Evening star., 1919-04-20
BY G.. GOULD LINCOLN.

" HE people of the United States
! can purchase health-if they
are willing to pay the price.
/ The public health service is
| ready with a program for the exten-
! sion of its work in all parts of the
country, and if this program is adopt
| ed and receives the necessary support
from Congress the health of the peo-
pie of the United States should i'm
prove year by year The cost is IN
| finitesimal in comparison to the bene-
! fits which may be derived.
h Surgeon General Rupert Blue is
making a demand for appropriations
of approximately s2.000.00O to get
| this extended health program under
way. The appropriations for the pub
| lie health service are carried in the
sundry civil appropriation bill. one of
| the supply measures which failed
along with five others in the legisla-
| tive Jam last March 4. If he can find
} an entering wedge. il is his purpose
when the new Congress meets to get
the program approved and have the
appropriations inserted in the bill.
Economy, False and True.
The cry today is for economy-and
! necessarily so. But the government
has been too prone in the past to be
penny wise and pound foolish. What
it will mean to the country in the
Of lrof q h1o
goods to have the public health gen.
orally improved may be reckoned in
the billions. The public health service
in its program for extension of its
work does not hold out a promise of
the impossible-that it will cure all
human ills. But it does promise,
and demonstrates with figures and
facts. that millions of cases of illness
will be prevented if it's plan is fol-
lowed.
alone 1t is estimated that there are
between 5000. 900 and 100000 cases
of malarial fever year in this
country Malaria is preventabie dis
ease 1t has been clearly demon
strated that it is. Placing the average
number of cases at 100000 year
and figuring that 30 per cent of the
cases take producing men and women
from their work for an average o,
ten days each, it will be easy to SCI
what loss the country sustain'
from an economical standpoint be-
cause malaria, preventable disease
I-fs.af1owsd to continue. The total mum.
Der OF days of labor lost would be
21,000,0 900. tremendous toll taken by
malaria from the productive powers
of the American people.
Revelations of Army Draft.
1t has been the custom of Americans
to point with pride" to the strides
made by the nation in the matter OF
sanitation and public health. These
Americans. however. overlook the
pest spots. the wide areas where lit
tie or nothing is done to provide the
proper sanitary living conditions. The
results of the physical examinations
| for the Army draft have brought the
country up with a round turn and
! given the people something to think
! about OF the men examined for the
| draft "a per cent were found to be de-
fective, and the surgeons of the pub
lie health service insist that these de-
] fectives were suffering from defects
which could. in many instances, have
been prevented.
/ With the coming of peace it is
more than ever necessary to provide
for adequate sanitation and the
health which follows. In the first
place, the world lost a very consider
able proportion of its population dur
ing the war. Many of the men and
women who lost their lives were the
best physically that the nations had.
Secondly, the falling off in the birth
| rate has been enormous. 1t was es-
timated by the registrar general of
/ Great Britain in 1915 that the decline
! in the birth rate in the belligerent
| nations of Europe on account of war
activities was 1000 day, that 1000
! children were not born each day in
! that area in Europe who under
! ordinary circumstances would have
I baa, how Thoro has haan falling