Final Report of the Mixed Committee of the League of On the first of October there arrived at the Public Health Service a sheaf of posters, pamphlets and stamps from the Central Government of Catalonia. It had been three weeks in transit. This was the whole story of Catalonia's Fourth Annual Campaign for Child Health--the campaign for 1936-37--no new war-born emergency program. We thought of that turbulent country, the stubborn fight for survival of the Catalans, and marvelled at the faith, the dogged persistence of those who fight for health. Who had time, in the midst of chaos, to plan and execute such a program? Were they still alive, those who conceived the plan of selling stamps at a few centimos each for the purpose of financing child health protection? Is the Guarderia de Sant Andreu with its spacious play rooms, nurseries and patio still standing? Are 200 children still being cared for in the Preventorium-School at Arenys de Mar? These and other institutions were created by the Central Government through the annual stamp campaigns. In the first campaign, the total receipts were nearly 400,000 pesetas. But last year, only 168,000. How will it be in 1936-37? Who was it who thought to send (we hope with pardonable pride) that package to the United States? Probably we will never know the answers to these questions. But now, while every newspaper, magazine and newsreel was bombarding us with pictures of war's horror, this parcel came to spill over our desks posters of great beauty and power, pamphlets skillfully printed, and a little marching song, composed especially for the occasion! The only news out of Spain we have seen these two years that did not tell a grim story of death, hunger, and destruction! It was like a quiet Summer morning on a hilltop, seen after a night of storm and terror. No has ty, shoddy work, this material! For comparable health posters in this country, we should have to turn to some commercial or non-official agency to find similar excellence in art and execution. Yet, these were posters from tiny Catalonia's Department of Health and Social Assistance. "For our children; for the strength of the race; for humanity" said the slogans. This, while life itself was at a premium! Health is indeed the great common denominator; in its appeal, it knows no boundaries of race, or creed, or conditions of war. In August 1937, while bombs were falling on other children, half-way round the world from Spain, Chinese physicians sat with Japanese doctors at the conferences of the Health Section of the World Federation of Educators. And at the Annual Meeting of the Public Health Association in October, Dr. Frank G. Boudreau described six official international health organizations that have come into existence since 1910. "International cooperation in hygiene", he said, "has paved the way for cooperation in economics, finance and even in politics." Nor battle, murder, nor sudden death can turn aside from the path they have chosen, those men and women who hate human suffering and work for human life and health. In the end, they will win. COVERING THE A.P.H.A. MEETING For information on the 66th Annual Meeting of the Ameri- HIGHLIGHTS OF A GREAT HEALTH CONGRESS R. R. SPENCER RADIO ADDRESS DELIVERED FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 10 TO 10:15 A.M. OVER America has become health conscious! We have come a long way since 1872 when the American Public Health Association was organized in this very city with Dr. Stephen Smith as its first president. At a time when the world is filled with wars and rumors of wars, and when the President of the United States declares alarmingly that "the present reign of terror and international lawlessness has reached a stage where the very foundations of civilization are threatened", it is a bit heartening, we believe, to review briefly the ideas, the motives, the purposes and the achievements of the Sixty-sixth Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association. In New York City this week, we find physicians and health officers, nurses and social workers, sanitary engineers and representatives of various welfare agencies from all over America coming together for the purpose of exchanging ideas, pooling their knowledge and working out ways and means--not for the destruction, but for the conservation of human life. While fear and suspicion grips the minds of people in so many lands, America should be grateful that these men and women, so truly representative of America's best citizenship, are determined to join hands in a concerted effort to provide the basic needs in healthful living for all groups of our people. Governor Lehman of New York declared, in his welcoming address at the general session, that it was his firm conviction that "so far as science and government can make it possible, an equal opportunity for health is the right of all citizens of the community regardless of circumstances, birth, economic condition, geographical limitations, race, creed or color." Mayor LaGuardia pointed out that disease microbes do not recognize state boundaries and that good health will come only when the science of government makes as rapid progress as the science of preventive medicine. He wished some scientist would develop a serum that would neutralize the effects of bad politics. One of the most impressive highlights of this great convention was the address of Miss Josephine Roche, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. She emphasized the relationship between health and economic status. This has been revealed recently in a survey of 750,000 American families representing 3,500,000 individuals. This survey, conducted by the United States Public Health Service, has shown that the death rate among Americans with incomes of less than $1,000 a year is twice that of the rest of the population. This observation was the result of an analy sis of the ten major diseases that cause three out of every four deaths in the United States. For seven of the ten diseases, the survey shows, the death rates mount steadily as the income goes down. The seven include heart disease, cancer, pneumonia, diarrhea, kidney disease, tuberculosis and syphilis. The death rate from respiratory tuberculosis is seven times as great among unskilled workers (who are classed as the low income group) as among professional workers. Pneumonia kills three and one-half times more unskilled workers than professional. Death rates from diarrhea and syphilis are twice as high for the unskilled as for the professional. Cancer's toll of the unskilled worker is fifty percent higher than that of the professional. The death rate from all causes is more than twice as high for the unskilled worker as for the professional. Sir Arthur Newsholme, Britain's outstanding authority on public health, spoke of the changes taking place in the practice of curative and preventive medicine. He reviewed the development of socialized medicine in Great Britain, stating that no physician would now desire to return to the old methods. He did not suggest that British methods should be applied to American conditions but he recognized that medical care in America was inadequate and that something must be done. He expressed the belief that we would work out successfully an unique plan of our own and credited Americans with unusual originality. One thought that seems to pervade all sections of this great health congress is this, "All groups must work together for the common health." Another idea which has taken root is that "we cannot separate curative medicine from preventive medicine." Hence it is becoming apparent that the private physician and the health officer must not only work together but, as Dr. Charles H. Goodrich said, "every practicing physician should be a deputy health officer." "This idea", he said, "was unanimously approved by the New York State Medical Society" of which Dr. Goodrich is president. In Maryland, no public health policies or measures are launched without first laying the matter before a council of the State Medical Society and obtaining their approval. It was brought out that in Alabama, the State Medical Society is the health department and selects the commissioner. In Kentucky, Dr. A. T. McCormack, President-elect of the American Public Health Association said that every policy of his State Board of Health is placed squarely on the shoulders of the medical profession. Physicians and health officials now seem to be agreed that disease and illhealth are enemies of society that must be "ganged up on." There must be integration of effort all along the line. More and more the private physician has to practice preventive rather than |