Reprint No. 39, from the Public Health Reports, Vol. XXIV, No. 36, September 3, 1909.
By C. P. Wertenbaker, Surgeon, United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service.
There was published in the Public Health Reports of May 28, 1909, Volume XXIV, No. 22, a plan for the organization of colored antituberculosis leagues, which contemplated the organization of a league in each State, with a branch in every colored church.
Experience has shown that after such leagues are formed difficulty arises in getting to work in an effective way, because the work is new in character and those engaged in it have had but little, if any, experience. It is to meet this difficulty and supply a practical guide for the work of the leagues that this is written.
ORGANIZATION OF A STATE LEAGUE.
The object of the state league is to organize the church leagues, to bind them together and render more effective their work. The caring for patients and work of a similar character are properly the function of the church leagues.
There need be but little ceremony in organizing a state league. A few leading colored men and women, preferably from different parts of the State, but not necessarily so, meet and proceed to organize the state league.
The constitution and by-laws for state leagues should be adopted, followed by the election of a president, a secretary, and a treasurer.
It is desirable that the constitution and by-laws recommended in “The Plan” be adopted in all essential particulars, so that there will be uniformity in organization and work. They have been adopted in all the States that have organized thus far, and it is believed future organizations should also adopt them.
The president then appoints a committee, the president and secretary being members of it, to select a vice-president for each county in the State. (The plan contemplates that there shall be a vice-president for each county, whose duty it is to organize a branch league in each colored church in the county.)