Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1919 — RURALITES HAVE BIG HEALTH ADVANTAGE [ARTICLE]

RURALITES HAVE BIG HEALTH ADVANTAGE

Abundance of Fresh Air and Sunlight Do Much to Check Ravages of Tuberculosis. DANGER IN CLOSED WINDOWS. National Tuberculosis Association, • Which Sponsors the Annual Salo of Red Cross Christmas Seale, Reports 150,000 Deaths Each Year From the Disease. people who live In the smaller towns and on farms have a great health advantage over the city dwellers in that they have ever 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 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 in the home 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. i White Plague Kills 150,000 a Year. The white plague claimed 150,000 lives last year in the United States. More than 1,000,000 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 eighteen and forty-five. Causes Half Billion Loss Annually. These are the years when people are . most active, the years of their greatest 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.