Evening star., 1936-12-29
BACKING Of PUBLIC
HELD NEED IN WAR
ION SOCIAL DISEASE
Only Aroused Citizenry Can
Eradicate Twin Plaques,
Is Contention.
STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL,
is SEEN LOCAL PROBLEM
More Than 800 Doctors and Lay.
men Attend Conference to
Map Program.

The 300 physicians and lay experts
on the problem of social disease. meet
ing here to plan the eradication Of its
twin plaques, we're told today that
only an aroused public opinion can
effect the elimination of syphilis and
gonorrhea.
Public opinion is the controlling
factor, early or late, in any public or
governmental action" Homer Folks.
secretary of the New York Charities
Aid Association. said at the opening
Of the secondary session in the audi
Health Service Building.
THE most valuable result from pub
lie backing is an aid toward Develop
ing, supporting and approving public
opinion. That support must be local.
inasmuch as the control fight is local"
Folks, who was pioneer in tu-
berculosis- control work, said he
found "a great similarity in essentials
between the movement for the control
of syphilis and the movement for the
control of tuberculosis" The latter
campaign has resulted in an invest.
ment of $23,0o0,oo0 in tuberculosis
hospitals in upstate New York alone.
Drive Started in 1881.
Folks Charities Aid Association
opened its campaign against syphilis
in 1881, and to date has spent $3l, 900,
with an appropriation for the coming
year of $4,000. The speaker said
that in Syracuse, N. Y, 70 powerful
citizens organizations are behind the
movement, including groups with such
diverse interests as the American Le-
gion, Catholic Welfare Conference,
Junior League, Chamber of Commerce.
Women's Democratic Club and Wom-
ems Republican Club.
Admit public health officers to mem.
bership in the voluntary citizens bod
les, Folks advised, but don't let their
connection with the organization be.
come too widely publicized. The citi.
zens must wage the fight themselves,
he said, adding:
This is method peculiarly suitable
to a democratic country in which all
citizens are supposed to be interested
in the workings of their government.
If government can be brought to
mean to the citizen not something he
votes for once every two years but
something for his interest and CO.
operation at all times, we can achieve
results in our campaign in every local.
ity."
The social security act opens the
way to broader control of. the spread
of venereal disease. DR.. r. H. Riley.
Maryland State director of health,
said this morning in opening a SYM
postum on Public Health Control Of
Syphilis"
DR.. Stokes Also Speaks.
The country's public health facili-
ties and offices are the chief potential
factors in a successful assault on the
spread of these diseases, DR.. Riley
said, and he found a potent ally in
DR.. John H. Stokes, professor Of der.
matology and syphilology at the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania School Of
Medicine, one Of the worlds leaders
in this field.
DR.. Stokes, too, found the public
health services of the country the
mainstay in the battle against the
ailments. and he made public az
earlier address of his delivered IN
London, emphasizing the difficulty Of
controlling this type of contagion:
las a measuring stick, let us ret all
that the present prevention Of SIN all
pox. diphtheria, scarlet fever and
typhoid depends upon from OF Ne to
three or four simple manipul' nions,
completed within at most three weeks.
THE control Of syphilis as q public
health problem by treatment methods
depends on not less than 4eI to 1o2
equally incommoding and possibly
reaction-producing proced'l nes, ex-
tending over 40 to IS weeI: g."
There should be q mi nin,um of
three years of treatment q nd obserya. J.
tion." he added, with SOP re degree of
supervision for at least a decade of
the syphilitic patient.
Paul de Kruif, pop 'Rar writer on
medicine and disease, fassured the ex.
perts that "the techn cal tools for its
complete annihilatio n (of syphilis)
are in our hands," b ut, he added, the
great need is educa ton, not alone of
the masses but of u ie educators them
selves, the doctors health men and
populi1ers Of scieY ice."