Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-30

This organization should be a court Of
last resort within the limits Of present
knowledge Of scisn.i1c public health
subjects
Disease is the greatest and most
formidable enemy of human life, as
well as of animal and vegetable life.
There are millions of sufferers from
painful diseases about which little or
nothing Is known, but which cause
many deaths and great economic loss.
Preventive measures and remedies for
unconquered diseases must come from
the JOINT, intensive efforts of the
chemist, physicist phySiologist, phar-
macologist, pathologist, immunologist,
cannot plead that there Is no field for
our Government to enter. The problems
to be solved are manifold. To illustrate,
I shall name q few of the more COM
mon diseases which still battle medical
skill and remain a curse to humanity:
Anemia, mental troubles, heart diseases,
infection of the teeth, nephritis, rheu-
matism, common cold, influenza, tubercu-
loSis, pneumonia, cancer, high and low
blood pressure, infantile paralysis and
arthritis. This list of unconquered dis
eases is only a partial one, but offers a
vast field for research work. 1t IL
Illustrates convincingly the imperative
need for national institute of health.
Moreover, new diseases appear on the
horizon constantly, and before them
medical skill is impotent. While the
death rate of some diseases has been
greatly decreased within the last
quarter of century, the rate for others
has mounted year after year. The in
crease in rate for cancer and heart
trouble Is especially alarming. In the
eight h itIY1o frorp
eighth place to second in the causes of
death. In 1929. more than 10000
people died of this dread disease in this
country.
Our Government has been more in
terested in animals and plants than i'll
the health Of its citizens. In the five
years prior to 1929 the total appropri-
ations made by Congress for plant and
animal life aggregated $54,000,000, and
they were all wise expenditures. During
the same period we appropriated some
thing under $4,000 900 to make scientific
research and investigation into the dis
eases of human beings. DR.. Dublin,
Statistician of the Metropolitan Life In
surance Co., said recently that the
wealth of this country, composed Of real
estate, plants. animals. mines and man
ufactured products of every kind, ag-
gregated 1921 900 100000, while the
value of our vital assetS-our men and
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 81 500, 900 900 900
five times the value of our property
assets combined. Plants and animals
constitute only small percentage of
our material wealth, yet in five years
this Government gave $54,000,000 for
the diseases Of plants and animals and
only $4,000 900 for human beings.
Premature Death Cost Estimated.
Entirely apart from the inconven-
fence, suffering and sorrow, what an
economic loss the Nations health bill
presents-infflciency in work, absen-
teeism from daily duties, prolonged stays
In hospitals and expenses of medical
treatment. Three estimates of the an
nual repair bill of the human frames
of our citizens, namely the cost of
medical service, have been made. DR..
Dublin estimates it at about 81, ZOO, 000,-
900; Dr. Herty of New York about ST.
OILS, ZOO. 900, while the Red Cross esti-
mates it at $50 per family, or practically
81, 500 ,O00, 900. To this great amount
must be added further loss from wages.
amounting to at least $4,000 900 900,
and finally some six billion dollars. rep
resenting the financial value of the
lives lost through premature death from
preventable diseases every year We
thus reach figures of startling magni-
tude-about $4,000, 900 ,O00-far ex-
ceeding losses from floods and all other
national disasters combined.
Some one may ask What hope have
you that National Institute of Health
will enable American scientists to dis
cover the causes of the diseases and
offer remedy Therefore" In reply let
me state the foundation of human
progress is the genius of individuals
crystallized in the form of discoveries.
Before the days of Hippocrates, the
father of medicine, men had sought to
prevent the outbreaks of diseases which
threatened to, and frequently did, over
whelm them. During the middle ages
the scourges of leprosy, plague, cholera
and smallpox compelled the attention of
thoughtful men. Eventually man per-
cefved that without definite knowledge
OF the source of disease, especially its
cause and mode OF spread, he was with
out prospect of discovering means of
its prevention. The recital of the search
for and finding of these fundamental
facts Is the history of preventive medi-
cine, and their practical application is
the history of public health work.
To those OF you who, like myself, are
advocates of the principles of States
rights, let me say that under my bill
no new bureau of the Government is
contemplated. The institute simply en-
largeS and broadens the scope of the
work now being done by the United
States Public Health Service. The
health activities Of individuals medical
schools, hospitals, scientific institutions
and State departments of health will
not be interfered with, but, on the con-