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SPECIAI NUMBER Augusta a Pure Food and Products Center—Co-operation and Efficienc HEALTH PROBLEMS IN TIE SOUTH By - Dr. Scale Harris President Taft. In a recent speech, said, "I he completion of the Pana ma Canal, the greatest industrial achievement in the history of the world, was rendered possible only by the sanitary imTpovements inaugu rated by Col. Gorgas.” This South erner, with his assistants, inr.de the t'anal Zone one of the most health ful spots on the globe, thereby prov ing that it Is possible to eliminate tropical diseases from a veritable itjngle. The death rate on (lie Canal | Zione today is lower than that of any American city. Augusta today is doing more advanced work in handling its health problems thaji any other Souther* city. What Are These Proglems. That a good health record Is import s'ntf for the agricultural and industrial development of a country is manifest to any,i one who lias seriously considered the • location. Capitalists, in seeking new lo •■alfties for great industrial enterprises for, colonizing Immigrants upon unde veloped lands, other tilings being equal, select places having the best record lor health, Kince Augusta’s future depends to some extent upon the agricultural development of tlie cut-over timber lands in this section II is most important that the’health problems of the rural districts as well as those that obtain In cities, shofild be studied. Malaria. Perhaps the most important health problem which affects (lie prosperity of the■ :south is malaria. One lias bui to travel in the eastern, northern and west ern states to find that in those sections tile entire soutJi is regarded as a hot bed for malaria, and ro doubt thousands of Settlers have sought homes in the west and e'sewbere because they feared to firing their families to a section which they considered so unhealthful as the south, and tr.aJiy Travelers avoid tho south, from the fenr of becoming infect ed w th malaria. Much of this Is due to I■’ sin dice and to igßorjatice of health con ditions,. but it is also true that there is 4iio”f malaria here than should be, he rn use. with present knowledge of the disease there should be none at all. That malaria has played a major part Ih- the Jail of nations !is shown from the study <>• Grecian and Roman history. Dr. Vfv K. Tliavcr, of the Johns Hopkins Medical fchiiol, in his masterly oration on before the American Medical Association ihrev years ago, showed that i lie decadence of the Greeks was large ly. due lo malaria. It is also true t it malaria has had much to do with the transformation of the |ancient "Lordly iioninn," who was "greater than a king." into the frirli vending “Dago” on the streets today. ‘ Costs Millions of Dollars. Malaria is not only the cause of ninny d<‘iuis and an immense amount of suf fering, hut it costs tile south many inil lions of dollars each year. The quinine and other medicines used In treating malaria cost an enormous sum of money, in it , tlie greater loss is from the de feated . i riling capacity of the laboring Classes who suffer most from both acute and chronic forms of the disease. Also, In 'estimating the cosl of a disease, the value of each human life sacrificed must lie considered. The smith Is enjoying splendid pros perity In all lines and she should erase fPc ill her fair name the blot of malaria, because it is a disease which call be pre vented and which should not exist. All licit is necessary Is to educate tlie peo ple to Ilie ideM that the anopheles mos quito is tlie only source of the disease, and lo provide the means of destroying their breeding places. ,/lTic value of disseminating such knowledge lias been demonstrated by the tact Hint tlie families of the intelligent citizens, who sleep in screened houses. WEEMS A. SMITH. Pres. JULIAN M. SMITH, Treas. SMITH BROTHERS CO. WHOLESALE GROCERS anil GRAIN DEALERS One of the largest and best known Wholesale Grocery Houses in the South. All orders handled promptly and given our careful attention. AGENTS Omega Floor, Plain and Sensation Selfrising Flour SALESMEN r. s. McWilliams, d. j. buckley, paul hill, S. W. LINDSAY, J. W. BRANTLEY, FRANK MOYER. even in districts where malaria is most prevalent, now enjoy almost perfect irn munty from tlie disease, as do those who take the proyhyiact’c doses of quinine. Education List. Education is therefore the most Im portant step in the prevention of mala ria. The public schools should take up the work and children should be taught the source of malaria and how it may he prevented. Municipalities counties, and states should ad in this great work by furnishing the means to drain and ve clnim the swamps and lowlands and by enacting and enforcing legislation to de stroy tlie malariabearing mosquitoes. When this is done, and it will be done before many years have e’apsed, tlie south will be rid of a disease which saps vitality of thousands of her citizens, and which more than all other causes, gives tier the reputation of being unhealthful. Yellow Fever. The epidemics of yellow fever have cost the Gulf and Atlantic States mil lions of dollars in comeree, besides the loss of thousands of lives and unfold suffering. it lias also interfered great ly with the industrial development of the Gulf States by preventing many indus tries from locating in places likely to become infected. For years a number of the leading life insurance companies would not accept risks living on tlie Gulf Coast on account of the danger of yellow fever. Many good citizens seek ing new localities have avoided this sec lion, because they were afraid of yellow fever epidemics. The greatest boon that lias been given to the Gulf Coast in many years was tlie work of tlie United States Army Yel low Fever Commission, consisting, of Doctors Reed, Carroll. Lazear and Agru montc, which demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that the transmis sion of yellow fever is by tlie mosquito and since the public understands that there is no longer danger of the disease becoming epidemic, the Gulf cities have taken on an amazing growth. Medical Triumphs. The work done by Dr. William Gorgas and ills assistants in Havana during tlie years 1900 and 3901. based upon the mosquito theory of yellow fever, was one of the greatest triumphs of medicine in all history, and not only freed Hava na from yellow fever for the first time in a century, hut made it as healthful a city as New York or any other Ameri can city. in ridding New Orleans of yellow fever in 1905, Dr. J. H. White, of the United Stales Public Health Service demon strated to tlie world that a well estab lished epidemic, even under the most unfavorable conditions,. can be stamped out of the city during the summer, and now no Intelligent man believes that any serious epidemic of yellow fever cut. ever again occur in the south. For this work, Dr. White's name deserves to lie ranked with that of Gorgas, and the en tire south owes him a debt of gratitude which it can never pay. The United States Public Health Service is performing invaluable service in preventing the introduction of yellow fever into the south, but the Gulf cities should do their part In destroying the breeding places of the stegomyia, so that in tlie event of tlie possibility of a case of yellow fever being introduced, the disease could not spread. it is regret aide that the Gulf cities are not doing their full duty in destroying mosquitoes and in keeping conditions such that yel low fever could not spread if a ease should be introduced without the knowl edge of the health authorities. This is going to become more important as our commerce increases with tho Central and Koutb American countries, and for tlie sake of commercial safety, it is tho duty of the Southern states, and par ticularly tlie cities of *he Gulf Coast, to become’ so IVee from the stegomyia that should a ease slip through the efficient quarantine of the United States Public Health Service, no other cases could de velop. Hook-Worm. Among the beneficent results of the Spunish-Ainerican war was tlie impetus given to tlie study of tropical diseases by American physicians and scientists and one of the greatest discoveries of re cent years, one which should rank with that of proving tlie mosqutte transmis sion of yellow fever, was I lie discovery that tlie anemia which caused about one third of all deaths on the island of Porto Rico was due to an intestinal parasite, tlie hook-worm. it was also discovered that the anemia seen among tlie poor whites in the rural districts of the South was due to tlie same cause. This hook-worm anemia, by sapping the energy and strength of tlie man, women, and particularly the children, made them stupid and shiftless so that the malady was called the “lazy" disease. Thousands have died in the rural districts of the south, and many more have been marie inefficient work ers, because of this disease. The lands have not been properly cultivated and many of the poor whites of the rural dis- tricts have not made good citizens be cause they were really ill from hook worm anemia. With tlie development of the cotton mill Industry in the south, the whites from the rural districts were brought to gether as operatives in the mills and many of them became pale, lazy, and stupid, a condition which was tailed cot ton mill anemia. This condition was thought to be due to the inhalation of dust and lint, but Dr. Stiles has proved it to lie hook-worm disease, and due to the soil polution. By the administration of a few doses of thymol, those poor, unfortunate indi viduals may be cured of this disease, and thousands have already been relieved and are leading happy and efficient lives. Thymol is a specific remedy for hook worm but it is better to go back of this and prevent the disease. Soil polution is the source of the spread of hook worm, and the suggestions of Dr. Stiles aw to its prevention that are being car ried out by the Rockefeller Commission for the eradication of the hook-worm is aiding materially in the solution of an other of the problems affecting South ern prosperity. , Pellagra. Perhaps no other disease which is sup posed to prevail more in the South than in other parts of the country is so fear ed by would-be immigrants as the symp tom complex known as pellagra. Though it prevails in every state in the union to a greater or lesser extent tlie south gets tlie credit of being most subject to its ravages. In combating the spread of this dis ease hygiene and sanitation, though im portant. bear but a secondary relation to its control. The cause of this disease is still a matter of dispute. The great ma jority of investigators believe they find a connection between it and the con sumption of maize and its products. On one point all are agreed and that is that those who have already contracted the disease are unfavorably affected by a diet of com products. An explanation is needed of the fact that for a century or more the people of tlie south have thriven and maintained robust health upon a diet whose cereal element was chiefly Indian corn, yet it is only during the last twenty years that any pellagra lias been recognized in this section, and only during the last seven years that it has reached serious pro portions. The explanation, or at least an ex planation is at hand. In tlie years be fore pellagra was known among us the corn we used was raised and ground at home. Only when we began to depend upon the fields of the northwest for our cornbread did the disease appear at all, and a sudden access of virulence prompt ly followed an expansion of enterprise in that region whereby corn that had been considered unfit even for tlie food of cat tle was rendered available for com merce. Every year in different parts of that region protracted rains caused vast areas of maize to sprout and fer ment in the fields before it was gather ed. it was discovered that such corn could be kiln dried and otherwise doc tored so as to conceal its unwholsotne conditions. lmediatelv vast kilns were elected along the trunk iine railroads travr sing those states and those estab lishments have been running day and night during the crop season and for months thereafter every year since their establishment. Brought From Northwest. Train loads of damaged corn are con stantly delivered to be cured and doctor ed after which they are taken by groat milling establishments to be transformed into tempting foods for man and beast. It is believed that but little of tlie bolted corn meal that is shipped to tlie south escapes this form of adulteration rims conveying the chemical toxins unchanged to tlie digestive organs of southern con sumers. The opponents of the erfrn theory of the origin of pellagra think they have an unanswerable argument when they point to sufferers with the disease who claim never to have eaten cornbread, hut this argument falls to tlie ground when it is known that many of file cheaper grades of flour, all of tlie prepared bat ter cake flours and some of tlie break last foods consist largely of corn in va rious conditions of adulteration. Finally it is significant that since l lie introduction of these mammoth dry kilns into the business the prevalence ol pellagra has promptly increased an hun dred fold. The inference is irresistible nnd tlie only remedy is a National De partment of Public Health whose offi cials will have full power and authority to investigate and control every dry kiln in existence, to keep track of its products and see that none of them en ter into food for human beings. A still better remedy so far as we ol the south are concerned would be for southern planters to raise all the corn needed for home consumption and thus at one happy stroke conserve tlie health, the lives and the fortunes of our sunny land. THE AUGUSTA HERALD, AUGUSTA, GA. ASK FOR NEAPOLITAN BRICK ICE CREAM Delivered in the new san itary one service package. Made Especially for Home Use - ' % « A convenient and delicious dessert. The Hill Ice Cream Co. Phone 1871 607 Broad St. CLARK MILLING COMPANY High Grade Flour, Meal, Grits, Bran and Feed To our Friends and Patrons:— » ... ' We wish to announce that -we have recently completely remodeled our plant and have installed throughout the most modern improved machinery for the manufacture of high grade flours, meal and mill products. We respectfully solicit your business which will have our prompt and careful attention. CLARK MILLING COMPANY MILLERS OF AUGUSTA, GEORGIA “AUGUSTA IN 1914”