The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1918-03-11
OUR GREATEST OPPORTUNITY
The Time To Act IL Now and Mason
County Should Take Advantage Of
the Opportunity Offered to
Make II One Of the Heal.
thiest In the Nation.

tuiCSt Ill tut NutiOus
The nation today Is calling for men,
strong men, men who can endure the
stress and strain of war in all its
phases. The Industrial world Is clam
oring for men, men of nerve and mus
Gle. The commercial world wants
men, men who have sound mind in
a sound body. Women are In demand
in all these activities as well as men.
They, too, must be well and strong or
their services are not in demand. In
many Of the great Industries of the
land applicants for positions must
stand rigid physical examination be-
fore they are accepted. We talk much
of our material wealth, but the ma
tion's greatest asset Is her people, her
men, women and children. But 1t is
only those who have healthy bodies
that make her strength. Her diseased
people are liabilities. They are a
burden and an expensive burden, too.
The first duty of the nation, then, is
to make her people strong, vigorous,
healthy. Her focks and fields and fac
tories, her mills and mines and ma
chinery are of no value without
strong men and women to operate
them. The government understands
this and has set before it the task of
conserving the health of her people.
Nineteen counties in as many states
have been selected in which to begin
this great work, and Mason county is
one of this number. This is a dis
tinction that every citizen. of Mason
county ought to appreciate. Under
the auspices of the government with
the cooperation of the state and coun-
ty, a survey of the homes of the coun-
ty has been made, and everything is
ready now to use this information in
making Mason county the healthiest
in the state.
The United States government
stands ready to furnish liberal aid in
prosecuting this work and the State
is ready and anxious to lend her
strong hand to assist, provided the
county will assume her share of the
expense. No enterprise has ever been
projected in the county that prom
ises such beneficial results. 1t is a
work that affects every man, woman
and child. The object is to extermi-
nate those fatal diseases that are car
rying out people to untimely graves
tuberculosis, typhoid fever, dysentery
cholera infantum, whooping cough
measles, diphtheria, smallpox, scar
let fever, spinal meningitis, hook
worm and other diseases. They are
all preventable and the great object
of this work, so auspiciously begun,
in Mason county, is to protect its citi-
zens from these fearful maladies Can
you conceive of more important un-
dertaking? Life is the most precious
of mans possessions. "All that a man
hath he will give for his life; yet
life without health is a burden. The
opportunity is offered to the people
of Mason county to rid themselves of
these scourges which cost them an
nually thousands of dollars and in
calculable suffering and sorrow. More
than this in so doing, she will be-
come beacon light to her sister
counties by which they will be led in
to the same inestimable blessings.
Jesus Christ was the greatest heal
er this world has ever known. When
He sent his disciples to announce his
coming he told them to heal the
sick" To those whom he commits
stoned to 60 into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature,
he gave the power to heal all man
ner Of diseases" That power is no
longer given to men, but medical
science has evolved a greater means
Of blessings to the world than even
the healing art and that is the pre-
vention Of dissase. 1t is this great
boon that our government, in the ex-
ercise of its paternal authority, Of
fers to US. AS a Christian duty, we
should accept this offer by meeting
the conditions and making a liberal
appropriation through our County
Commissioners. These men have been
chosen to administer the funds of the
county to the best interests of the
people, and surely they have no
greater interest than the preservation
of their health, the prolongation OF