The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-04-27
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
washington, ID. @.
WAR ON CANCER.

Bile one, is the truth that the New
York Society for the Prevention OF
Cancer is attempting to impress upon
the public this year in a national-wide
anti-eancer campaign.
| Cancer, which is enc of the most
| formidable and dreaded Affections
visited upon man, is on the increase
in this, as well as every other civilized
country. 1t is estimated that nearly
100, 900 persons died of it in the
United States last year, Yet the best
medical authorities are now convinced
that a large number OF these deaths
could have been prevented had the
nized and an operation performed in
time.
The trouble is that cancer, being an
! ancient disease, has acquired such
myEterious and terrifying history thru
the centuries that few people care to
may have it until the affliction has
proceeded far enough to make its ex-
! istence indisputable. Then, unfor-
! tunately, it is too late. For the only
hope of victory over cancer today lies
in its early detection and eradication.
Doctors Don't Know.
| The ignorance of the medical pro-
/ fession concerning the disease has
tended to encourage this attitude, but
| fortunately in recent years this fgno-
rance has fast given way to knowl-
edge. Numerous scientific institutions,
including the Rockefeller Foundation.
have succeeded in revealing much, so
that while the cause and cure of can
Ger are still unknown, many facts have
been accumulated which the Society
for the Prevention of Cancer believes
the public should know IL the ravages
Of cancer are to be checked at all.
| In the offices of the society on
| Forty-fifth street here there are large
piles of bulletins containing cancer
| facts which are soon to be scattered
| broadcast thruout the country with the
aid of state and city health depart
ments. The New York State Depart
ment Of Health recently devoted an
entire ISSUE of its Health News" to
| the discussion of cancer. Thte United
! States Public Health Service has also
recently issued a popular bulletin on
\ the disease. Newspapers in every
/ state have agreed to give wide pub
| licity to the society's Fourteen Points
Concerning Cancer" while libraries
are going to cooperate by holding
| poster exhibits explaining What You
| Should Know About Cancer for the
benefit of those who find pictures
more illuminating than print.
But aren't you afraid you will
Il
by all this publicity ?' inquired a mere
| layman of the secretary of the society
the other day, after hearing the full
extent of the society's intentions.
I'VE may frighten a few susceptible
persons, but We are going to warn
great many whose lives may be saved
! by the hint replied the secretary.
Mine cases out of ten of cancer today
are fatal because patients do not go to
their doctors soon enough. Nowhere
ss.-k H. IL =, fr,A
nine more applicable than it is to
| cancer"
tuberculosis; the secretary further
pointed out, is no longer dreaded as
| equivalent TO q death sentence because
( the public has come to understand the
disease and how it is cured. 1t is
| equally important that they should
| understand as much as is understand
able about cancer Once they do.
the dread of cancer will change, as it
more sensible and rational feeling of
hope
Cancer Net Contagious.
| Curious as it may seem. there are
three encouraging points about cancer
| In the first place, SO far as is known,
| II is not contagious. No germ capable
| OF causing cancer in human beings or
animals has ever been found by any
| of the numerous medical authorities
| attempting to find it. Concerning this
point the United States Public Health
| Service adds this Interesting contribu-
ton;
Nor is there any reason TO believe
the stories so often told of cancer
houses or cancer villages The &C.
| currenee of q large number of cases
| in a particular house or street has
usually been shown by careful investi-
| cation to be due tie the fact that the
| house err the street has been occupied
| by an unusual proportion of persons
| above middle age. Since cancer Is
disease of middle and later life, there
would naturally be more -cases under
| such circumstances. Likewise, stories
| of an, excessive prevalence of cancer
in particular. villages are usually
| traced to small communities from
which most of the young people have
| departed. 1t is due to this fact that
| the cancer death rate of Vermont and
| New. Hampshire is SO high, the young
| people having gone away in large
! numbers to seek work in other states.
The western states, largely populated
by young people, have very low
! cancer rate"
The second encouraging point re-
/ Gently decided upon by the medical
| profession is that cancer is not in
hsritea, This decision is based large
/ ~ on the records of life insurance
| companies, carefully Kept over a long
pNAAOO VI NeiA - SAAOU That lbdHN
| persons whose parents died of cancer
do not themselves contract it. In de-
termining whether or not a person is
/ a good risk these companies no
! longer even consider the matter of
cancer occurrence in the insureds
/ family. Some authorities are of the
| opinion that a tendency to cancer may
| be inherited, but their evidence while
! interesting, is not entirely convincing.
/ Not an Unciean Disease.
| In the third place, cancer is not
/ ''blood disease 1t is not affiliated
with the Venereal diseases in any way,
/ and Is not a product of vice. The old
| fashioned idea that cancer is due to
faint" in the blood still exerts wide
and baieful Influence, causing many
I .aff rfrsor 11a 10