242 A HISTORY OF NATIONAL TUBERCULOSIS ASSOCIATION 



New York City; Dr. B. J. Lloyd, Hygienic Laboratory, U. S. Public Health 

 Service, Washington, D. C; Dr. Z. T. Scott, Austin, Tex.; Mr. E. C. Shaw, 

 Akron, Ohio; Dr. A. G. Shortle, Albuquerque, N. Mex.; Mrs. E. L. M. Tate- 

 Thompson, Los Angeles, Cal.; Miss Gertrude Vaile, Denver, Colo.; Dr. Allen 

 Hamilton Williams, Phoenix, Ariz. 



Dr. Severance Burrage, who in 1918 served as special public health investi- 

 gator in Serbia with the Red Cross, and more recently on the staff of the United 

 States Public Health Service, was appointed by the National Association as the 

 executive secretary for the committee, with an office at 519 Chamber of Com- 

 merce Building, Denver, Colorado. 



The committee met for organization at Santa Fe, New Mexico, on March 

 i, 1919. It appeared to the committee that the subject before it naturally 

 resolved itself into three branches: 



1. The prevention of migration; 



2. The measures to be taken for the relief of communities into which indi- 

 gent consumptives most generally migrate; and 



3. The relief of migrating indigent consumptives. 



The matter of prevention resolves itself largely into a question of education 

 along three lines: 



(a) Early diagnosis by the attending physician ; 



(b) Knowledge on the part of physician and patient that successful home 

 treatment is possible; and 



(c) General diffusion of knowledge with respect to (a) and (b). 



The Committee has suggested to the National Association the adoption of 

 an education program involving the following: 



(a) The securing for the control of tuberculosis emphasis and publicity by 

 the Federal Government similar to that given to the control of venereal dis- 

 eases. 



(b) Assistance from the Federal Government directed to the medical pro- 

 fession by supplying information in aid of early diagnosis and home treatment. 



(c) The exertion of influence which may lead to the adequate financing of the 

 Public Health Service through the appropriate Federal Department and by 

 means of appeals to such large private endowments as the Rockefeller Founda- 

 tion. 



The Committee also urges the creation of a special department of tubercu- 

 losis in the Federal Public Health Service. 



Since March ist, Dr. Burrage, the committee's secretary, has been making an 

 intensive study of the problem throughout the Southwest and on the Pacific 

 Coast. Dr. Burrage has not as yet completed his investigation, but in due 

 course will report his findings to the committee which will, in turn, report to 

 the National Association. 



In view of the unfinished condition of the committee's investigations, it is 

 impossible at this time to state conclusions. The data at hand, however, 

 indicate, first, that the number of indigent consumptives who seek relief by 

 change of climate is not as great as the committee had been led to believe; and 



