The Washington times., 1920-04-25
The Worlds Greatest Monster

b
tNs eAa&ss that In Bstishsm and In all the coasts
s.Of from t.o years Old and Iaas according to tho time
Tho killings by Hsrod represented vicious superstition
aud prejudice Such killings have bean numerous enough
superstition has prsmsturey ended Of the most useful
lives ever begun on this earth
But all that combined cruelty superstition, and
religious hatred and all other kinds Of deliberate
have accomplished nothing compared with the kill
ing that ignorance has done and does every day.
You read In this newspaper not long ago the official
statement infant deaths in OF forty eight
States In of hundred children born many
eighty died within thirty days after birth One hundred
mothers through the long period Of waiting and dis
comfort then endured the agony OF often with
poverty as an additional difficulty And at the end of
thirty days. eighty mothers out Of hundred had buried
their babies
That speaks well for the power of Giant Ignorance it
speaks badly intelligence of the human which
calls itself civilized
Thousands of children have been condemned to blind
because the vcousness Of fathers and the ignorance
of mothers had combined against them Merely wping the
eyes Of newb child with mild disinfecant would have
prevented at least ninety in hundred Of
blindness from birth" a...
In Egypt you see thousands blind from infancy This
blindness is due to ignorance and superstition combined
Flies upon the eyes Of infants too weak to defend
themselves The stupid superstition Of the natives called
religion" forbds them to disturb kill fies which they
conceive to be inhabited by souls like their The filth
brought by the flies and their biting blind the babies
Consumption is the greatest killer among civilized"
COnSumpClOn
ing is two years DID, The young child gets it from being
kissed the mouth by consumptive father mother
In very young child the eucocyte-whte corpusces that
defend the body against disease aackare not fully
she has consumption ignorant of the fact that her kiss
plants it in the body of her child condemns that child
to lifelong suffering and premature death.
Many of worst diseases to from Asia
Ignorance and superstition teach the of India to
bahe in the river Ganges and drink the that filthy
asod their
healthy drink the foul water To make complete
those who have died Of plague set ad floating the
river and carry disease all along the Shore ultimately feed
ing sacred crocodes pretty religion, fine aid for
ignorance
And when the nation governing India tries to check
ignorance and stupidity the natives fight desperately for
their right to poison themselves with disease germs
There are two kinds of ignorance kind that can
not yet be helped That ignorance is excusabe
work courageousy to remedy it. The other kind, mex
csabe the ignorance that prevails among ninety nine
per of the people, while per cent possess the truth
We do not know how to fight cancer, except by the
surgeon knife. That dreaded disease kills number
stanty increasing We do not know WHY the increase
comes. It kills women than men-we do not under
stand that When it gets certain start it is ncurabe
Taken in time, it be cut out and forgotten But
UNDERSTAND nothing about it. The admirable Rookie
feer Institute and other scientific institutions all the
world fighting and studying the problem every day and
every year. That is excusable ignorance and are
fighting it.
The history of the human to which you belong has
been persistent slow but unceasing, fight against Igno
rance the giant in this picture That HAVE fought g
norance and many battles creates hope.
Ignorant thought they must have slaves, in no
other way could the worlds work be done But justice
freed the slaves and then knowledge provided machines
do the work better and more cheapy.
Ignorance in the days of Romes grandeur built tenn
pie to dreaded FEVER noble hill People worshiped
at the temple submitted and died Then knowledge dis
covered that "Roman fever caused by mosquitoes
planting the disease in the human body The breeding
places of mosquitoes wiped out and malaria ended in