PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE— PARRAN 4g5 



This growth of scientific knowledge has multiplied the number of 

 things which can be done to prevent and cure disease. It also has 

 increased the cost of medical service, putting such service beyond the 

 reach of an increasing number of people. Moreover, our transfer from 

 an agrarian to an industrial system, with workers dependent upon a 

 daily wage sufficient only to meet current necessary living costs, has 

 resulted in the inability of many citizens to buy medical care when 

 the wages stop. 



Changing social concepts also supply an additional basis for pubUc 

 health work. The growth in the sentiment against suffering has been 

 more rapid during the past century than ever before in the world's 

 history. The abolition of slave trade, the growth of popular educa- 

 tion, and the development of measures of public assistance are 

 examples. 



Modern society everywhere accepts as an obligation the provision 

 of the necessities of life for those who cannot provide such necessities 

 for themselves. Since medical service is a necessity of life, it is only a 

 small step to acceptance of the principle that such service must be 

 made available by the community for those in need. 



There are cogent economic reasons also for health services. A sick 

 individual may become a burden upon society. Good health is an 

 important factor in human efficiency. The treatment of disease is 

 no longer a concern solely of the individual who is sick. The com- 

 munity as a whole has a financial stake in untreated illness. This 

 point has become clear in recent years as we have accepted as a nation 

 responsibility for pro^dding pensions to the dependent groups of the 

 population. 



There are sound scientific, social, and economic reasons for more 

 aggressive attention to the public health. I think we have reached a 

 stage in our civilization when we must accept as a major premise that 

 citizens should have an equal opportunity for health as an inherent 

 right coequal with the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

 To realize this ideal is a broad rim of the Pubfic Health Service. The 

 methods we use fall into two major divisions, first, the better applica- 

 tion of scientific knowledge for the prevention and cure of disease, 

 and second, the acquisition of new knowledge. 



Witliin the past 2 years, a good start has been made in the de- 

 velopment of a national health program. In the Social Security Act 

 for the first time, the Federal Government declared a continuing poUcy 

 of assisting States and localities in providing better health service. 

 It has been relatively easy to inaugm'ate this work because since 1880, 

 the Public Health Service has been authorized to cooperate with 

 States in the prevention and control of disease. It has been possible 

 to work out health programs in every State so that the States retain 

 a full measure of responsibihty for their own health programs subject 



