The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1921-08-05
PLAGUE MENACES
100000 VICTIMS
Tenant Farmers, HaIf-Starved
: by. Crop Failure, Face
Scourge of PeIIagra.
WASHINGTON IS . ALARMED
Public Health Service Fears 10000
Deaths This Year and More Next
Year-AppeaI: Will Be Made
:. to Congress at Once.

ashington.-Pellagra one of the
worst scourges known to man, is max
ing alarming headway in parts of the
cotton belt state. according to the Pub
lie Health Service, which estimates
that this year the disease, which is due
to- -semi-starvation, will claim about
100000 victims, and. of these 10 per
cent will,in the opinion of the govern
merit experts, die. This alarming situ-
alton which presents one of the most
grave problems facing the Public
Health Service, is due principally to
economic conditions in the cotton
growing and cotton-millng sections of
the South.
A statement issued from the office of
Surgeon General Hugh S. Cumming
calls the attention of the country to the
pellagra menace, and warns that un-
less prompt and energetic measures
are taken to check the spread of the
disease, which is due to lack of proper
foods, 1T will take a still heavier toll
from the already enfeebled population
in 1922" -. >
The statement of the Public Health
Serviee.fOlTows:
While the American people have
been spending money Iavishly to save:
the Chinese and the Europeans from
starvation a veritable famine has been
developing in the rural districts of the
South, and particularly in those of the
cotton belt, which stretches from East
ern Texas to the Carolinas. The ten
ant farmers, most of whom devote all
their land to cotton and allot not even
a foot TO kitchen gardening or for the
use of cow or even of some hens,
have been forced by the failure of the
cotton market to adopt a starvation
diet that is rapidly decimating them.
The latest reports to the United
States Public Health Service show that
pSlagra, WHICH results the. world
around from famine conditions, wilt
this year claim about 100000 victims,
of whom at least 10 per cent will die ;
and that, unless radical relief meas
ures are taken, it will take still
heavier toll from the already enfeebled
population in 1922:
That pellagra would show a heavy
increase tfis year was foreseen last
Fail, when: the. cotton market failed.
Most American cotton is raised on
shares by tenant farmers, who are
"carried'' by the land-oWning planters
for about six months each year, dur
ing which they are provided with food
and clothes for themselves and their
families, to be paid for when the crop
is sold in the Fall.
+. Last. years crop, however, is still
unsold, and neither Tenant nor planter
has received the money on which they
had depended. The planters are al
most *Hloneyfess and are unable.sto OBJ
tain further credit from the banks,
which are also hard pressed. Never
theTess, the tenants must. be carried
till next Fall, with no assurance that
! the cotton market will come back even
then.
Inevitably there is pressure all down
the line, and the tenants, whose credit
has been reduced to the disappearing
point. are obliged to live on the cheap
est foods obtainable.
these foods, salt pork, cornmeal and
molasses, valuable as they are when
balanced by other foods, such as lean
meat, eggs, and milk and vegetables,
lack certain elements that are abso-
lutely essential to the maintenance of
health. And the "other foods are
away. beyond the purses of the ten
ants.
Tie greatest handicap facing: the
Public Health Service in its fight
against the pellagra scourge is lack of
funds. This phase of the situation is
expected to be brought to the attention
of. the President and Congress and it
is believed that whatever sum may be
necessary to- combat the spread of the
disease and properly to care for those
already afflicted will be promptly
~veted. st
MNTnRIST SHOT HEAN