SOIZL GAINS AGAINST SYPHILIS
National Social hygiene ^ay on
February 1st. suggests fia time
liness of a review of recent
gains against syphilis, the "■
nation's leading public hoalth
problem. Although it is too
early in the present campaign to
say v'hr.t reductions in preval
ence have been realized, it is
not too ea^ly for an estimate
regarding future success.
Four years of enlightened public
attitudes toward the so-called
venereal diseases', and a great
deal of hard vorkp have hroupht
impressive increases in facilities
for diagnosis.and treatment
every here . “or or improved
laboratories have appeared, nor
legislation aimed at disease
control has been formulated, and
vast inroads have boon made
arc ir.st ignorance surrounding
those hitherto unmentionable
mal- dies.
?odny, nineteen states require
'examinations, and blood tests for
syphilis in applicants for mar
riage licenses, seventeen provide
for sim ilar tests in expectant
metth re. None of these 1 .vs is
over three years old, most are
only one or tv;o. And other
states are considering them,
°ntil recently, only inadequate
budgets were available in the
several states for control of
syphilis and gonorrhea, Nov,
virtually every state provides
free blood tests for syphilis,
and a marked improvement in
standards of medical care is in
evidence. Additional achieve
ments include improvement in
case-finding and case-holding
facilities, greater participat
ion by industry and labor in the
campaign, and significant widening
of public understanding of tho
problems of syphilis control.
But most of the task remains be
fore us despite these remarkable
gains, Syphilis" still strikes
an estimated 1,000,000 yearly,
numbers its general prevalence
at 6,500,000. True it is that
greet forward strides have been
nr.de, but truer still in the fact
that only sustained interest and
public support C'n ensure tho
eventual routing of the'pale
spiral germ of syphilisj the
next great plague to:go.
( Poloused for publication by
ths American • ocic.l radical
Association.)
PARI,! AND HOPE INSTITUTE
NELL ATTENDED
Yesterday ondod the ‘third qnnual
Farm end Horne Institute week
planned under the direction end
supervision of the Extension
Service. Larger crowds were en
tortrinod at the l*c*. trucks Experi
ment Station this year.
A /rood crowd attended in Pr.lmor
on the some days. It was noticed
that while the Eat:.nuska crowd
wc s c bout GO - 50 men and remain ,
the Palmer crowd consisted of a
majority of women* "’ho listened
intently to some valuable infor
mation pres anted"by the speakers
of the da
anxious
Also
d:
■f- V> mgr
appo
to discuss farm problems
a n 1 a a k ‘ qu e s t i o n:
methods.
concern:
nor
Cn Thursday evening the entire
valley was roll represented at
the community .-party which brought
the Institute to a successful
close for another year. The pro
gram of the evening contained
many hilarious numbers by Homemaker
groups. The crowd greatly enjoyed
seeing" the girl- v ith toe many
boy friends"or seeing"the family
picture taken as done by the
Hilltop $lub .
The evening came to a close
with plenty of icc crcr.r. and
cake and coffee, also music and
dancing for those who ncedod'
the exercise.