Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-05-07

According to Fisher, on the basis
of $1,700 per unit the economic loss
annually in the U. S. through death
is $1,70O,000. wealth is simply what
human beings produce, and we must
accept a certain loss through death
The great economic loss is that due to
sickness. 1t costs this country sew
eral billion dollars annually. Beard
saws the loss of life in the u. S. from
communicable diseases alone is 5OO,-
600 year, while during the years s.
OO0, 600 people are sick. Tuberculosis
caused the death in 1919 Of 147,6OO. AT
least two-thirds of these could have
been saved. Pneumonia, 10000 a
year; measles, 10000; diphtheria, 49,
O0O Typhoid fever has an incidence
of about 100000 per year, of whom
about 10 per cent, or $4,000, die liz
the u. S. alone there are 100000
Iayphi1ities.
They are damaged more or less and
something of menace. In the U. s.
about 100000 die annually of diseases
of the heart lungs, blood vessels, and
cancer accounts for a good many.
Probably 2 IL to 3 million people are
now sick and about / 1-2 million are
going to die in the next 12 months.
About 100000 wage earners olse on
an average nine days each year on
account of illness and the loss in
wages alone is about half billion
dollars 1t is said that sickness is a
disabling cause in about half the
charity cases. Industrial accidents to-
tailed about 100000 last year i'm the
U. S. The safety First" movement is
good thing, and is destined to ac
complish much good.
Life Insurance.
"The insurance people are in the
business Of gambling on human lives.
They turn man over to the doctor
and ask how long he ought to live
and then gamble on his expectancy.
Insurance claims totaled $3.50, 100000
on Influenza deaths. The economic
value Of deaths was well over two
billion so that something, like four
billions Of dollars is the economic
value of these deaths.
"There is about IS per cent loss of
time in children under a. In Mas
sachusetts, / IL million dollars is
spent annually by the local officials
on relief on account of illness. There
is loss of time through sickness; the
cost OF nursing, of drugs, and the time
of others to care for the sick.
Now, you will say, You have giv-
en- us all these things so glibly, and
we appreciate it all, but what can we
do@ Many things have already been
accomplished but the end is still far
NH At
vet. To my mind it. resolves itself
into three main factors: q) The
amount of money we are willing to-
put into public health improvements;
(2) the old question which is coming
up all the time, the right of the in
dividual against the righd of the
group (3) how much individual CO.
operation each one of us is willing
to give toward promoting community
health.
Preventative Medicine.
Taking provision No. 1 and we see
what was done in the canal zone. One
can honestly say that preventive med
icine and public health activities
built the canal. The French failed on
account of mosquitoes. It became
Our government at the advice of DR.
Gorgas decided to, spend about one
cent day per person for health
measures with the, result that it was
much healthier. to live in the canal
zone than any part of the U. S. The
health regulations and provisions of
the zone are almost perfect, and most
rigidiy enforced. Can we accomplish
such thing here? We can approach
it. We must not be niggardly in our
health appropriations, 88 per cent of
our taxes go to pay for past wars and
in preparation for future ones. City
parks, we'll kept, for the children's
outdoor exercise, sufficient salaries
must be paid the workers in the city
health department. 1t takes time,
energy and experience to keep the
milk supply clean, to constantly su-
pervise the water supply; the garbage
question, prompt isolation cares for
infectious diseases. Health officers
need more power and authority. They
must be removed from the class of
political pawns They should be in
position of absolute independence
and oS supreme power on questions of
public health.
Individual Rights.
"The second provision: The right
of the individual VS.. the right of the
group. Experience has taught us what
can be accomplished here. Take the
smallpox situation. Compulsory vac,
cination has cut the incidence of this
disease to almost nothing, and re
duced the fatalities over Is per cent
Compulsory incubation against ty-
phoid fever in the last immense army
of the U. S. reduced the number of
cases of this disease to less than
1OO Compare this to the number in
the army OF the Spanish American