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Public Wealth Vs. Public Health

Public Wealth Vs. Public Health image
Parent Issue
Day
21
Month
March
Year
1888
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Leas t lian a inontli aj:o a notice appeareí In the obittiary columns of tlie dail] papers of tliis city, showing that on Feb ruary 3, 6 and 15, the three children of a family had (lied of dlplitlieria in Chicago their ages being G, 3, and 1 years respec livclv. But tli is announcemetit cauaé( no commotiou or public talk in the city, and certninly none in the State. The matter was not brought before Congress nor was there a meeting of State Governora to discuss the matter. It does not appear tliat the family was quarantined, nor that any investigaron was made of the origin of this out break of diphtheria. Beyond the t.unily left childless, no thouglit seeins to have been given to the fact that three children bave been carried off by a preventable disease. About two years ago some oie discovered that a cow somewliere down in the State of Illinois liad plemo-piieumonia - at any rate, it ti -ni a lump on its under jaw. There was iinmediately a great commotion in the State, and in adjoining and distant States. Telegrama were sent to Washington, and Congres made haste to pass a bilí, creating a new official with a sulary, and added liim to the Department of the Inteiiir, niaking this new official a sort of Iiiirc.au of Animal Industries; and more than tliis, the business of the ciittle drover-i at the Chicago stockyardswas témpora rily paralyzed, in order to see if some othor cows migbt not take pleuro-piKjumoniü tïoni the one cow. An embargo was laid on cattle trom the place where the cow with the swollen nv was found. The Bucean of Animal Industries scems to have got out of exis:cncc, and it whs prol) ilily liirgotteii UDtil a short time ajjo, whe.i it was found Jiat the embkrgo l.iid iu 188ü has not jeen removed. Cattle are valiiable animáis, and it is eery important that, since we use them ;or iood, they be kept as free froui dis3iee as possiblr. But are they more valiiable thau children f Is t more importint that cattle be kept healthy, and free rom preventable diseases, thau children ? 3ne diseased cow.it m ly be said, may uisc disease in many human beinga. The same may be said of one sick child tvith an infectious disease. But cattle are ivorth money, and their loss is a positive jecuniary los to the owikt. The same, nul to a very miicli greater exttmt, is true 3t' children. How many cattlc die annually of pleuro-pneumoniii a compared with the immer uf liihlrtíii tlmt die of diphtheria - lot to nientioii (lic other infectious (lisiases? Is tliere :my comparison between the nuinters? 1. not thu Xüinples that ive have cited rciiiind one of straining at i gnat and svallowini b camel? Do not he people of ttiis countrv owe it to beffitelrei to have more efficiënt and a more uniform systetn of supervisión of the health of the people?

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Courier
Old News