Williams news., 1920-09-17
THE GREATEST CRIME OF ~--
 AMERICAN CIVILIZATION
(By pr. z. Causey)

in handling the problem of ve- nereal diseases constitute the i greatest crime of American civ. ilization." This was the con- clusion of prominent medical officer in charge of the physical examination of drafted men, as they were admitted to our great training camps. When we en- tered the war, the US. Govern ment profting by it's experience when our troops were Amohiliz- ed on the Mexican border irl. 1916, and by the terrible losses sustained by the allied armies from the ravages of this group of diseases, set about at once to devise means for the protection of our soldiers. Statistics tell us that veneresl diseases did more to demoralize and inca pacitate the allied armies on certain sectors of the front than did German shot and shell. How we'll our. Government suc- ceeded in protecting our sol diers from the demoralizing effects of prostitution and ve- nereala disease is shown by the fact that five men entered the army infected with venereal disease where one became in- fected after entering the army thus demonstrating that vener- cal diseases can be largely con- trolled by the application of the practical measures employed by the government during the war and since the war, adopted by the state Boards Of Health in almost every state in the Union. These measures are medical. educational, law enforcement and recreational. Isubnit I that if the above measures are relig- iously applied by the practical methods that have been adop- ted, venereal disease incidence can be very largely reduced within comparatively short time. In this connection I might state that the venereal di- sease program, as some preJu- diced individuals would have you believe, was Tot evolved by impractical idealists, but rath- CT by men of unquestioned pa triotism and transcendenG abil- ity as sanitarians. It is being carried out today by some of the ablest men and women of the medical profession and by thousands of laymen and won- en of recognized ability and un- questioned loyalty to the state and Nation and who have pro found interest in the we'll being Of the present and future gen. erations. Such men and woro- en would be the last to sub scribe to any plan or suggestion that would in the least inter fere with the confidential rela- tionship that has so long exist cd between the physician and lis patient or that would limit the activities of any respecta- ble law abiding citizen.
 The primary purpose of the campaign for the control of ve- nereal disease is not the inter ference with legitimate busi- ness or wholesome recreation but rather the protection of mo- i thers. and the bcvs and girl; of this age and of the genera ton unborn.
 Just why venereal diseases should be looked on as a trivial matter and the dissemination of them should be permitted to spread their loathsome and deadly infections promiscuous- ly among our boys and young men, and indirectly to our ;n- nocent daughters and their un- born babes without raising our voices or our hands in protest, can only be accounted for by our ignorance. Like Hosea of cid, we might acclaim: "The people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
 This country is staggering under an economic annual bur- den of approximately one-half billion dollars, as the fruits of this disease. Dr. Howard Kel- ly. the eminent gynochologist, tells us that eighty per cent of his operations in private prac- tice are directly traceable to ve- neriaJ diseases Rocopau ;y, his