(4)

(5)

(6)

Examination for release as noninfective.

Free distribution of arsphenamine.

Control of carriers through detention and commitment.

(b) Educational measures.

(1) Proper reporting of cases.

(2) (3)

Standardization of pamphlets, exhibits, placards, and lectures. Coöperation with national, state and local authorities, and volunteer associations.

(4) Coöperation with Provost Marshal General in educating drafted men to control venereal infection.

(5) Coöperative work in industrial plants, shipyards, and railway employees' organizations.

(6) Coöperation with druggists' organizations to secure their voluntary aid in the control of patent nostrums for the treatment of venereal diseases.

Public Opinion Awakening to the Venereal Peril. Dr. Oscar Dowling, President of the Louisiana State Board of Health, in his report to the Governor of the state, says:

At last the civilized world has begun to admit the peril imminent from the plague of venereal disease, and today every man and woman, every organization interested in human health and human welfare, is convinced that there must be no delay in public recognition of the evil and institution of a vigorous and widespread campaign of prevention and cure. I need not quote the figures so widely published concerning the number of cases found among drafted men, nor the increase in this country of syphilis during the past six months. Our statistics show for 1916, 174 deaths from this cause, and for 1917, 227 deaths. I leave to you the number of cases which can be estimated from these records.

I am fully aware that many physicians, and other citizens, are skeptical as to the control of this infection; but, to again refer to the experience of others, curative and preventive measures have been put into effect with encouraging results. Heretofore the question has been considered largely in its social and moral aspects. Society has ignored facts which health officers have shown to be true. Now that numbers of our men in the army are in danger of being incapacitated for service from this cause, and the United States Government has called attention to the situation, state and municipal authorities are stirred to action to provide laboratory service, to employ therein conscientious, trained men, and to establish clinics for treatment for the indigent, and for those who can pay a small amount. I am pleased to report that the State Board of Health is unanimous in the conviction that emergency regulations should go into effect. Fortunately, the records in other countries give proof that tuberculosis and venereal disease, so long ignored alike by the intelligent laity and professional men, can be controlled if means be provided to enforce the common-sense regulations which have been effective in the eradication of other contagious diseases.

The Supporting Resolutions of the Rotarians. The International Association of Rotary Clubs has pledged coöperation in combating venereal diseases in the following resolutions adopted by the Board of Directors at Washington, D. C., July 31, 1918:—

WHEREAS, the 1918 Rotary Convention, by its adoption of resolution No. 29, committed Rotary Clubs to activities looking to the education of Rotarians and of the general public of each community as to the common danger to everybody from the existence of certain infectious diseases and the necessity of community activity to combat, control, and so far as possible eliminate such diseases; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of the I. A. of R. C. has given careful consideration to this educational problem and to the part that Rotary Clubs may and can take in its solution, and to that end has held a conference in Washington, D. C., with the representatives of the National Council of Defense, the Medical Department of the U. S. Army and the U. S. Bureau of Public Health Service; and

WHEREAS, it appears that the U. S. Public Health Service is about to inaugurate a nation-wide campaign to combat these diseases and requests the coöperation of the Rotary Clubs of the United States in such campaign; and

WHEREAS, it is known that the Rotarians of other nations wherein Rotary Clubs are located are equally interested in the effort to combat such diseases; now therefore

IT IS RESOLVED, that the Board recognizes and accepts Rotary's opportunity to undertake to support and coöperate with the governments of the countries in which Rotary is established, in their official programs to combat venereal diseases (which in the United States is at present coöperating with the U. S. Bureau of Public Health Service), and that the object of such support and coöperation shall be to arouse in each community an appreciation of the seriousness of the problem confronting it, and to develop a community consciousness of responsibility on the part of the community to protect itself from such diseases which it has been discovered are destroying the man power of the nation, and to prevent the communication of such diseases to other communities; and

IT IS RESOLVED, that the Board pledges the active coöperation of the Association and its member clubs to assist in every possible way this vitally important work, it being understood that any governmental department desiring to work through Rotary Clubs will develop a program of procedure for each community and advise this Board and the several clubs regarding such program and the part which Rotary Clubs may take in it and that such department will furnish the necessary printed matter, and so far as possible the services of representatives for the conduct of this work in each community; and

IT IS RESOLVED, that the General Officers and the District Governors of Rotary are directed to coöperate heartily in this work to their utmost ability without neglecting such other work in Rotary as it is their duty to perform; and

IT IS RESOLVED, that in accepting this work for Rotary Clubs it is not intended that any Rotary Club shall assume to do more than to manifest its public spirit and its desire to serve, and it is understood that, when it shall appear that there has been developed in any community a clearly expressed community consciousness of the seriousness of the problem confronting the community and the responsibility and determination of the community to meet and cope with the problem, the work of the Rotary Club as the spokesman for the governmental department and the medium for the presentation of this matter to the community shall be considered to have been accomplished.

Educational Work in Dallas, Texas. A committee of pastors working with Dr. A. I. Folsom, president of the Texas Social Hygiene Association, arranged to make June 30, 1918, "Social Hygiene Sunday." Thirty-five of the leading churches invited prominent physicians to occupy their pulpits and give a clear exposition of social hygiene, especially discussing it from the standpoint of public health and its connection with the war. About 10,000 people heard these addresses. During the two weeks following, the exhibit belonging to the Texas Social Hygiene Association was on public exhibition for men and was visited by an average of 500 men a day, to whom literature was supplied free. The venereal clinic established several months ago has also proved valuable in educating the public to the dangers of venereal disease.

Juvenile Crime in Chicago. The problem of juvenile crime has become of increasing importance since the beginning of the war. Back of the Chicago stockyards, during the first six months of the war, juvenile delinquency increased alarmingly, and the police department reported fifty per cent more arrests of young offenders. It was evident that something must be done before the summer vacation arrived with its leisure for mischief. Accordingly, a conference was called which resulted in a Summer Community Recreation Committee composed of representatives from twenty-five social, religious, civic, educational, and business agencies.

The program adopted by this committee was, first, to coöperate in a unified program for the general welfare of the community; second, to develop a community consciousness and raise the morale in the district; third, to protect the boys and girls through the perilous period of the approaching summer vacation. Each organization represented on the committee shared the work and expense as far as possible, and additional funds were raised.

The committee suggested that inasmuch as the great packing industry had been able to change materials once regarded as useless into valuable by-products, it might assist in turning the energy of growing boys and girls into a social asset instead of a social loss. "We want help in guiding the youth safely through the war crisis," said the committee, "that we may save the morale of the community, knowing its direct relation to the morale of the camp and the battle front." The packing firms responded to the appeal and contributed $50,000 to the work, and accepted the invitation to be represented on the executive committee.

Especial emphasis has been laid upon community events, such as Fourth of July celebration in small parks, community singing, etc., with the hope of fostering the growing patriotic spirit, and developing the community pride into a community consciousness and community solidarity that will bring higher standards into the civic life.

An Opportunity for the Public Health Nurse. The social responsibility of the public health nurse in the campaign against the venereal diseases has become so generally recognized that the Committee on Hospital Social Service of the National Organization for Public Health Nursing, in its report, places "at the disposal of the public health nurses some of the facts of their experience in the social problems of syphilis and gonorrhea," and reaches these conclusions:

The great opportunity for public health nurses in the campaign against "venereal diseases" lies in the educational field. They will also, we believe, have an increasing responsibility for supervising home treatments-especially of gonorrhea.

If public health nurses are to teach the truth about gonorrhea and syphilis, they must be taught better than they have been in the past. As special clinics are being established and efficiently managed new opportunities are being opened to pupil nurses for getting an intelligent, unprejudiced point of view on the public health aspects of the question. To be a successful teacher she must be soundly taught herself. Herein lies an immediate task for those who may equip public health nurses for their new obligations. Every nurse properly taught and conscious of the light she can shed on the present ignorance on the subject will become a center for diffusing that light. Each patient she teaches properly will pass it on, and so enlightenment will come and we will face a dawn of decency, "A closer order of social and human interests and an education which will help to do away with loneliness, superstition, ignorance, and brutal selfishness."3

3 Report of Committee on Hospital Social Service, National Organization for Public Health Nursing. The Public Health Nurse, August, 1918.

A LETTER FROM GENERAL PERSHING1

I have also heard with great satisfaction of the recent decision of the British War Office that the licensed houses of prostitution are to be put out of bounds in the British Expeditionary Force. Many of us who have experimented with licensed prostitution or kindred measures, hoping thereby to minimize the physical evils, have been forced to the conclusion that they are really ineffective. Abraham Flexner has argued the case so convincingly that on the scientific side it seems to me there is no escape from the conclusion that what he terms "abolition" as distinguished from "regulation" is the only effective mode of combating this age-long evil.

This menace to the young manhood in the army forces and to the health and future well-being of our peoples cannot be met by the efforts of each government working apart from the others. It is plain that every day it affects more and more, all the allied nations now fighting on the western front of France. The question long since was an international one, and it is only by an internationalization of our aims and efforts that we can obtain the unity and coördination which will enable us to solve the problem. The greatest responsibility rests on those to whom the parents of our soldiers have entrusted their sons for the battle, and we fail if we neglect any effort to safeguard them in

every way.

We have the common ground of humanity; we have the well-considered conclusions of the best scientific minds on our side, and from the fact that, in this war of nations-in-arms, the soldier is merely "a citizen on war service," we have all the elements which will force coöperation between military and civil authorities. The army can do little unless the citizen at home plays his part in the big scheme. With our nations cooperating hand in hand, both in France and at home, we have the brightest prospects of winning the victory.

1 From a letter dated May 7, 1918 from General Pershing to Lord Milner. Quoted in The New Republic of November 30, 1918.