n
-abkl
Ec3 ; n:c!:c3 C;2 feed mere
eppcz: end r.::clcsc:ns
The c-Iy nc!;Irj Poivdcr tic
froa Eoycl Crepe Crecni of Tcitzr
THE NEGRO AND PUBLIC HEALTH.
In
Br G. W. Paschal -;,
Bulletin State Board
Health)
of
'The problem of of sanitation
. public and private, in North
Carolina, as. in other Southern
states, is complicated by the prcs-
, ence of a large negro element in
our population w , , In our state
, 1 approximately ! one pe.rson . in
three is colored. This proposJ
tion is touch exceeded in many
-of.our towns and in the eastern
half of our state. Jlence it is
, , evident that any scheme of sani
tation and health improvement
that '. does not include 'the negro
. and - his peculiarities is - doomed
to fail of complete success. ' I
fehall try) in this article to call
intention to some of the factors
JJiat must , be reckoned with-and
make a suggestion or two, recog
nizing that complete solution
cannot be attained or even indi1
cated, but hoping that, as the
work progresses among our white
' people, the proper methods of
dealing with, the colored "will.be
' come more evident. . -;' -
Tart of the problem of sanita
tion as concerns the negro is due
not to race, but to the fact that
" os a class he constitutes the poor
, er part of our people, and the
problem with him in this respect
is the problem of tnis class every
where. But there are other
, complications of the problem due
to the racial peculiarities of tne
Negro, and it is to these Wat i
shall try to confine myself, '.
In the first place, let us not
: lose sight of the fact that the
place of the negro in our govern
ment is not yet one of perfect
adoption, and in fact is one en
tirely inconsistent with the dem
ocratic spirit to which our white
citizens conform. He has no
voice in determining what the
laws shall be, and hence regards
laws much as in former days the
slave fegarded the orders of his
master. : If the law is based on a
definite Bibical tenet taught by
- his preacher, he has some con
science in regard to it, but oth
erwise he has very little.
Itis but natural that where no
usual moral problem is iuvolved
r be should hava respect ."not 'so.
much for the law as for the penalties-
and. so when he finds it
convenient to disregard tlie law
be" often does so without scruple.
This is one of the inevitable con
sequences of having among us a
race unequal in civic and politi
cal attainments and privik; , a
onsequence which has its ejects
in other matters. But in tlie
matter of public health laws it
ran easily be Feen what a hin
"ance, this generalattitude or
i t a negro will be. He must Iff
nde to see that such laws are
. laws, tlatf be is tobe pro
tccted. or raf.fr is to protect
Jiimsclf. by'. t!.-tr enforcement,
-lse be wTl! nrvrr ' y them. He
vill, on tlie c;:frr hand, render
nugatory much of ! e work dono
'for public he filth a:"rp. the
whites. ' Tf; I co:.;;-kt the
pa per "f will c r ere rr two ig-fi-rstion"
f tVrr. c f pouring
i-nfri 1 1 r" 1 t-' - ! ' i.
yor r - f - T ' . ' f'
( 'i '.' ' - -("'
learning to read and write in our
schools but it will take- many
years to remove his inheritance
of .ignorance. " He1 has not yet
i .. . . i . . - ,
icjirnea to tainit; ana ; reason
And in the matter of disease, es
pecially, the negro is grossly ig
norant. ..lie knows nothing of its
nature, great numbers believing
tnat many diseases are due to en
chantment and witchcraft. He
knows nothing of their cure and
often finds iu some ridiculous nos
trum a panacea of all his "ills.
It needs no demonstration : to
prove ft .very serious obstacle to
wards advancement in sanitation
Another drawback -to sanita
tion among; the negroes is their
nberitance. of dirt,"? Before he
left his native home in Africa
the negro was used to dirt, and
during his 'period of bondage in
this country only a dirty hovel
was usually famished him by
his master. The' cleaulv home
often found now, but by far
the greater number of negroes
are still content , with : squalid
surroundings, and are disregard
ful of unsanitary and infectuous
conditions. - They ; are thus a
source of danger not only to
themselves, but also to their more
cleanly neighbors and to the
whites whose dwellings are - in
the" Vicinity. Since I have been
writing this paper a physician of
our town who is interested in
sanitation has told me that he is
now treating a case of typhoid
fever in a hovel which, is almost
a cessjiool of filth and swarm iug
with flies -"and mosquitoes ready
to carry tlie infection to the near
by bouse which "is- the-most cost-
Ivr residence in our town J It is
evident that anr effective system
of sanitation will have to take in-:
to account the uncleanlv siu
ronndings "Cni which many negro
families live and seek to helo ne
groes remove tlieni. I sav neip,
for unless the co-operation of th'
rejrroes can be secured the task
s hopeless. -v " - " v'
Agabi.'the negro's attitude to
wards life must be disregarded.
Many make the egregious mistake
of thinking that because the ne
gro is light-hearted he is happy ".
Perhaps they were once as free
from care as they are now sup
posed to be. But the truth is
that at present the greater part
of the negroes among us are de
ppondent. Tlie dark pall of un
equal privileges and opportuni
ties hampers their aspirations
for individual advancement.
Hence the negro comes to Bet a
low estimate upon the value of
life and health. He has not
much to win by lnnng well-nor
much to lose by dying. As for
those who are near and dear to
bi;;t " tlierte is uo prospect. sufil
ci'nt to make him care for their
future as the white man cares
for bis own. Bo be is ready to
run the risk cf contracting some
conff 'on " r;i p and to spread
the infection nn
spread the f.ro ;
field of the I'hillstines. Hence
also the- great amount, of set
ual impurity nn l coij.-rqnent-dis-
icvalent fin. istruetive
f-r cifv : - 1 town nep-cr
: ' r ' . ( ' f no - t
-.11- H. . i .
avau win oc to give tue ncr;ro a
more hopeful outlook. In place
of bis despondency we must cre
ate hope. - And here is where
the health officer .must be joined
by the statesman and the preach
er, ir tne uudeveloped race a
mong us is to be kept in an at
mosphere of despair the nemesis
of a thousand ills will come to
curse us, and , not the least of
these will be the ineffectual sanK
tary. laws. ,". '''"'v'; r;,,. v'-:
: Another racial element in the
robleni is that the negro is
more susceptible to certain dis
eases than the white man. One
of these is tuberculosis. I have
been interested ; for many years
ooKing over the records.of deaths
among white and colored in the
Bulletin of the North Carolina
State Board of Health, One of
the most uniform , and striking
facts revealed in these figures has
been that ; the percentage of
deaths from -tuberculosis among
the negroes is nearly twice as
great as among whites. This
may be due to the fact that the
liegroes are ill fed, ill housed,
ill clothed, rather than to any ra
cial peculiarity. But as I have
intimated above, even these things
are partly due to race. But one
thing is certain, tuberculosis is
one of.': the infectious diseases
which is very prevalent . among
our negroes,, and will be very
hard to get rid of among them.
And yet anyone can see that both
tuberculosis and other infectious
diseases, which have their lair a-
mong the colored population, can
never be-controlled, unless ; the
field of effort is that, of all the
population, white and black:
Anyxjther. scheme of work will
be f utile.
HOME HEALTH CLUB ,
!- ' - " 4 ' ,i
Dr. David H. Rccdcr, Chkag'o, III
. W1LVT SHOULD 1 EAT?
vnen one reads the various
food advertisements, food bullet
ins and health literature of the
Ieriod, it creates a distrust in
regard to almost any good whole-
some Jrood ; Jsot .long ago I ,was
asked to take lunch at a promi
nent hotel with a friend and his
wife. I seldom eat heartily at
noon, if I have much mental work
to do afterwards, and I ordered
a bowl of .vegetable soup and af
terwards a piece of fruit pie. My
friend and his wife were bon-ifled
to think that I, a teacher of
wholesome diet, Bhould eat pie .
They ordered meats, vegetables,
with ice cream cake and coffee.
They were to spend the afternoon
in the park and would walk 'sev
eral ' miles. With the possible
exception of ' the coffee, -their
lunch, as well as mine, was well
suited to the work we were to
do. To' the person in average
health and normal mental atti
tude, any good clean food, prop-'
erly eaten, is wholesome . and
healthful. Did you notice these
words, "properly eaten?" . Well
there is the crux of the' whole
story, aside, from another phrase,
"mental attitude.'.
A strong vigorous roung man,
who does physical out door work
can "bolt" his food, wash it
down with hot coffee, eat almost
anything which is before him,
and lots of ' it, and may remain
apparently strong and well for a
number of years, but after awhile
he notices , an accumulation of
gas in his stomach. - He belch
es frequentlv after meals and
r i i
V
SbcIJ Have GccJlrjI;i for Sic ',"
A poor lis:ht strains tha eyes, and the injurious effecu ir. j
kst for life. An oil lzzip te best.. The light from the r
hemp is soft and mellow. You can read or work zr.l:r ll
for hours without hurting your eyes. "
, Thm RAYO U CMutractl cUiitifie!ly.
Tfct
-
ftawufc, N. X
r
It U tk
kt lamy md -yt iazpntiT and cenomicaL
1 made of aolid brasi nickel elate!.
tf if bfnica wimuui rrmovinif unm7 r
anaaa. Eair to clean and rawick. Mad in wmci
tylea and for all purpoaet. .
. Dmmttn Eottywhtrm "
STAfiDARD OIL COMPANY
(1 fawatad la Nw Jty)
T u.. ti a . j. , l l uric 13 u uucunv nrunauuu iu
th VZ t n ,udic6 hi stomach. He-thinks he is
the nature of the problem with iu
.v..-v .,.vv v. st 1 undgested. He finds a
element of our population has . ,
complicated matters. - Perhaps I
mt SERVICE
may be, pardoned for suggesting
some methods of, dealing with it.
First. I would suggest that j
the Interest of the negroes them
selves be enlisted, . Sanitation is
manifestly a hopeless task unless j
we can do this.
F.mi son's foxes
imor.g tlie corn
er!
nearbv saloon where a free lunch
is served, and a glass of beer,
with a . few bites of food, satis
fies, him for the time being. More
eructations of gas rise' from the
stomach and when the uneasy
feelins appears next ' day i, he
promptly repeats the experiment
Knon h tri It two or three
The preachers of that race can times dailv. aiid then more' and
ueip ana i peiieve wiu . xne more frequently until the abused
necro Dreacner nas ireeat innn- tnih haa nA.iaA annthnr innr.
ZX r 5 . I "IVU'UVU MMV MMVX
ence with his race; It he be- Uffy tlTe fafA.f of the ucemploy
comes interested in sanitation iet jje may ' make a fight and
he can impart that interest and! g0 to Ms .family physician and
win iae pnue in uoiug bu. a ho dven medicine, put no in
A. . 1 til . . J !
very paiem liiustrauon io snow gtruction about how to eat or
that sanitary. laws, can be made what to eat. It's a senseless.
effective among pnmative peopbj I useless fight without sensible and
by giving them a religious sane- Lne methods of eating. v
tion, is found in 4 the sanitary! The teeth are the guardians
aws of the Mosaic code. Tol0f the stomach. The sense of
make these laws effective they imcii and of taste are the sen ti
were given with the authority of nels.- Thev can be fooled with
the Hebrew God. It is not sup- jcunningly contrived dishes and
posed that the negro preachers J the teeth are under the control
nave any sucn -wme lmiuence as i0f the voluntary muscles. ; Every
Moses had, but m their . positions ..-rtieie 0f food, especially fruits
as teachers 'and. prophets of thean) cereals or starchr joods of
race they can do much and thv ianv kind, should 'be chewed un
seVuring of their interest will be tji' n js reduced to a soft pulpy
step forward. , ., , , ; inass " thoroushly incorporated
A further step will be to gain with the salivary juices of the
the help of the negro., school mouth: otherwise they cannot ue
with nfliPi- Inrnnerlr diirested . Meats do not
to be required to know n certain though it is better, to chew
amount of sanitary ... science as food thorougniy;
nt-oppniiJslto tn teachin!f .in anv
I VCtU RALE One 23 Horse
all other teachers ought to be re- Tower Teno" Gasoline Engine
aUmonta r( I n ith rn 11 1 nmpntS MHl Hi (jlOOQ
MU11LU - ' ' iv n , ...v. --.v. .... v. I ' - - - - 1 g
this science.. But in addition I Condition.
Means much in every depart
ment of Life- work; But it menns
more in feeding. People do not
like to wait when they are Hungry.
Here is where we come In, Here iz
where we make the Busy Bee the leading Hotel in
Elizabeth City. No wait no delay. Ouick neaL,
follow quick orders.
BUSY BEE CAFE
Poindexter St. . Elizabeth City, N. C.
ail
the active and enthusiastic inter
est of these teachers of , negro,
children ought to be won, and I
think may I won. , ' i
Finally in incorporated towns
where there is a negro physician.
he might Je made a subordinnte
health officer to co-operate with
the white officer in looking after
sanitation amonff' roemler8 of
his own race. With an cicer or
their own the negroes would come
to feel that this public tealth is
a matter in which they have art
interest and an obligation. Then
half the battle will be won. . -
And in conclusion, let us all
who arc interested in public
heal(hvboth luj-roan and physi
cian, remember that what will do
the negro good will do tLe white
mn good; that a .healthy negro
population will le an economic
asset to both his race and to the
whites, that a diseased r.-'ro pop
illation moan loss to both races;
and tbat l.r.u.h among t- e whites
is eomlitk rrI -pon hcilth among
tlie r.fyr And J t r i not l"
a f ra i 1 t ) ( - i '. a 1 C.!. l is
t's ' -' ' r s i ' s : I y
D. E. WILLIAMS,
Kmilh Mill. y.-C.
March Iftth 'till April 11th t.
1? m"
- - - - rj
One and Two Horse Wagons,
we have them in all sizes, with
iron axle or with the celebrated
Long Sleeve Thimble Fkein.
Also New Century Cultivators
Stock Cutters, Disc, gpikc, tooth
Harrows. Weeders, II iddle Bus
ters and It. I?. Avery's Steele
plOWR. ; . .
Just received' a carload of , A
drian wir f ie?, a fnll line of
Clover isr 1 gra" seeds, -Oats
Wheat r :: I Hre, etc. Bee us and
jjet pricc.
r A TT' v TT
- ; ..:,"" v'.:j,."- -v.;' '.
4.y . . . f -
Broken to Family use
Any JLcCy Can E:ivo EZI:;i
" . mil Sell Cheap y i :
Wit AtteECiis Gcz:
Best Hotel Accommodation in Eliz
abeth City for tlie money.
Special Attention paid to Attendant:
s upon this veclio Court.
EUROPEAN HO TElf
D. T. HARRIS, Prop. '
All Kinds of Pea$.
i n
All
G
The Standard Railroad of tie L .-th RaEJifies the "Nations Ca
den Spot" Ttrorsih the States of
VIRGINIA
NORTH CAROLINA
-' SOUTH CAROLN A
GEORGIA ' .
All ADAM A
' c:l FLORIDA
roun rAfjeus trak.j '
NKVV Y O R K A N O F l. O R I D A IMCIlU
(January to.Aprl')"
FLCr.'.ZA tn VtST IKD'AM Li t ITID-,
" -coast w:z rLc;,:r v.
t.'.zl:z csrg la ctrt r:nr!; 'A"l j
j f--c- i Ii Tort to toti Ttrt TS3fa t J i: '
i t i; J f-n IT if ' .
: ! rjustritjl t " 'i i.jc T
'. Z. r-:-:r;sr t." " :'.".. 7. C. . . .
talusto l::