Evening star., 1932-11-14

RETURNS TOFFRAY
Or. C. w. Stiles Sets Out to
Disprove Rockefeller Foun-
dation'S Report.
Continued From First Page.)

engaged in more routine. although
parasitological researches
for the National Institute of Health
These engaged his attention while the
hookworm fight passed 70 younger and
stronger hands. But the Government
doctor never lost his interest either in
the hookworm itself or the children it
was killing and he was not altogether.
comfortable over the turn events we're
taking. The major battle against ho-k-
worm was waged by the Rockefeller
Foundation, with whose workers DR..
Stiles had been closely associated.
Three years ago came statement In
the annual report of this foundation
which made the veteran disease fighter
see red, because, he says, he knew It was
false. The statement was that hook
worm disease" had been conquered;
that there was no longer any occasion
for worry. Largely because Of this
statement. he found, vigilance was re-
laxed The school and health boards
of the counties in the hookworm coun-
try were stopping their preventive and
educational work. Southern colleges
turning out young health workers were
neglecting TO equip them for the hook
worm battle, assured by the Rockefeller
Foundation that hookworm was no
longer problem.
Failed to Get Answer.
DR.. Stiles had been associated with
both the Rockefellers-sanior and
junior-in the days Of the great hook
worm battle. He wrote a personal
letter to John D. Rockefeller, jr., calling
his attention to the erroneous statement
and asking that 1t be corrected Finally
Va raaaiuod a. f. 4
feller's personal secretary, saying the
matter had been referred to his
technical advisers. Dr. Stiles has been
unable to get a retraction or a reply Of
any kind from the Rockefeller Institu-
ton scientists.
Tonight" he told the Biological
Society. II start on an uncompromising
campaign to prove the Rockefeller
Foundation wrong When Mr.. Rookie
feller referred this matter to his
technical advisers felt it was fair to
start the battle. Nobody has done
more for these Southern eople. I know
his generosity. He has very kindly al
lowed this to become an issue between
technicians where personalities need
not be considered"
In view of the evidence in his hands,
DR.. Stiles said, the statement of the
worm was no longer a problem" con-
Stitutes one of the most far-reaching
misStatements in the history of science
So he is leaving Washington in a few
days to motor alone through the DESC
late hook-worm country, stopping at
lonely country schools in the Southern
sand lands and mountains, to test the
children for hook worm. He plans to
pile up such a mass of evidence that
State and local authorities will be
forced to resume their preventative and
curative work in the face Of the Rookie
feller Foundation.
Attacks COmpIacency.
Now, he says, when he calls on a
county superintendent and asks for per-
mission to go into the schools, he is
looked upon at first as an 'old fogie"
and assured that for years there has
been no hook worm in that locality.
But permission hardly can be denied a
man of DR.. Stiles eminence who has
done so much for the people in the
past. And once among the children
In the hook-worm country. he says, he Z
almost invariably finds plenty of cases
OF the dreaded parasite, to the astonish-
thorities.
His investigations to date, have shown
that about 80 per cent of the children
still are hookworm victims. This, he
believes, Is sufficient to constitute still
major problem instead of "no fur
ther problem" as the Rockefeller
Foundation scientists reported.
DR.. Stiles admits the very serious,
obvious cases of hookworm Infection
the so-called dirt eaterS"-largely have
disappeared. The present vast number
OF cases are less severely infected and
often are explained away r,as "malnu-
triton"
II tried hard" he said, ito settle
this matter without openly challenging
the Rockefeller scientists. But there
seems no other way than to come out
in the open with it, I have been
retired from the Government service
for physical disability. I am no longer
associated with any organization. I
am free agent at last and have de-
cided to devote part of my remain
ing years to doing something for the
hookworm victims 1t is purely my
personal affair"
Describes Its Ravages
DR.. Stiles described for the biologists
some of the ravageS Of hookworm. It
is an internal parasite that literally
saps the life from its victim. It stunts
growth and development so that adult
men and women are almost indistin-
guishable from children. 1t robs the
brain SO that the victims are usually
dull in school and sometimes sink to
the level of feeble -mindedneSs. It gets
into the lungs, and the victims are
likely to die early of tuberculosis. The
white plague" is especially rampant in
the hookworn country. Some of the
cures are almost miraculous. Once rid
of the hookworm, the victims can be
restored to normal physical and mental
condition in short time While the
hookworm is in their bodies they are
languid. feeble and diSinterested in life.
With the most intensive effort, DR..
Stiles believes. it will require at least
three generations to eliminate the pest.
The daily habits of millions of people
must be changed by education and sani-
tary regulation. If the fight is dropped
now because of the false sense of Sc,
curity due to the Rockefeller statement,
the pest will blight the child life of the
South for many generations to come, he
believes.
Traced to Civil War.
Among the facts ascertained by DR..
Stiles is that the terrible death rate
of the military prisoners in the notori-
GUS Andersonville stockade during the
Civil War was due largely to hook
worm II the unfortunate soldiers did
not die in the stockade they only re-
turned home to die OF tuberculosis
There have been other sensational
effects in American history because OF
this little worm which develops in the
loose soil, enters the body with the well
known dew poison" of children as its
manifest sign, and secures itself with
a tooth like organ which DR.. stiles
compares to the fang Of poisonous
serpent.
GOLD STANDARD URGED