The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1922-12-09
HEALTH SERVICE
BATTLES VICE.
SCIENCE GUSTS SENTIMENT
Little Known Government Bureau.
Saves Many Millions.

:
Social Hygiene Board Is Interdepart-
mental Body Which Has Become
New and Powerful Force Now at
Work Throughout the Nation-Bad
Social Conditions, According to Ply
sicians, Are Responsible for 1900 900
Cases of Diseases Every Year.
When a new chief Of police was ap-
pointed recently in Washington the
announcement went forth that gam
bers, bookmakers, drug peddlers and
other forms Of underworld entertain
ers had better seek fresh fields for
their game. Those forms of vice
which exist in every city which has
no strong civic consciousness were
running wide in Washington. They
were run very quietly, but the door
was always open. .
With the announcement that the new
chief of police would start a de-
termined effort to clean up the capt.
tai city, little known bureau of gov
eminent stepped forward with long
list of places on which evidence had
been obtained. Vice was rampant on
the very ~doorsteps of the capitol
building itself, the report showed A
congressional investigation is under
way to verify this report and find why
this condition exists in defiance of
the law.
The quiet government bureau which
had collected these facts goes by the
name of the United States interdepart-
mental social hygiene board. The Gin
terdepartmental" comes from the fact
that the secretaries of war, the navy
and the treasury are on the board,
as are the surgeon: generals Of the
army, navy and public health service
The active head Of the board is
woman, DR.. Valeria H. Parker, who
has had wide experience in social work.
Before accepting the position as Uncle
Sans watcher over the young men in
the nations armed forces, DR.. Parker
was chairman of the social hygiene
committee Of the National League of
Women Voters and a member of the
section of delinquency Of the National
Conference Of Social Work.
The government war on vice is or
ganized through this bureau. The
board is definitely charged with the
duty Of protecting the health Of the
men in uniform while they are in
civilian communities. So we'll has the
work been done that in one year it
is estimated that over ST 100000 was
saved the government. This amount
would have been spent in the hospi-
taliZation of infected men, had not
the number of infections been great
ly reduced. The cost of the work
has been about $225,OOO. 1t is paying
proposition.
Science Supplants Sentimentaity.
The governments war on vice rep
resents a new and powerful force at
work throughout the nation today. Sci:
ence, substituted for sentiment is CIV
ing the world new sense of public
safety. ..
The scientific side Of reforms and
reformers is the view taken by the
interdepartmental social hygiene
board. Interested in the health of the
nation, the scientific side Of health and
disease is being preached at every OPP
portunity through public health meet
ings in every state, attended by medi-
cal men, public health officers and rep
resentatives of societies interested in
the question. The moral side of the
question is being left to the churches,
as falling properly within their prov
1nce
The medical approach to the SUBJ
ject by the hygiene board is short and
direct. Science has proved that no
way has been found to make vice
safe. Therefore the only safe thing
has proven record and is an excellent
example Of the cheaper to prevent
than cure policy of modern medical
practice" .--..-- 49,
Dust how heavy the vice toll becomes
was gathered from the records Of the
public health service, which is work
ing at the problem as it affects civil
ians, while the social hygiene board
handles the military end of the matter.
Physicians of the service estimate that
about 100000 cases of diseases due
solely to bad social conditions occur
each year.
From the medical standpoint this
means great danger Of passing On to
the next generation virulent bacillus
so insidious in it's effect that few chill
dren live under the Handicap and those
who do are sickly and weak From
the national standpoint there is the
danger of losing effective citizens.
Vice Cost Is Big.
The social hygiene board places the
cash cost of this social folly merely
among the soldiers in the army during
the war period at $4,000, 900. In 1919
the cost in the army was placed at
$15,OOOOOO. The cost was cut in 1920
to about $5,5OO,OOO It is about one
third less this last year, due to the
more effective preventive work, pre-
yiously mentioned.
In civilian circles medical records
are harder to obtain. The accurate
type of record kept by the army and
navy Is not available for civilian af-
fairs. But the draft records show that
in civilian life at least $54,OOO,0O0 a
year is the wage loss alone, due to
these social diseases. This is simply
the amount lost due to the inability