Imperial Valley press., 1937-01-19
News Behind the News
The Army and Navy in the Budget
And Then the Health Service ..
Behind the Public Debt -.

wAsHINGToN.-The federal budget for the
NEXT fiscal year gives the navy S5S7 ,302.6O0 and
the army $s93 ,46o'4oo for war purposes a 'o'ai
of nearly billion dollars.
1t gives the U. s. Public Health Service
S2e.75S 900.
of course if you want to get the full por-
ton of proposed expenditures for 19S1-SS prop
erly chargeable to post wars and danger of
future ones, you must add to the army navy
biu as peace advocates fond of doing, an
item of s5775ooooo for veteran vet no pensions and
and $401. 100000 for retirement OF, public debt
which is largely due to war.
Total of these items is about s. 900 600.
The public health appropriation will be about
one-fifth of the cost of two new super-dread-
naughts construction of which Will begin i'm
mediately.
Desirabilty of adequate national defense is
disputed by hardly anyone. Yet no one seems
to be quite clear to whom we are going to
fight with that billion dollars and the military
naval machine built up by other billions in past
years.
The o. S. Public Health Service on the
other hand knows exactly what it wants to
fight and hasn't the slightest fear that it will
ever run out of available dangerous enemies.
Disparity between the number of casualties
unnecessarily caused by disease and the num-
Der killed in battle within American borders
within the last 70 years is greater than the
disparity between what Congress will vote for
national health and what it will vote for war.
Just the other day the u S. Public Health
Service declared war on Veuereal diseases, WHICH
are estimated to afflict upward of 100000 Am
erican citizens. The Conference on Venereal
Disease Control held in Washington under its
auspices and with the presidents blessing recon-
mended that the S8,O00000 appropriated for
state health grants under the Social Security
Act (part of the budget figure) be increased to
SIS, 100000.
Health promotion and disease prevention have
been considered primarily a state function but
state public health expenditures took a nose
dive during the depression and eight millions
Of grant money this year has stimulated states
to expand their activities enormously
The health service helps states set up their
Under the Social Security Act it also receives
$ly6OO,000 for disease and sanitation investiga-
ton.
Industrial hygiene and public health nurs-
ing, along with expansion of venereal disease
clinics and education, the chief fields in
which Assistant Secretary of the Treasury jose
ran, Jr, feel they could use those extra mil
lions at once.
Industrial hygiene covers deaths, diseases,
and disabilities arising from the jobs people
do. The life expectancy of industrial work.
er is seven years shorter than that Of non
industrial worker.
Occupational health hazards are known to
exist in 1000 separate occupations and there are
at least 100 groups of poisons and industrial
hazards known TO be detrimental to health.
Only two states had made provisions to
meet industrial health hazards before the Social
Security ten millions became available. Now 81
have industrial hygiene units.
Miss Roche points out that there is great
mass of scientific and technical information
stored up which would be of value to millions
Of workers from the standpoint of their lives
and health If it only could be spread around.