Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-22
BY DIR. WALTER p. BOWERS,


Medical Care.
w WHENEVER two or more hu-
s Hss s: :@:: as:i s:''is f &
sure that two subjects have
been brought into the conversation
within the first five minutes One Is
weather. The other Is health. The
weather has been cause Of comment
and complaint since the days Of the
caveman. It still is, for, speaking in
very general terms, there is no per-
ceptible improvement in it from gen.
Grafton to generation.
With health the case Is a little diff
ferent. Primitive man, we now know,
was not altogether the healthy and
happy creature that eighteenth century
romanticists made him. He had his
aches and pains and no effective meth
| DDS of dealing with them and the evil
dence is that whether he died by Vio-
lence or by disease his span Of life was
short.
With the development of what we
like to call civilization there arose
many conditions which were and are
bad for peoples health. Men crowded
together in cities, lived and worked in
| doors more than they had done before
and built themselves an artificial world
! to which their bodies were not naturally
| adapted.
Epidemic Laid to Folly.
Until almost the beginning Of the
, present century sanitation was print
| tive. Then the tide turned The
causes of many Of the epidemic dis
eases were discovered, together with
means to prevent or control them.
Smallpox. diphtheria, malaria. yellow
fever and typhoid fever, to take five
notable instances, need no longer occur
in any civilized community. When they
do occur they are due to the ignorance
| or folly of men.
The death rate from all causes has
dropped. Twenty years ago there we're
annually about Is deaths for every 200
men, women and children in the United
States. The corresponding figure Is
now less than IL.
The brighter side Of the picture may
be seen in comparing the present with
the past; for we may congratulate our
selves on living in a healthier, and for
that reason a happier period, than our
fathers and grandfathers did. But if
we compare the state of health to
which we might, as a Nation, attain
with that which We actually have
reached, our complacency ought to di-
minish. Much remains to be found out
about the human mechanism and its
numerous enemies and disabilities.
knowledge Goes Unapplied.
With all our boosted progress we
have net succeeded as a people in
applying anywhere near all the knowl-
edge we now possess. A glance at a
| few sober but unavoidable facts stated
by Alden B. Mills of the Committee on
| the Costs of Medical Care will suggest
what this means.
1.-The people of the United States on
the average" Mr.. Mills finds, suffer
| from one to two disabling illnesses q
year, males generally having about one
case a year and females closer to two
cases. School children seem to have
an average of over two cases each
| per school year. For respiratory
diseases alone, including those which
do not disable, there is an annual fate
Of illness of two to three cases a year.
Seven to nine days year. on an av-
approximately eight to twelve days a
year by females. Children lost from
their classes during a school year an
average Of seven or more days per
| child" III. ~ .,F.n.a
The common cold" simple term
/ for a complex and rather mysterious
thing, stands near the head of the list,
with influenza, grip, tonsilitis and
sore throat close behind.
| Diphtheria PreventabIe.
Among the younger generation
measles, mumpS, scarlet fever chicken
pox and whooping cough are prevalent.
In most of the surveys of adult work.
erS rheumatism" figures. The word is
put between quotation marks because
it inaccurately describes a condition
which may have any one of several
causes. Saddest of all is the occur
renee on some of the children's lists
of diphtheria, which need not occur
at all If simple preventive measures
known to all qualified physicians are
| taken.
Most Of us obviously are i'll many
times with comparatively harmless all
: mentS before the time comes for us to
! shuttle off the mortal coil. These ILL
neSses are costly in time, in money and
! in comfort. Even If they do not short