty-four
emergency hospitals in those dis
tricts most affected. The depart
ment has also enlisted the active CO.
operation of the Red Cross and the
Council of National Defense and
Committee of Public Safety and all
other relief organizations, but the
demand for workers still far ex-
ceeds the supply. One-fourth of
Pennsylvania's doctors and one-third
OF her nurses are serving under the
colors, the first call for help from
the New England states further di-
minished the supply and similar
conditions in neighboring states rem
der it impossible for them to give
us help.
Notwithstanding all efforts which
have been made the sick in some
places may lie for days without a
PHYSICIANS attendance. There is a
most distressing lack of nursing help
for tending the sick at their own
homes and the same conditions pre-
vail practically all hospitals, both
those long established and those
hastily improvised for the emer-
gency. Even the dead in the popu-
lous centers lie too long unburied
and the receiving vaults and morgues
are more crowded than the hospi-
tails.
Citizens of Pennsylvania, the call
for imm ediate personal service is
imperative. The only solution of the
problem is by free community serv-
ice, tending the sick, feeding the
hungry and bearing the burdens of
the weak.
Both men and women are need
ed and should report for duty to
their local health authorities or Red
Cross chapter.
Disaster to the essential war
industries of the nation and calamity
to our people can only be averted
by United and vigorous action. Each
community should as far as pos
sible finance it's own relief REQUIRE
ments, calling for aid from the
commonwealth or from state or ma
tional relief organizations only when
needful, thus equalizing the bur-
den.
I'VE call upon the clergy, the
press, educators, teachers and all
those molding public opinion to
bring to the hearts and minds of
our people the gravity and necessity
of this appeal"
The signerS are Martin G. Brum-
baugh, Governor of Pennsylvania; B
Franklin Roger, Acting Commits
sioner of Health; Charles Scott, Jr.,
division manager, Pennsylvania
Delaware division, the American
Red Cross; George Wharton Pepper.
chairman, Pennsylvania Council of
National Defense and Committee of
Public Safety.