288 
Modern  Medicine. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1915. 
offer  a  most  important  educational  opportunity.  Business  men's 
organizations  are  also  important.  In  bringing  the  matter  to  their 
attention,  it  is  necessary  to  emphasize  the  commercial  value  of  good 
health  both  to  the  individual  and  the  community,  and  the  fact  that 
good  health  and  a  low  death-rate  is  a  valuable  commercial  asset  for 
any  town.  The  proper  utilization  of  all  of  these  methods  necessarily 
involves  a  careful  study  of  the  local  field.  Plans  which  are  effective 
in  one  State  must  be  modified  in  another.  No  hard-and-fast  program 
can  be  followed  blindly. 
Personally,  I  have  long  been  of  the  opinion  that  the  most  effective 
method  for  the  improvement  of  public  health  conditions  which  could 
be  adopted  would  be  the  organization,  in  each  State,  of  a  public 
health  league,  composed  not  only  of  physicians,  but  of  men  and 
women  interested  in  improving  the  health  conditions  of  their  town, 
county  and  State  and  working  through  all  of  the  local  organizations 
in  the  State.  Such  a  plan  is  by  no  means  visionary.  It  has  already 
been  put  into  operation  in  Minnesota,  where  the  State  Association 
for  the  Study  and  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  and  other  local  special 
organizations  were  merged  into  a  general  public  health  league  with 
an  executive  working  in  close  cooperation  with  the  State  board  of 
health,  the  State  medical  society,  the  State  university,  the  general 
federation  of  women's  clubs,  the  local  business  men's  organizations 
and  all  of  the  other  mediums  for  reaching  and  educating  the  public. 
Such  a  combination  of  the  many  independent  existing  organizations 
can  eventually  be  formed  in  each  State.  A  lay  organization  will 
command  the  support  and  arouse  the  local  pride  and  enthusiasm  of 
the  people  in  a  way  that  no  professional  organization  could  hope  to 
do.  The  organization  of  these  State  public  health  leagues  will,  I  trust, 
go  on  until  it  will  be  possible  to  combine  them  in  a  national  public 
health  league,  which  will  exercise  an  influence  far  greater  than  could 
be  brought  to  bear  by  any  single  profession  or  class. 
If  you  ask  me  what  are  Utah's  needs,  I  must  respectfully  decline 
to  make  a  diagnosis  or  prescribe  a  remedy.  Nothing  is  farther  from 
my  intentions  or  desires  than  to  pose  as  a  legislative  specialist  or  to 
attempt  to  dictate  a  uniform  and  stereotyped  program  for  each  State. 
There  is  only  one  power  that  can  save  the  people  of  Utah  from  un- 
necessary disease  and  death,  and  that  is  the  people  of  Utah  them- 
selves. They  are  perfectly  justified  in  looking  to  the  organized 
medical  profession  of  Utah,  as  represented  by  this  State  association, 
for  guidance  and  expert  knowledge  and  advice,  but  State  public 
