The White Plague Killed 150,000 Americans Last Year, Oct. 3, 1919

From the Brevard News, Oct. 3, 1919

Ruralites Have Big Health Advantage. . . Abundance of Fresh Air and Sunlight Do Much to Check Ravages of Tuberculosis

People who live in the smaller towns and on farms have a great health advantage over the city dwellers in that they have an abundant supply of fresh air and sunlight.

These two gifts of nature, so lavishly bestowed, are not always appreciated to their fullest extent. They are two of the strongest weapons against the menace of tuberculosis, or consumption, as it is sometimes called.

But consumption is not unknown in the rural districts. The death rate is sometimes as great in these sections as in the more crowded localities, chiefly because of the carelessness or indifference to laws of health.

Few indeed are the farm houses or the homes in the smaller cities and villages that cannot have an outdoor sleeping porch. On the contrary, we often find that the windows of sleeping rooms are shut tight in the mistaken belief that night air is harmful.

This paves the way for disease, especially tuberculosis, which generally attacks the lungs.

White Plague Kills 150,000 a Year

The white plague claimed 150,000 lives last year in the United States. More than 1 million Americans are suffering from it today. These figures are compiled from reports of experts all over the country and sent to the National Tuberculosis Association, the leading agency in the country to combat this disease. This organization is sponsor for the Red Cross Christmas Seal sale, from which its financial support is chiefly derived.

As medical science has proved, consumption is both preventable and curable, the suffering caused by this disease is largely unnecessary. Most tuberculosis victims are between the ages of 18 and 45.

These are the years when people are most active, the years of their great production. The snuffing out of these lives just when they are at the height of their usefulness means an annual loss to the country of nearly half a billion dollars.

Fresh air is the cheapest of medicines. Outdoor sleeping porches are not only for the sick. They help well folks to keep well, and the country dweller can have this aid to healthy living at far less inconvenience than his city neighbor.

You can help directly by seeing that you and your family are living under the most healthful conditions possible.