THE TUBERCULOSIS CHRISTMAS SEAL 63 



is condensed into a few weeks of intensive effort to bring to the 

 men, women and children of the country the message of their 

 responsibility for the control of this preventable disease. 



Secondly, the Christmas seal has provided the funds that have 

 made organizations possible. The National Tuberculosis Asso- 

 ciation has always operated upon this axiom in organization, 

 viz., that an association without funds or program is of no value. 

 Some associations have had programs but no funds with which to 

 execute them. Some have had funds but no program. In both 

 instances the Christmas seal has been the means for providing 

 proper organization. In the former instance where state and 

 local associations have had a program and no funds, the Christ- 

 mas seal has in hundreds of instances, both on a state-wide basis 

 and in local communities, furnished the original funds with which 

 to start a proper association and to employ the necessary full- 

 time service. The businesslike organization of the tuberculosis 

 campaign is due almost entirely to this policy of supplementing 

 a local program with funds through the Christmas seal. Simi- 

 larly there have been many instances where communities have 

 had funds but no vision nor program. Here the state tubercu- 

 losis association through the Christmas seal sale has been able to 

 furnish the necessary leadership and guidance with which to 

 develop a practical program. 



Thirdly, the Christmas seal has been the most potent means 

 available to the tuberculosis movement for the development of 

 correct standards of organization and work. With the develop- 

 ment here and there throughout the country of local groups inter- 

 ested in education, nursing, hospitals, sanatoria, open air schools, 

 and various other phases of tuberculosis work, the greatest danger 

 that has confronted the tuberculosis movement has been the 

 establishment of agencies without an appreciation of their func- 

 tions and methods. This, to a certain degree, is still a problem. 

 The Christmas seal has helped to standardize work of this sort in 

 two ways first, by giving to the state and national associations 

 that authority through contractual relations that would more or 

 less compel the organizations in question to adopt approved 

 standards; and secondly, by providing the means for developing 



