The Belding banner-news., 1919-12-03
RED CROSS XMAS
SEALS CARRY ON
WONDERFUL WORK
PURCHASERS ENDORSE FRESH
AIR AND SUNSHINE BY BUY
ING THE LITTLE STAMPS
(By Rex Beach, Novelist)

(By Rex Beach, Novellst)
Are you in favor OF sunlight, fresh
air. good food-and plenty of itg OF
course you are.
Then your are also in favor of buy
ing as many Red Cross Nmas Seals
as YOU can afford, with possibility a
little bit more for good measure. Be
cause Red Cross Christmas Seals are
sold to raise money for anti-tuhercu-
losis work.
After all is said, the prevention Of
tuberculosis and the treatment of
those already un fortunate enough
10 have contracted the disease con-
sists in general effort TO make sane
living popular-and within the reach
of all. That is why | am a strong
supporter of the present campaign OF
the National tuberculosis Association
and its 1000 affiliated state and local
organizations. The campaign will
eliminate in the Red Cross Christmas
Seal Sale. December l TO December
10. when more than S6.500,000 must
be raised to carry out the plans to
fight the White Plague during the
coming year.
Ii happens that my experience in
the arctic as well as in the tropics
have proved TO my satisfaction that
every word the medical men say re-
garding fresh air and sunlight as n
preventive and cure of tuberculosis
Is correct. In Alaska, where the winds
sweep down from the polar icefields
as clean and pure as they were in the
very morning Of the world, A have
seen entire villages Of Eskifnos where
II seemed that every inhabitant was
"lunger." The reason was that
these Eskimos and the Aleut Indians
who mingle with them herd together
/ in their huts or igloos where there Is
really no ventilation and where they
depend on the heat Of their bodies 70
warm the dark. reeking burrow. On
the other hand. the white men who live
| in the open and whose homes have
windows and doors which they are not
afraid to open for purpose OF ventl-
llation are free from tuberculosis IN
that climate. In deed. know of many
cases of white men who were suffer
ING with lung and stomach trouble
when they went into the vast North
land and who recovered their health
as a result of living out Of doors The
point I am trying TO make here Is
that the native Eskimos and Indians
in n climate environment uneQuallec
anywhere else in respect to huildlns
mn the human animal have managed
70 contract tuberculosis because they
dal;herately coon themselves up N
6lthv kennels. I am speaking of con-
d;tions as I know them beyond the
range Of the medical missionaries who
have been working so valiantly in the
mast few wears TO teach the natives
how 70 live.
n n Is 4 far cry from the glaciers q
Alaska 10 the coral KEYS and reefS
~ fhe Caribbean and the GEOGRAPHIC
cal distance is no greater. in manner
~ speaking than the difference be
tween the habits and health stand
aids Of the natives in the two places
In have in mind particularly the Sar
plas Indians who live on the coast n
the boundry line between Panama anS
Columbia. / visited them a couple o.
wears aqo and l believe they might p
called the most eleanly savageS IN th'
world. -.
These Indians have villages on Int
tle KEYS or islands in the hays which
! ;ndent the coast. They sleep in ham
Knocks in grass huts which are as opei
~ the cold salt breezeS as Is the aN
erage sleeping porch of the white maj
, Who Is irving 20 ward of tuberculOSi
Their villages are kent ScrupulouSi,
clean Not a bit Of Offal or rubbish !
- ~ seem i'm them The tribal customs
reouire that all such must be deposlte'
IN the salt water which surround
them Another law OF the tribe whicl
none dares violate. is that they mus
wash their garments once = day. a
TO their personal cleanliness. they I'm
merSe themselves in water sewers
times each day. lt is not SurprlSir'
therefore that they are apparantl
/ entirely free from tuberculosis an
I All other diseases. at least as FAR .
= nOn-medical observer Ike mySel
, could see.
! IN every great city in America W
1 have people who live az various stage
I between the standards Of the Eskimo
ard the standards Of the San hla
Indians in matters Of hygiene. Ihos
who keep hidden from the fresh n
> and away from the sunlight need 7
be shown how 70 win back these hel
: itaveS Of mankind both for their ow
\ sakes and for the sake Of all the res
Of us.
The most direct way for the everag
citizen to help bring this about Is Z
buy Red Cross Christmas Seals 10 q
utmost. II this idea is generally NJ
derstood I believe that every letsf
mailed in the United States hetwes
December first and New Years w
bear on its flap one Of those seals wit
the figure Of . husky Santa Claus NJ
on il.
The sale of Red Cross Christms
Seals began in this state On Monda,
= December 1. ~