American Agriculturist, September 22,1923 
Solving the Farmer’s Health Problem 
A WEAR and American Agriculturist Wednesday Evening Radio Message 
C URIOUSLY enough there seems to 
be a deep-rooted belief in the minds 
of most people that living in the 
country is sufficient to insure good 
health, and yet no public health problem of 
the State has been so difficult to solve as that 
of rural health conditions. The average city 
dweller has no realization of the hardships 
that may come to a farmer’s family in the 
winter months, when roads are clogged and 
illness visits a family located sometimes 
many miles from the nearest open highway. 
Babies are born, contagious diseases find 
their way into the family, pneumonia occurs, 
and almost any kind of suffering known to 
the human race finds its way somehow to 
the farm as easily as it does elsewhere. 
Our State Health Department has made 
very careful studies of these conditions and 
tragic as well as pathetic stories come to 
their attention over and over again. One of 
them I remember impressed me very deeply. 
A doctor reached a family living, in the coun¬ 
try after two and one-half days of endeavor 
to get someone to go there. He found a very 
sick mother with a new-born child and three 
older children, one of whom was dead of 
scarlet fever and the other two far gone 
with its ravages, and the father so ill 
with pneumonia that his life, too, was de¬ 
spaired of. 
Supporting physicians and nurses in these 
rural communities is one of the great diffi¬ 
culties. Statistics show clearly that young- 
men are not going into the country districts 
to practice, in nearly sufficient numbers to 
care for the population. There is little to 
attract them in this type of practice. Long- 
distances to cover, caused by widely scattered 
homes, no opportunity for experimentation 
or hospital work, a dwindling population and 
in the winter months roads over which 
traveling is most difficult, if not 
entirely impassable the greater 
part of the time, constitute some 
of the obstacles. Naturally 
statistics show mortality rates 
in these districts, that are in 
keeping with conditions. Fig¬ 
ures gathered by the State De¬ 
partment of Health out of fifty- 
\ seven counties, twenty-one in¬ 
dividually show a higher mortal¬ 
ity rate for their districts than 
rural districts for the whole 
State. The rural rate of the 
State is 65.87, the county rural 
rates range from 66.32 in Lewis 
County to 109.38 in Schoharie 
County. Twenty-eight counties 
show a higher maternal mortal¬ 
ity than the average State rate, 
with a difference ranging all the 
way from fifteen per cent to 
sixty-three. 
Many suggestions have been 
made with an attempt to find 
some way of alleviating this con¬ 
dition. Last winter I called a 
conference of leading physicians 
of the State and we talked over 
the whole matter and after care¬ 
ful study, the conclusion was 
reached that there is no doubt 
that certain communities and 
districts up-State are lacking in 
adequate medical care. 
Of course, no attempt should 
be made on the part of the. State 
to impose its own viewpoint on 
that of any locality, and there¬ 
fore efforts to meet these health 
conditions must originate in the 
localities themselves. Rural 
counties do not have money to 
expend and cannot always afford 
By ALFRED E. SMITH 
Governor of the State of Neio York 
even the time of a public health nurse or 
the full time of a physician. Some of the 
better situated counties have tried ways of 
working out the difficulty. In some in¬ 
stances several small counties have combined 
and have obtained the full time service of 
a physician, guaranteeing him an income 
sufficient to maintain himself. In one or two 
instances county hospitals have been pro¬ 
vided and community hospitals are also 
under way in some localities. Underlying 
the establishment of a community hospital 
is the thought that if the patient can be 
brought to the hospital, a physician is put 
into the position of being able to visit a num¬ 
ber of patients at one time, instead of hav¬ 
ing to make a number of visits over difficult 
roads to scattered homes. The patients 
would receive better and more expert treat¬ 
ment under first-class conditions, and much 
time is saved in treatment and in conserv¬ 
ing the energy of physicians and nurses. 
Some of these hospitals might contain only 
a few beds; five or ten would be sufficient in 
some instances. 
In order to stimulate the founding of such 
hospitals and the establishment of public 
health activities, the last session of the Leg¬ 
islature passed a lav/ providing that when¬ 
ever supervisors of counties having no first 
or second-class cities, undertake public health 
work and make an appropriation for it, the 
State shall appropriate a similar amount, 
dollar for dollar. 
The work to be done must conform to the 
standards of the State Department of Health. 
A small committee of physicians, public 
health experts and people familiar with 
rural health conditions, together with the 
State Department of Health will carry this 
work forward. 
Many things may be accomplished under 
this program. Public health educational 
campaigns, and demonstrations designed to 
bring to residents in rural districts a realiza¬ 
tion of the importance of maintaining stand¬ 
ards of health work which will compare 
favorably with standards in urban communi¬ 
ties may be undertaken. 
Hospitals in rural communities in which 
they are urgently needed may be established 
and maintained, which unaided, owing to the 
scattered population, would be a serious 
burden on their localities, and public health 
nursing service could be established under 
like conditions. 
A physician or health officer may be main¬ 
tained in a community in which medical 
service is not otherwise available, and where, 
owing to local conditions the income from 
private practice would be insufficient to at¬ 
tract or maintain a physician. 
Under the State support law passed this 
year health laboratories may be established 
under similar conditions. It would seem to 
me that this is a constructive way of deal¬ 
ing with a vital human need, affecting our 
rural population in the closest possible way. 
Nothing is so important to the State as the 
good health of its citizenship and this must 
apply to the farm dweller as well as the city 
dweller. 
The New York Trespass Law 
I F you wish to protect properly your prem¬ 
ises from trespassing, they must be posted 
according to law. The law reads: “Notices 
or signboards not less than one-foot square 
warning all persons against hunting, fishing 
or trespassing thereon for that purpose shall 
be conspicuously posted not 
more than forty rods apart, 
close to and along the entire 
boundary thereof. The posting 
of such notices will be sufficient, 
provided that illegible or de¬ 
stroyed signs be replaced once 
a year during the months of 
March, July, August or Septem¬ 
ber, and there shall be so placed 
at least one notice or signboard 
on each side, and one at each 
corner.” 
If premises are posted as 
above, your farm is deemed duly 
protected by law, even if the 
signs are torn down or defaced. 
One who trespasses on posted 
lands or who removes or defaces 
the posted signs is guilty of a 
misdemeanor. Any one may ar¬ 
rest such person, but a better 
procedure is to take his license 
number and immediately com¬ 
municate with the State police. 
A person may trespass, hunt or 
fish on posted lands provided he 
has either written or oral con¬ 
sent from the owner. Written 
consent is better because it is 
easier to prove. 
It will be noted, therefore, 
that in order to protect properly 
your lands this fall, trespass 
signs must be posted before Sep¬ 
tember 30. Purely as a service 
to our people, American Agricul¬ 
turist furnishes at cost, signs 
which comply with the New 
York State law. These will be 
sent you upon receipt of sixty 
cents a dozen. Address Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist, 461 Fourth 
Avenue, New York City. 
PROHIBITION BALLOT 
OF THE 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
Are You for the Strict Enforcement of the 
18th Amendment as It Now Stands ? 
Are You for a Modification of the 18th 
Amendment to Permit Light Wines 
and Beer ? 
.Designate your opinion by placing an X in the square opposite Yes or 
No on each question. Sign your name and address. Your name will be 
kept strictly confidential. 
Name .... 
Address . * . 
Why You Should Vote 
Do the Americarf people want prohibition? The Wets emphatically say 
“No” and the Drys are even more emphatically for it. Both sides claim 
a majority. Which is right? What do farm people think about it? The 
opinions of farmers on any problem, if they will express them, go far in 
determining the outcome of a controversy. 
American Agriculturist is taking a vote of farm families on the ques¬ 
tion of prohibition. It is a vital issue and whether you are for it or 
against it, be sure to vote in the spaces above. Mail this ballot to the 
American Agriculturist, 461 Fourth Avenue, New York City. 
Get your friends to vote—More ballots furnished on application 
| YES 
] NO 
* 
