HEALTH CONDITIONS 



than state problems. One of these is the 

 hook-worm disease of the South, mentioned 

 before. If society has a right to compel 

 persons to go to school, it has an equal 

 moral right to compel them to be healthy. 

 We concede the right of government of 

 calling men out to war. It is a marvelous 

 thing that the mass of mankind will allow 

 itself to be driven to slaughter. I am won- 

 dering whether the time will not come when 

 it will allow itself to be driven to life and 

 health. Society now has a right to kill, but 

 it has not an equal right to make well. The 

 last right that a man surrenders is the 

 right to be sick. 



We must establish a better regulation of 

 health in the open country. City boards of 

 health are continuously in operation and 

 usually they are effective. If the open 

 country has a board of health, it is usually 

 operative only when some epidemic or 

 other dire necessity arises. A thorough- 

 going health organization for the open 

 country is as important as similar organ- 

 izations for the city, and it is to the inter- 

 est of society and of each of us to see that 

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