El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1920-04-03
PUBLIC HEALT
IS GAGED BY
FOOD SUPPLY
tuberculosis RACES Where
There Are No Full
Dinner Pals.
GERMAN DOCTOR
TELLS OF TESTS


lDERLE1. April s.-TubercuiosiH f.
! Is the delicate indicator which
shows whether a nations stom-
ach Is getting enough food" says
Dr.. August Wassermanns the IN
rentor OF the test which bears his
name, and one OF the foremost physi-
clans Of Germany
was surprised to ses what com
partively young man this noted
scientist Is. he cannot Be over fifty
years Of age He has the energy and
hustle that reminds one OF an Ameri-
can physician rather than th8 pose
and poise often met in European
professional men
German Industrial leaders and
employers are complaining because
German worl-men are producing only
about three-Quarters as much as they
did IN 1914" said the doctor. These
business men are quite sensible In
what they demand OF their machin-
cry, but they don't seem % UNDER
stand that the human body Is also
machine, reducible to simply mechan-
ical laws.
Muscular Tissues Decrease
The German workman has de-
creased IS per cent IN muscular
tissue and 20 per cent in fat These
figures are eonserTatiys and are
based on the examination OF thou
sands OF men. The power OF these
human engines Is less than Il was IN
1914, therefore the human bodies are
not capable OF producing 50 much
energy IN work
the crying need OF raw materials IN
Germany to keep German Industries
running. There Il but one foremost
need IN Germany: that Il. fuel 70
keen the human machines from being
Ecrapped. And Of this fuel TAT e the
man must be built up agains his re-
serve strength Is gone.
you ask ne what German medi-
cal science learned during the war.
OF course we have made progress IN
surgery: but By and large We may
say that the worst surgical cases
died and the lighter ones recovered
Il was in the two great plaques OF
mankind. OF interest to America as
well as to Germany, IN which We
made scientific progress during the
war. These are tuberculosis and
syphilis.
severe LAW Before War.
Before the war Germany had
probably the seVerest laws OF any
country n the world TO Isolate
tuberculzr patients and 20 make i'm
possible the spread OF the disease
From 1sss to 1914 We had a steadily
decreasing curve OF tubuercular cases
Then when food conditions in
Germany became nearly impossible
IN 1916 and 1917 we saw tuoerculo-
sis steadily Increasing. despite the
fact that the same strict laws and
the same preventive measures were
enforced as before This taught Us
that two things were 70 be taken
into account IN this disease. first
the bacillus and second the human
resistance Perhaps ] had better say
IN the order OF Importance. first the
human resistance and second the
Examination shows that prac-
tically all people carry some tuber-
cular bacilli Only VIXEN their re-
sistancs Is worn down does the bacil-
lus become dangerous We have es-
tabiished BY eharting thousands OF
cases that as the resistance OF
people Is lowered By undernourish-
ment tuberculosis increases exactly
in proportion.
-Our charts show that the curve
OF lesssned food products Is inversely
ing tuberculosis. allowing about SIX
months time for the disease 20 take
Figures Tell the story.
This discovery Is OF sociological
as well as Of medical Importance.
show me the health reports OF
community in which Workmen are
getting starvation wages and VIII
tell you whether they have a real or
a fancied grievance. These figures
are a delicate and absolutely sure In
dicator OF sociological conditions
IF I read IN the newspapers to-
morrow that tuberculosis has In
creased tremendously on the East
Side OF New York city and around
the stockyards quarter OF Chicago. I
sitting here IN Berlin I can assure
you that something has happened to
the food supplies In the
large city, either poorer quality or
insufficient food
AAs TO the so-calIed social disease,
we had it under control IN the army Z
because OF strict military regula-
lions and discipline as we never /
could have done IN civilian cases As I
a result we had an excellent oppor- I
tunity to watch closely large NUM- ]
Der OF cases.
eve learned that II the patient re-
ports 70 the physician and takes sal I
Vorsan after Infection. but soon /
enough afterward so that the Was I
serman test stiIl shows negative. the ]
patient can be quickly and positively /
healed IN nearly 100 per cent OF the /.
IT he waits until the disease has I
had a start and the Wassermann .
shows positive. we can cure about I
20 per cent.
'dThe result Of the discovery OF the /
ease OF healing II she disease IS I
caught IN its earliest stages Is that T
the German government Is officially 3
making an extensive educational /
campaign among the young students Z
and young workmen. Every first aid .
station in our cities Is directed By I
the government to give Treatments
free and TO make a Wassermann test
not only free but without asking or
taking the name OF the patient. By
these means we hope within the next .
few years TO show the same results 4
In cutting down syphilis that we D
made earlier with tuberculosis
Islands Shaken Almost