Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-08-25

= IFE has no duty more sacred than the
| care of the sick. Where this sickness
~~- is extensive and continuous it becomes
a test of civilization. Just as one may meas
ure the soul of the individual by his attitude
toward the physically helpless, one may
measure the soul of the city, state or nation
by the treatment it gives to those who by
deficiency of bodily health have become un-
able to sustain, to heal or to properly care
for themselves. The blind, the crippled the
insane demand of society the extreme of pa
thence, the maximum of love and tenderness
Accident of birth, or of daily life-perhaps
the failure of society itself, have made them
what they are. We ourselves or some Of
those very dear to us, may join their ranks
at any moment Life has many surprises
and none more common than the strong man
or woman become a physical wreck; the rich
and independents paupers. Truly no man
knows what tomorrow may bring forth.
Included in this statement is tuberculosis
the saddest the most difficult, the most dan
gerous of all the evils which make wrecks of
our brothers and sisters and children. tits
a class all it's own. Everything said % to
others may be said of it, without telling half
the story. Where the others are static,
tuberculosis is active. One threatens the
life of the individual; the other threatens
the lives of everybody. One is indiscrim-
mate, as to age; but tuberculosis finds nine
out of every ten of its victims among the
dearest treasures of the human race the
children under fifteen. The others with
certain epidemic disorders may be treated
and handled and cared for safely, as a rule
across hedgerow, but not so with the
white plague Isolation is there imperative
for the safety of the public IcaEh And
hereln lies not only one of the greate~t dlf-
ncult1es, but one of the saddnst TRAGEDIES
For to be cut off in life from the living. is
q inn IL
Here is a drama, q tragedy, that has been
repeated in Georgia, hundreds and thousands
Of times; often, in fact, it partakes of the
nature of a continuous perfOrmance-the
child seems to lose vigor and appetite; there
is a little cough, the watchful mother APP
plies simple remedies and adopts precau-
tions little fever is detected. The father
is interested, and finally the family physi-
clan. specialist examines and guardedly
advises the mountain air. All but the child
know that the verdict is tuberculosis. The
mountain air! How hopefully the parents
then look into the facilities which they them
selves have provided for just such cases.
For they are the state as much as anybody
else. If the state has no way of treating
tubercular cases with hope or expectation of
curing them it is their own fault to the eX-
tent of the influence they might have exer-
cised and did not. They shocked to learn
that there in the state 80 900 cases of
tuberculosis and an institution with but
pinety-five beds for the care of them. There
are no vacant beds. Later? Perhaps. Place
the name on the waiting list. A few months
may change the situation.
And now the mother is on her knees by
day and by night; and over her daily ia $
her lips move in the same prayer, which is
not always the prayer of faith, but a cry
against the injustice of heaven. The trou
bic has now become complicated with finance.
The state having failed them, these parents
must look to themselves, their fa ntly and
sometimes to friends for aid and 20 pr ate
institutions for refuge. In the end the
child goes away and the family down to
struggle with the new expense; the mother