Milford chronicle., 1955-04-08
PRESs RESPONSIRTLITY


a New. 4Ofk newspaper reported that
the Salk polio vaccine has proved 100 per
cent effective. The story quoted an "unim-
peachable medical source" Authorities well
acquainted with the subject were quick to
deny that any authoritative information has
been disclosed. Actually only one man, who
has been heading the secret task Of compiling
the results of the tests knows just how ef-
fective the vaccine has proved and he isn't
talking and won't talk until his official report
is issued on April II.
Any self-respecting newspaperman wants
to be the first to get any bit of significant
news. But some sense of proportion must be
retained in the scramble for exclusives. The
desire to be first must always be considered
less important than the need to be accurate
and responsible. In the past some newspa-
pers have sinned gTievOusly against their re-
spOnsibility by publishing reports of cures
while results on experiments were still in
conclusive. Those who read of these cures
were led into false hopes and often to bitter
disappOintmeIlts The world has waited a
long time for polio vaccine. No cOnstrUc-
tive purpose was served by speculating on
the contents of a report that will be made
fully and responsibility in a matter of a few
weeks.
THE PROBLEM OF MENTAL ILLNESS
one. The number of it's victims has been
rising at an alarming rate. And it is pub
lie problem, directly affecting the national
welfare. Yet, according to two officials of
the American Medical Association, who gave
testimony before a House subcommittee in
some cases our mental health facilities re-
semble 'pesthOuses' where patients are con-
fined indefinitely with slight hope of cure"
These ANA spOkesmen testified in sup
oVto If OF
one Of which would promote an intensive
program of study in the field of mental
health under the Surgeon General and the
National Institute of Mental Health They
urged that increased federal funds be pro-
vided One of them made this all-impOrtant
point: Mental illness is intrinsically a med
ical problem. In solving health problems,
stress is too often placed on the provision of
physical facilities for diagnosis and treat
ment. We lose sight of the fact that hospital
buildings do not cure patients. The success
full management of illness, whether physical
or mental, comes only from the application
Of the art and science of medicine by a
physician skilled In modern methods" He
briefly reviewed the great progress that has
been made in fighting such dread diseases
as smallpox, typhoid fever, pOlo and others,
and added: Mental illness can succumb to
the same attack Patchwork, stOp-gap pro-
grams for the care of the mentally i'll are
keeping us on a treadmill and actually doing
little to reduce and prevent mental illness"
This expert advice should be needed. We
need the right kind Of physical facilities for
the mentally ILL., But most of all we need to
develop improved methods of care, treatment
and rehabilitation. Here in Delaware we are
fortunate that we have DR.. Tarumianz as
head of our mental illness institutions.
&GOOG
CONCENTRATING ON ABSURDITIES
1t looks as if there are no lengths of ex-
aggeratiOn to which the advocates of social
lied federal electric power will not 90. The
controversy over the Dixon-Yates contract,
under which taXpaying private enterprise is
to build S1O7, 100000 power installment to
serve the Atomic Energy Commission has
provided outstanding examples of that
1t was charged that DixOn-Yates was
taking up so much of the Aces time that it
wasn't properly doing its main job of build
/ ing up our stock of atomic weapons.
Acc Chairman Strauss replied to that in
way that was as effective as it was novel.
Before a Congressional committee he pro-
duced four large crates and one smaller one,
all loaded with documents received over a
short period of time by Acc on matters
other than the Dixon VI ates contract Then
he produced six envelopes. They held all the
paper concerned with Dixon-Y ates.
This, the Wall Street Journal said, dram
atized "the pitiful poverty" of the case
against Dixon Yates. 1t continued: every
reasonable objection to Dixon Yates has been
lclamOrOusly raised and found wanting. Now
that the valid questions have long since been
answered, the critics are forced to concen-
ltrate on such absurdities as this charge that
the. cOntrOVersy-for which they alone are
Iresponsible-is interfering with the work
Iof the Acc"
The whole argument has taken on an
Alice-in-WOnderland quality. It's high time
we got back to earth.
I0ON~G
STILL IN THE '7Os
Decades ago government collared the
railroads and brought them under strict reg
ulation," says the Rochester, New York
Times-Union. Railroads were mOnopolies
Railroads are no longer mOnopOlies. The
private automobile has eliminated thousands
of miles of railroad passenger service that
once existed and has reduced what remains