APPENDIX D 



ECONOMIC LOSS CAUSED BY NEGLECT OF 

 PUBLIC HEALTH* 



On this continent exponents of preventive medicine have recog- 

 nized the handwriting on the wall and are looking and hoping for a 

 national organization of health, in order that we may efficiently ac- 

 complish in the future that which we have in a sense only been touching 

 the fringe of in the past. But this cannot be accomplished without the 

 expenditure of large sums of money and, in order to obtain this money, 

 we must be in a position to show that the expenditure is warranted. 

 Gladstone once said — "In the health of the people lies the strength 

 of the nation." It is a recognized fact that on the efficient solution of 

 the problems of public health depends the comfort and prosperity of 

 our peoples and the future greatness of our nations. But, unfortunately, 

 our civilization has not sufficiently advanced for us to appeal for this 

 on humane grounds alone, therefore, we have to present the economic 

 side of the problem in cold figures of dollars and cents. For this pur- 

 pose probably the most valuable and most reliable records we have 

 are contained in the Report of the Committee of One Hundred on National 

 Health, dealing with the national vitality and setting forth its waste 

 and conservation, as prepared by Prof. Irving Fisher, of Yale. From 

 this report we learn that there are 3,000,000 persons in the United 

 States at all times suffering from some form of sickness (equal to 

 approximately 300,000 in Canada) , of whom about 1,100,000 are in the 

 working period of life, three-quarters being actual workers, who must 

 lose at least $700 per year, making an aggregate loss from illness of 

 $550,000,000. The expense of medicine, medical attendance, extra 

 foods, etc., would equal this amount; thus, we have the total cost of 

 illness as approximately $1,100,000,000, of which it is assumed that 

 at least one-half is preventable. The annual loss from preventable 

 deaths has been conservatively estimated at $1,100,000,000. If 

 to this we add the $550,000,000 loss from preventable sickness, we 

 have a total of $1,650,000,000 as the approximate annual monetary 

 loss to these two nations from preventable sickness and death, and 

 these figures are considered by practical and reliable authorities 

 as extremely conservative. Furthermore, no attempt is made here 

 at estimating the loss from the after effects of many of these diesases, 

 that oft times leave the victim handicapped for the balance of his 

 life; no attempt is made to estimate what this enormous amount 

 means in human blood, in agony, pain, sorrow and tears; nor the loss 



* Extract from article by Dr. Chas. J. Hastings M.D., L.R.C.P.I., Medical 

 Officer of Health, Toronto, in Conservation of Life, July, 1917. 



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