Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / Jan. 13, 1909, edition 1 / Page 5
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THE CHARLOTTE .EVENING CHRONICtEt JANUABY 13, im '5 INTEREST IS A SHOWN IN GREAT WORK rrontinued from Page One.) me uw uwr iar .wanz or. or desn tA aUt ting firm lodgment. True, It" is not like the eontaelon coueh and emeetoration led to of small pox or diphtheria, of scar-. discovery that the leprosy of Naaman lezrever or measles, which will infects had fallen upon him ,vh,n improperly carried out, t"ale sense of security. .k real aangtrr is vncu vk . ' toiu-hed in the superficial r. of disinfecting. pr. Minors Address. nr iTiarlea I Minor, of Asheville, follows "On the relation of X 'workshop and factory sanita uok t the suppression of tubercu locU in the tate." . IVt,r centuries of carelessness and ect the world is awakening to a 'Ration, not merely of the dangers individuals " - equally a aanger iu ms, and that its existence as nearly every one who even for a few- moments Is exposed to it, or else hu manity would long ago have been wiped out; It demands a prolonged and intomate exposure, generally In doors, day after day, to the germr an miecuon ty a large number of the or ganisms, a few beine nromDtlv over come by the defences of the .body; out Attain T recall a 'case where I am satisfied that the incurable spitting habits of an officer of a State admin istration, who, even after he knew he had the trouble and had fce'en told of its dangers to others, could not learn to .. give up an inveterate habit, and continued to . spit carelessly around his office, till the advance of nis ais- doors Infection probably seldom or eas no longer allowed of his getting that it UWaurge par excellence of human !.v owing largely. If not entirely. "; UT failure to use the means at our i for Its eradication. M hoDefulness with which ...vtnd formerly looked upon it as nr from God, which could .. h. escaped, is being :"-.i we now know that, if! physicians im to recognize the early be- .f the disease, instead of till the very man on never occurs, as exposure is but mo mentary and direct sunlight rapidly, ana amused daylight more slowly, lrMT. . 1 i - . . . . ... n.na me Daciuus, Dut, while we should take the comfort these sclen tincauy proven facts can give, it should not lead us for a moment to to his work, will sooner or later have its results in the development or . tu berculosis in those who worked un der and with him. x The sputum System. One more sad case, not in my prac- trictly the sort of life that land and unfortunately of the South we an love so much. In America ev eryone, I could almost say, spits, and not alone are our streets, which God's isunugm wui to a great decree disin- K-it ivt- the rhvsician can map out for them, tn disease can be cured in the great ,r ivT'.ty of such cases.. Furthermore, ..I !ar more important, we know V-v proper measures Its propa- t iti 'ii can be stopped, so that we can -,..-t:;;aK" expect the coming of a whcii it shall be robbed of most o- it terrors and no longer be the ,ure of mankind as it has been for .-nftiri05. We need not now, as formerly, wait -.immence the fight against tho . - cease till it is gnawing at our vi- n s. but we can go forth to attack it :: it lair, and to eradicate the condl- t:ns which alone give It the oppor trnity to flourish. With our present knowledge we cm no longer selfishly content our c.lves with efforts at saving our own tVur ones when the plague has claim .". them, but must, if we could claim t:e name of men. altruistically seek t help all suffering humanity and es pecially the poorest and most mlser aMe who cannot, as well as we, help themselves, and also the great middle class whose disablement by sickness i such a loss to the community of which they form the greater part. Our aim must be to save people rot after but before they have fallen a prey to the Great white Plague, and to teach them how to keep it from their homes and hearths. relax our vigilance, or the activity of I tlce. but of which I was Informed by our enorts to eradicate it totally. Let an official of the government pnni me here, however, note that it is the Ing office in "Washington, which now uacienoiogicai power of the sunlight has a perfect system of sputum ais that through, the past centuries has posal. One of the printers, a young neid down its ravages,- although man boy with DroDer ideas as to consplc Vt.. J t . . . I . I . . . uouk spitting, was much worried oy the nasty and free expectoration of a fellow workman in another part of the room. The latter, finding this out, took pleasure in worrying his com panion by passing by his form and spitting on the ground by him. not knowing that he himself had tuDer culosis. Not long afte.r his own death bv the disease the victim of this ter rible practical Joke came down with it also. Every year I see many such cases that have, without reasonable doubt, become infected from careless fel lows in office, shop or workshop, by building himself, irf ijis ignorance and. cupidity, dark. Jaijnp, sunless homes has doone all he could to assist it. A Ceaseless Warfare. in view of what I have said it is evident that, while there are several ways in which we can combat the disease, the first and the best of all is a ceaseless warfare against the nasty spitting habit that Is one of the chief and distinguishing curses of our factories and our homes. uur climate with its sudden cnanges and great extremes, favors catarrh, our rushing life and hastily uuncu meais encourage indigestion. amusing and tne far more-objection aoie cnewmg is very prevalent, and young boys think they are demon strating their manhood by promiscu ous spitting like their elders. Need I recall to any of you your last railroad Journey 6r walk on the street or visit to a store to remind you that I have given a true picture of American con ditions? Not only those who know thev are bick are tnus, to their same, careless: unfortunately the advance of the dis ease is so slow and insidious that many do not know they are sick, or wno tnink tney only have a "cold," have in reality unrecognized tnherrn. losis, a large number of all chronic coughs being of this nature, and such are a danger to a community if thev i . . . ... j - " spii careiessiy, while It is equally true inai me consumptive who carefully uu property aispose of his sputum and also covers his mouth when he coughs need be absolutely no danger to nis ieiiow workmen. Thus ft t plain that. If we are to succeed, tho spilling naDlt must bo Stnnneri a nnh. Of the three classes into which we lie sentiment against it as filthy and usually civiae tne community, xne inaecent must be cultivated, till thn well to do. the working class and the many, who for the public good will eubmerged tenth, or slum dwellers not desist, will be shamed into It by and criminal voot, the first by their the public reprobation. The Spitting; Habit. Let the spitting habit be but once feet, thus polluted, but our shops and through this nasty habit till I feel LI UUk. IIHU oA v.-w.. . v means and education, are able to avoid most of the dangers of infection tad to successfully combat it when it ha3 attacked them, the lst while suffering from it more than any oth ers, owing to their bad habits, live under such miserable conditons. and are addicted to such unsanitary ways of life, that their rescue becomes, as I have said elsewhere, more a prob lem for the sociologist and civic re former than ior the doctor, and is properly the task of those who can improve tenement design and sanita tion, who can lessen- drunkenness and dissipation and can teach the f mi-criminal classes a hygiene alien to their tastes. The Great Working Class. Most numerous of all are the great working class, shop, workshop, fac tory and mill workers, (the farmers I here neglect as their country Hfo to a great degree protects them), that great industrial army whose members are so often called tho backbone of our land, and who, while they can make a good living for themselves and their families as long as they are well, lay aside so little to fall back on in time of the sickness of the head of the household. With them his sickness is too often i uisposeu oi wnere it can do no harm, and scientists all recognize that in fifty years or less tuberculosis would be a rare disease. Think what this would mean to humanity, think of the valuable lives in every walk of life that would be saved, of the sorrow and suffering, not merely of the Invalids but of their loved ones. that would be stopped, the financial gain to the-community when we rec ognize that every adult human be ing is worth $8,000 .to the bodv oolit ic, the saving of brilliant minds with all they could accomplish for man kind, and we must see that steDs to abolish this evil would be repaid, a million times over however costly and troublesome they were. That the tasTc Is Cyclopean in this country is sadly true, but it Is amply worth the while. If we had only lay men to teach it would be' hard enough, but unfortunately our profession, who know the facts, have many members who will not or cannot learn. I was once delivering an address on the subject of tuberculosis before the medical society of a great State, not our own. Before me in the carpeted assembly hall of the State house sat many dnrtnrs anri no t toibni .-... the beginning of their enforced de- remarks were punctuated by a con scent to a lower and worse social I stant pvnprtnratinn . o v. 1 m v ' J not a iew or the assembled disciples of Aesculapius. This crusade must be waeed with doctors as well as lavmen till every one learns that nothing comes out of the mouth, that harbor of many harmful germs, should ever be dis charged1 carelessly into the air. sstreet spitting we cannot hope for a long ume.ir ever to stop, but if we can teach that to spit on a sidewalk and not into the roadway, is Improper. we must and probably can trust our good mend the sunt to continue at the old stand undoing, out doors at least, the bad effects of man's care lessness. , It is Indoor spitting that is danger ous and which chiefly spreads the dis ease, and this we cannot too vigorous ly attack and seek to eradicate. And do you ask how this bears on shop sanitation? You would not have to ask if you saw as many people as I do who have become tuberculous because fellow clerks, fellow salesmen fellow workmen with a chronic cough and expectoration.spat on the floors of their stores or workshops or facto ries and cotton mills thus handing on to their associates the disease that al ready had its clutches on them. I could cite many cases of this sort in abundance, from my case histories, where the mode of infection was too direct and evident to be doubted. The conditions for infection are of the best; we have prolonged daily ex posure, usually in sunless, ill ventila ted rooms, where the cerm fro of them, and J from the sputum bv being eronnfl der root, can remain in dark corners unreached by single ray of sunlight and ready to be whirled around in the air with every puff of wind ex cited by the work of the shop. I recall a recent case where a jew eler, a man of intelligence, became infected in this way. His father had In his store a German workman who, for several years before his death from tuberculosis .had regularly used j the floor of his jeweler's bench for a j spittoon. From this the father became infec- ted and developed a co.ugh and ex pectoration and, like his workman, he too used the floor between his and Ms son's bench on which to spit. He too has lately died from the disease, and now his son has come down with it, a victim to his own father's dirty habit and ignorance of the simplest hygienic rules. ,. Had these two intelligent men but understood the dangers they ran, and to 'Which they exposed others two useful lives would .have been saved to the community. Again I recall a case where a man of perfect family history, . and absolutely perfect past health, bought a business in seeds and bulbs from a- consumptive who for years had been busy unconscious ly planting the seeds of tuberculosis all over his dark sunless store. After a few years of working there, for let me remind you that rarely does a tuberculosis Infection develop under several years from the time of Inoculation, this hitherto strong, healthy, man hegan to droop and. run ua from the body of this death!" for there is no lessening In its prevalence. But while spitting Is the founda tion cause, it is not the only cause of the spread .of -the disease among tho working classes in their work places or in their homes, though I must here neglect the latter as with out my subject. Lack of air and ven tilation and sunlight in their work places, unduly long hours, child la bor, improper opportunities for eat ing and Improper food are ail ac tive in a less degree. "Those who, like doctors, daily have to inquire minutely into the modes of life and work of American citizens know as I do how generally sunless, often almost windowless and rarely or never ventilated at all. are the majority of American stores, workshops and factories. "Even the highly paid officers of big corporations often work, I have found, in dark stuffy offices with a cubic content of air and a window space that violates every rule of hygiene. "How much worse are the large majority of dry goods shops, where a A. J. iV.I. our wives ana aaugniers get meir clothing, the noses and eyes of those of us who . have ever gone shopping in these places with them, have am ply demonstrated. "In the South, of and to which l especially speak, our shops and stores usually are ventilated, if the term can be applied to it, solely stopped and let all sputum be proper- through the door at the rear and one at tne rront, tne winaows noi open- level as waning resources force them tc seek cheaper and cheaper quarters whirh necessitate worse and worse associates for their children, and as they relinquish one by one those things which make for self respect and the decent bringing up of their families as desirable members of the community. ' Hence, it is easily een that, even entirely aside from humanitarian con siderations, it is our duty.to the com mvnity to step in and so improve tVir conditionss in store or work shop or factory or home as to lessen t th- utmost the chance of their falling a prey to tuberculosis. Do m.t let us try to comfort our selves that it is not our business; in the word..? of the great Augustine, :iomo sum; humahi nihil a me al:enum puto. "I am a man and nothing affecting humanity can be a "on to me;" it is our business. heth, r we recpgnize it or not, and cannot negfrct it and do our ty cs men. We are all moreover, in 'e -,vay or another, employers of la, tor a:ui v.-e. no more than Cain, can fry "Am I my brother's keeper," our xt-ponsri:,-i:ty for them cannot be They are our fellow citizens, often fi:r er-picyees. or else we benefit by e iruit of their labor in some indi rect way. and, even on a lower and Pre .-eifist hasis. if we do not sten ri an.l hin them foil the disease that rtvo-ring so manv of them, and r-nipiacer.cy because it does not at T?rK us. the infection will spread and f-iy probably sooner or later throw l.S . ...... .tiuiinn our noar nnos !ra'V them. too. rinvrn n t V.q tnat already haI H'nr. ,nth from altrulstic and .roia seinh motives. It Is our duty ' " o,ir interest to do all in our r-.wer to improve the conditions -,1 the. spread of the disease -mongn o-ir working classes. Sanitation of shops. -hi"! hrln me to the especial sub r.,r.i or my remarks, the sanitation of beJr- "PS and workplaces in its n,rT- . n the suPPresion of pulmo thi .tuh-rri'losi3. All our efforts in ec lLuTC!nn must be b9sed on' the 2 fior,"-v demonstrated fact of the ir,v,,bn,fV of tuberculosis, first mo bJ VilIpraain. of arls. about 2I;'n14 finar brought home to a , a! orId by the discovery of gem. rlln ,n 1882 of tne actual rknol6?!?11 f thIS and ther work ni?r Vh.at, Prat;tIcay the only ZvecLZl lnfeon as from the Pufmorl n of tnose suffering 'from Sm 7 ,tubrculosis. in their Ji1! fund e germ in large lus? aaKd' when drled- reduced to W fa wn around, it can un--r ravorable conditions (but not eas- an infi8 e' ,or " w,th difficulty a th05,nrlaKn) Puce the disease ifeja whom It succeed la gat ing, and the doors being connected bv a long, dark artificially lit tunnel whose atmosphere reeks with human itycand with dust, and whose foul air is never properly removed. What must be the effect on the clerks who spen'd long hours under such conditions and in such air it takes no very vivid imagination and no medical knowledge to realize, and it is only short stay there of the cus tomers , that makes it harmless to them, j "How much worse this is made when the clerks, as observation teach- o- a-h engulfed STIEfPSl LATEST WONDER! :-: THE :-: Miniature Grand Just think, a wee little grand piano only; 5 feet long! A wee lit tle grand piano, so small it requires only a little more space than an upright, yet contains all the tonal beauties and the. perfect action of the large grand and a wonderful volume. Small enough for the smallest parlor; tone enough for the largest parlor.. Costs little more than an upright piano, and within reach of the most economical buyer. CHAS. IW. STIEFF Manufacturer of the Pianos With the Sweet Tone. SOUTHERN WAREROOM 5 West Trade Street, 0. H. WILMOTH, Mgr. CHARIiOTTE, N. JD. toons, -and rub it dry with their-feet. I need not tell you, yet that such habits are the custom -we all who have wide-awake eyes in our heads well know.', 1 , j !"A proper supply Of spittoons properly cared for. and daily proper ly cleaned, are practically unknown and clerks, proprietors and customers breathe in a mixture of foul air, dried sputum dust and street dust horrible to contemplate. - " -; "No wonder grippe spreads rapidly when onces a, few cases appear in our i.nuv, auu ii luucicuiosij. were a3 eany transmitted who could escape? "Not to be forgotten in its effect oa the dissemination of tuberculosis are the long hours which ' lower the resisting power to disease of clerks and workmen,; of factory operatives and especially of the poor children whom the cupidity of corporations and parents forces to work at the loom when they should be out of doors In God's pure air. "The undernourishment t which workmen suffer from, can only be considered in ' so far as shop - rules fail to give proper time for eating; the quality of the food is a question to be attacked by those who seek to teach .good and decent housekeeping to the workman's wife. "In comba'tting these errors our hope must lie In awakening the em ployers' sense of personal, moral re sponsibility for the conditions to which he subjects his employes and those who, like himself, trust in the final analysis, to the inherent good ness of the human heart, cannot be believe that in time we shall succeed in such efforts. The Existing Conditions. "Thus Iave briefly sketched to you the actually existing conditions. "What are we going to do about it? I "Can anyone with a spark of hu manity, of love of his kind, sit by with- folded hands while his fellow men sicken and die, careless because he is not directly affected, because as far as he knows his dear ones are safe ? . "Selfishness is doubtless the fun damental human sin, but I think too wel lof humanity not to believe that when once a crying need is made clear men will arise unselfishly and courageously to meet it. -or when an abuse Is laid bare will be ready to fight it. "In the North already men and so cieties, notably our parent society, i the National Association for the kfjtudy and Prevention of Tuberculosis, are struggling with the problem, and it behooves us Southerners not to be behind our Northern brethren in tak ing up the fight. "We have stores and workshops and factories, in daily increasing num bers, we have our .sufferers from tuberculosis which was acquired un der these conditions, our hearts 'are as warm as theirs, even if our pockets are not yet as long, and wewould do violence to all the traditions of our ancestors of whom we are so proud. and be unworthy of their good names, if we too did not gird us to the fight like men. "The organization of this society, I like to think, is a proof that we will and it would be a shame on our pride of State if we let its mere organiza tion satisfy us and did not let it lead us to practical work. I would then suggest for our first object of effort a campaign against the bad sanitary conditions of our stores and work shops and factories and mills. "Let a carefully worded circular be gotten out and put Into-the hands of the head of every store andv factory and mill, in the State and published In all our , State journals lay -and medi cal, showing what can be : done to eradicate the faults that' exist. ; Advantage of Spittoons. "Show them how spittoons properly numerous, properly; placed, and prop erly cared for can o far to prevent the drying and : disseminating of bpu' tum, show them how proper notices to clerks and workmen can explain to these' their own interest in the care ful disposal of their sputum, teach them how important - for their own and their employes' health is a daily thorough ventilation of all such places, show them not merely the hu manity but the good policy of cutting ample window space where possible so as ' to let in God's sunlight, thus lessen sickness amongst their help, with the resultant saving, of time and money to the employer. -: "Doubtless many will nay no heed rto all this, for we are . yet far from the mlllenium, but "some will, and by degrees we will build up such an en lightened and powerful public senti ment as will force the selfish and the ignorant to follow the lead set by better, men. . "With such a campaign of educa tion, pushed by leabet and by the powerful and aroused public opinion and by the aid of the medical profes sion and the press, which have both proven themselves every ready to help along a good cause that is for the benefit of the public, we will be gin to make progress, slowly at first, doubtless, but faster and faster as the truth becomes better and better known, till, finally, we can dare to dream of a time when philanthropy, lead by medical science, shall usher in the new day, and. tuberculosis, that dread enemy of mankind shall be banished from ourj midst." Dr. Paquln Dast Night. . The illustrated lecture of Dr. Paul Paquln, of "Ashevlle, last night, was from a layman's standpoint, . one '- of thje best features of the entire series of papers and lectures. After an : appropriate paper by Dr. Paqin -on "The Fight for Existence Between Germas and Man" .and "The More Practical Teaching of Physiolo gy and Hygiene in the Public Schools" the speaker displayed a valuable col lection of ' slides, the pictures being thrown on a large canvas in the end of the hall. , These slides were divided into nine sets, each of which dealt with a cer tain phase of the . problem. These nine divisions were as follows: ' (a) Man's structure and cellular faculties; (b) Bacterial life in general; germ life in particular; c) Disease germs andlin Particular; (d) The specific germs mucitujuBiB tutu lis cuniyinjntiuno, (e) How it acts; nture reacts; lesions; (f) Conditions favoring tuberculosis and its transmission; (g) death rate; (h) Outdoor life; (1) Better teaching cf physiology, and hygiene In the pub lie schools- . . Too much cannot "be said of the practical nature of this lecture and the well-selected illustrations which were used by Dr. Paqln. The pic tures illustrated nearly every phase of the tuberculosis problem and the association as well as visitors en- . Death, of Mrs. R. A., Morton. . Mrs. R. A. Morton died early last evening at her home on Pegram street. In Belmont, after an Illness with pneumonia; The funeral ser vices were held this afternoon at 3 o'clock from the residence and In terment was made In Elmwood Cem etery. Mrs. Morton was 39 years old and Is survived by her husband and several children. She was a native cf Stanly county and had resided In Charlotte-only a few years. A PHYSICIAN'S ADVICE TAKEN While I was nursing my second child, my breast broke out with an itching humor, which was very an noying and painful when my baby nursed. It also affected my baby's mouth, and my physician advised me to wean my baby, which I did and my breast got well. My third child was born four years afterwards, and, three months after the same trouble returned on my breast. My physician again' advised me to wean the child, but I did not want to do this if pos sible to avoid it. Then he suggested that I write to Mrs. Joe Persjon, which I did. and she advised me to use her Remedy, as she had known it to cure similar cases. I bought one-half dozen bottles of the "Remedy, The first bottle brought the trouble to the surface and my .breast seemed a great deal worse. On the second bottle the eruption commenced to dry up, an dbefore I took the one half dozen bottles my breast was well, arid I am now nursing my baby, 15 months old. I believe as implicitly in the merits of Mrs. Joe Person's Remedy as I OFFICE FURNITURE do in my God in .heaven, and I this not irreverently or lightly, reverently and gratefully. MRS. T. L. SELLARS. Burlington, N. C, Oct, 17, 1906 say but f Largest Stock In State We make a specialty of Office Equipments Com plete. We control on this market the best office ap pliances to be had. ' Sanitary Office Desks, Macey Office Appliances. Macey Sectional Bookcases. All Stdel Office Appliances. Guaranteed Leather Office Furniture. Card Index Systems. . Office Carpets and Eugs. Everything that goes in an office. PAR IMDifR CO ma NOTE WELL r m L f BEGINS 1 THE, V JAN. 16th J DATE PIE SALE r SALE A I ENDS , ) V FEB.V 6th J NOTE WELL THE DATE days, ending most match- ELECTRIQTY I Now is the time to have your house wired. See Swinson and Springs 'Phone 978 317 West Trade 1st. " ' Commencing Saturday morning, Jan I6tL for 19 mid-night Saturday, Feb. 6th, we will inagurate the less merchandising event in Charlotte, in which Piercing Arrows will penetrate prices on our entire stock of Dry Goods, Clothing, Shoes, Furnishings, Furs, Women s' Coats and Skirts, including our TWO BIG STORES and there wifl be "Gingery Doings" every minute of the time in which we will save you money on every purchase you make. - Remember the date and follow the crowd, for a purchasing ; ";. - " ... ' . ' opportunity such as you have never before enjoyed is open to you. WANTED 50 experenced sales-people These stores will be closed Thursday and Friday to arrange stocks for this sale Watch the Arrow. Igfjl Miller . - ' ' ' r Dry Goods and iotliirig Go niDanv Charlotte
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Jan. 13, 1909, edition 1
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