The sun., 1919-11-02
Looking Skyward for Health
Aerial Hospitals Latest Agencies Proposed Fighting Tubecuo
Other Diseases That Breed in the Crowded Districts
By ROBERT G. SKERRETT.

\ for dealing with the white
plague and other more or less dire
and needlessly ravaging diseases.
Spectacular as the innovation appears,
there are many physical and scientific
reasons for adopting these media as
means to lessen the mortality
among the dwellers in crowded dis
tr,cts who live amid an environment
where the atmosphere is very largely
contributive to the lowered powers of
resistance TO the malady.
We have Just been informed that
New York's economic loss from tuber-
culosis last year approximated a mat
ter Of nearly $4,000, 900! And this
despite the fact that the death rate
from pulmonary tuberculosis has been
I reduced to $50 per 100000 persons
within the gates of Greater New York.
Manifestly there is n great deal of
room for improvement, because this
showing bears directly upon the pro-
ductiveness of the mass of the NUM-
dpallty's citizenry and therefore Is
intimately linked with the general
problem of the cost of living.
The State Commissioner of Health,
DR.. Herman NJ. Biggs, says that the
oty's economic loss is greater from
tuberculosis than from any other form
Of disease, owing to its marked prev
alence among workers between the
ages of 10 and 80. AS he informs
lis, Most Of the victims die at an
average age of 35 years, losing seven
teen years which would be ordinarily
employed in productive work" DR..
Biggs's revelation is quite in keeping
with the figures published by the Met
ropolitan Life Insurance Company
dealing with mortality from tubercu-
losis among wage earners during a
period of six years. In that interval
tuberculosis in all its forms accounted
for no. 1853 deaths, or ia per cent
Of the 635, ,449 deaths in the entire
Industrial mortality experienced for
the span in question, /. e., 1911 to
1916. The data has to do with the
statistics Of insured wage earners and
their families in the United States and
Canada.
Kills Young Persons.
As the author of the report, DR..
Louis I. Dublin, states: THE value
Of these figures is commensurate with
the gravity Of the condition. For not
only Is tuberculosis the first cause of
death as to incidents among wage
earners and their families, but mortal
y ity from this cause is most pro-
nounced at a time in life when there is
still considerable expectation remain
ing 10 each individual and when death
seriously disrupts family life. The
economic losses thus entailed are still
further augmented by the long periods
Of physical disability which usually
precedes the fatal termination. Tuber-
culosis is clearly the chief burden
upon the vital resources of wage earn
ers and their families"
\ II is authOritatvely declared that
the most frequent portal of entry or
path Of infection for the tubercie bacil-
lus Is doubtless by inhalation of hachli
laden dust or air. The United States
played by dust in the spread of the
malady as follows: THE influence of
dust on the prevalence of the disease
Is strikingiy shown by the fact that
the tuberculosis rate among 1000
males in the United States, exposed In
hfteen occupations to the inhalation OF
organic dust was 2.29 per 1000,
against rate of 1.55 for all occupied
males. and also by the fact that AZ. %
per cent. Of the deaths of printers,
lthographers and pressmen who died
at ages between % and Al years were
nom consumption. as compared with
2lSs per cent. for farmers. planters
ana overseers." Further. the same Of
hcial bulletin tells us: 1.-THE influence
o. DUSTY trades is strikingly illustrated
N the State OF Vermont. In analyzing
me statistics of the towns where most
ot the granite and marble cutting is
carried on we find in a combined pop
ulation OF 34,se9 a tuberculosis rate of
~ per 1000, against rate of 1.3 for
the entire State"
-Four Hundred Dispensaries.
Four years ago, so the Government
medical experts show. the nation pos
tessed $50 sanatoria hospitals and day
camps with approximately 35, 900 beds
devoted to tuberculous patients. There
ore over 400 dispensaries with over
!VVo physicians in regular attendance.
corps OF about 1000 visiting nurses
engaged exclusively in tuberculosis
WORK Probably in the majority of
melplent cases the disease is arrested
ana those who have the means to care
ior themselves remain cured. 1t must
DC admitted, however. that 75 per cent
u those discharged as apparently
cured when obliged to return to bad
'ocIal and industrial conditions, suffer
p 'eiapses and finally die of the dis
@Se' such sad termination might
oe prevented by the establishment Of
moFAlng farms or colonies, improved
wing conditions or change of work.
hut farms or colonies for the tu-
circular can, after ALL only min
.e.er 10 q relatively small percentage
OF those in need of the fresh. clean air
VI 'he rural sections. More than that,
.lCre change OF air at the same alti-
,uue Is not i'll itself sufficient-rad-
Ia Ia penehts are frequently TO be re-
'@eu only by seeking a retreat high
"oo'e the sea level. The therapeutic
%0uon SO promoted is due to the en-
toleeu changed functioning of the
lungs, This can be explained simply,
nu mas been lucidly described in