Evening star., 1932-06-03
NEW ERA FORECAST
IN RAIL COMFORT
At THEA[TH SESSION
Private Bed Rooms Pictured
With Cooling Systems
for Future.
WAR AGAINST DISEASE
STRESSED BY WILBUR
Secretary Favors More Dramatiza-
ton of Vast Work to Enlist Pub
lie in Preventing Epidemics.

lie in Preventing Epidemics.
The railroad sleeping car soon may
give way to the hotel on wheels, with
private bed rooms on two floors, replac-
ing the present compartments and
double-deck berths.
This was revealed today in a COM
mittee report made at meeting OF
public health officers Of the United
States and Canada at the Willard
Hotel. Meanwhile, it was reported,
some of the cross-country bus lines are
considering giant double-decker busses
with comfortable sleeping compartments
That a new era in railroad comfort Is
at hand was indicated in the report on
the latest developments in cooling and
heating cars. Under experimental con-
ditions, it was reported, it now is pos
sible to maintain a constant tempera-
ture of 10 degrees, Summer and Win
ter. in a car inclosed in a car shed
heated to about 100 degrees. Car win
dows can be kept closed in all weather.
With further experimentation, it was
indicated. such apparatus probably will
be installed by most of the railroads.
At present it is difficult because of the
high cost and the added weight Of the
cars.
Stresses Health Work.
Need for the dramatization Of public
health work was stressed in an address
this afternoon by Secretary of the In
terror Ray Lyman Wilbur. The doctor
has succeeded so well in his task, he
said, that the public does not realize
the contrast with what might have
been, and hence there is less public
demand for extensions of the services.
The American people, he said, have
become somewhat blaSe in regard to
the control of epidemics," the health
workers having succeeded so well In
eliminating such scourges as yellow
fever, typhus, cholera, bubonic plague
and smallpaX. 1t must be kept before
the public, he said, that this work re-
quireS ceaseless vigilance.
The great national convention, it
was pointed out in a committee report,
has changed from menace to health
to a gathering of comparative safety.
Formerly not only were epidemics like
ly to break out in convention crowds
living in sleeping trains or hotels un-
der congested conditions, but diseases
were spread to all parts of the coun-
try. Railroad sanitary improvements
it was pointed out. have practically
wiped out this danger.
PIaneS carry Disease.
Sanitary airplane travel is the latest
problem to face the public health Off
GERS. 1t was demonstrated this year
that mosquitoes carrying the yellow
fever virus can be transported to the
United States from the West Indies
without losing their virulence. 1t is
suspected that other disease-bearing in
sects similarly may be transported, espe-
cially Mexican fly which carries the
virus of disease causing blindness.
It was stressed that cross-country
buses should be made to comply with
practically the same sanitary code which
has been laid down for the railroads,
since they now are carrying an increas-
ing percentage of passenger travel.
American industrial workers suffer
much higher disease and death rate
than clerical, professional and COM
mercial employees, it was stressed in an
other report. This is especially the case
with the so-called degenerative diseases
and is due to bad working conditions.
mo one will question" said the re-
port of the Industrial Hygiene Com
mittee, that dangerous, or even un-
wholesome environment endured from
a third to almost half Of ones working
life, must have a definite effect on
the occurrence of these diseases, the in
creasing mortality OF which is the cause
of such grave concern" In some cases,
the report pointed out, the industrial
worker faces twice as much hazard as
the white-collar worker.
Workers Lives Shortened.
1.-The industrial worker at the age of
90" the report continued, has life
expectancy of AZ years. The 20-year-
old worker in the non-haZardouS oc-
cupations has life expectancy OF 49
years, a difference of years" I'M
portant factors in causing this shorter
life expectancy, 1t was pointed out, are
dust. excessive fatigue, bad posture.
crowded work rooms, dampness, extreme
changes of temperature and specific oc-
cupational poisons.
There is no question" continued the
report, that large numbers OF indus
trial workers continue to work at low
physical and mental level, which is due
not to the fact that they normally are
lazy or stupid, but because they are IN
poor health brought on by the very con-
ditions under which they remain en-
ployed. Perhaps unfortunately for the
alienation of the condition, they are
not sick enough for their ailments to
be recognized as being caused directly
or indirectly by their work. Such men
are unable to give their best services
to their employers. not to make the
most of themselves"
An intensive campaign for the elimi-
nat of blindness in newborn babies
throughout the Nation was recon-
mended at a meeting of the Committee
for the Conservation of Vision. The re-
port presented today dealt with refine
ment of the silver nitrate drops that
are put in the eyes of the newborn. 1t
also was recommended that medical Sc
cial workers locate and follow up serious
eye infections.
Vaccination Urged.
Only per cent of rural school chill
dren throughout the country have been
vaccinated against smallpox, 1t was
pointed out in the report Of the Child
Hygiene Committee Eighteen per cent
have been immunized against diphthe-
ria. In the cities 81 per cent Of the
children have been vaccinated. The
committee urged the need of following
up in every committee the child health
surveys advocated by the White House
Conference on Child Health and Pro-
lection. Other reports urged an intensi-
fication Of preventive medicine in both
the United States and Canada to save
tho D,Ihlic from tho heavv taY burden