As somebody said before, these things are no more true because a President has said them; but the fact that President Roosevelt has said them, has given wide publicity to them, and impressed them upon the public consciousness.
The knowledge that economic conditions;—the way in which men and women live because they have to so live in order to earn a living, is the fundamental factor in the case of public health, is something that is bound to become recognized as the growth of knowledge goes on. It will only be a question of time before men and women will see that in order to have health, it will be necessary to organize all the affairs of life with a view to the well-being of humanity as a whole.
In order to make effective the work of the Committee of One Hundred, its President, Irving Fisher, assisted by Professor Norton, organized the American Health League, which has absorbed the Public Health Defense League, an organization formed for the purpose of fighting the patent medicine evil, and awakening public interest in matters of hygiene. The Health League already numbers nine or ten thousand citizens, who are pledged to give financial and moral support to the work of the Committee of One Hundred in its efforts to establish a national Bureau of Health. The League is rapidly increasing in membership, for a spirit of interest in hygiene is abroad in the land. Local advisory committees have already been formed in more than two hundred cities and towns, and it is planned to prosecute the work of multiplying these branch committees until every town in the United States shall be represented in the membership. The Committee of One Hundred publishes the magazine American Health as its official organ, and all American men and women who are interested in the spread of the new hygiene are invited by the Committee to correspond with its Executive Secretary, Drawer 30, New Haven, Conn.
Connected with the advisory and other subcommittees, are committees of writers, editors, and newspaper men, numbering many of our most prominent penmen and pressmen, and the power of molding public opinion through this channel alone is very great. There is now being organized a Council on Co-operation, to consist of the leading officers of American religions, fraternal, learned, secret, and educational organizations; and also a Council of Research, to consist of leading investigators interested in original research along public health lines.
In other words, the Committee of One Hundred has grown to a compact, well-organized, rapidly-spreading, national Army of Health. It has grown within a wonderfully short period, simply because there was a great and pressing need for it.
Professor William H. Welch, a member of the Committee of One Hundred, and Professor of Pathology at Johns Hopkins University, has put himself on record as saying that if the nation were to apply in practice the existing knowledge of hygiene, the nation’s death rate would be cut in two. In commenting on this statement, Irving Fisher said:
“The greatest asset of all, the physical health of our citizens, is still neglected. Professor Nicholson, an economist of Scotland, has estimated that the living capital of Great Britain is worth five times the physical capital. That is, if we capitalize each man’s working capacity and add together this capitalization throughout the whole realm of Great Britain, the value of the population so obtained is five times the value of all the land and all the railroads and all the buildings, and all the iron mines and all the other capital which is ordinarily called wealth. If we could make this human capital within the United States double its present worth (it is already five times that of the inanimate capital), it is evident what an enormous improvement would ensue as compared with the possible improvements in saving arid lands, and other physical resources. Our health has much more than a money value. But these calculations show that even on the most materialistic method of reckoning, there is truth in Emerson’s statement, “the first wealth is health.”
APPENDIX
Diet List
| Proteid | Carbo- hydrate | Fat | Water | Mineral Matter | Food Value per pound calories | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broiled tenderloin steak | 23.5 | 0 | 20.4 | 54.8 | 1.2 | 1300 |
| Lamb chops, broiled | 21.7 | 0 | 29.9 | 47.6 | 1.3 | 1665 |
| Smoked ham, fat, edible portion | 14.3 | 0 | 52.3 | 27.9 | 3.7 | 2485 |
| Roast turkey, edible portion | 27.3 | 0 | 18.4 | 52.0 | 1.2 | 1295 |
| Fricasseed chicken, edible portion | 17.6 | 2.4 | 11.5 | 67.5 | 1.0 | 855 |
| Cooked bluefish, edible portion | 26.1 | 0 | 4.5 | 68.2 | 1.2 | 670 |
| Canned salmon, edible portion | 21.8 | 0 | 12.1 | 63.5 | 2.6 | 915 |
| Fresh oysters, solid | 6.0 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 88.3 | 1.1 | 230 |
| Boiled hen’s eggs | 13.2 | 0 | 12.0 | 73.2 | 0.8 | 765 |
| Butter | 1.0 | 0 | 85.0 | 11.0 | 3.0 | 3605 |
| Full cream cheese | 25.9 | 2.4 | 33.7 | 34.2 | 3.8 | 1950 |
| Whole cow’s milk | 3.3 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 87.0 | 0.7 | 325 |
| Wheat flour, entire wheat | 13.8 | 71.9 | 1.9 | 11.4 | 1.0 | 1675 |
| Boiled rice | 2.8 | 24.4 | 0.1 | 72.5 | 0.2 | 525 |
| Shredded wheat | 10.5 | 77.9 | 1.4 | 8.1 | 2.1 | 1700 |
| Macaroni | 13.4 | 74.1 | 0.9 | 10.3 | 1.3 | 1665 |
| Brown bread | 5.4 | 47.1 | 1.8 | 43.6 | 2.1 | 1050 |
| Wheat bread or rolls | 8.9 | 56.7 | 4.1 | 29.2 | 1.1 | 1395 |
| Whole wheat bread | 9.4 | 49.7 | 0.9 | 38.4 | 1.3 | 1140 |
| Soda crackers | 9.8 | 73.1 | 9.1 | 5.9 | 2.1 | 1925 |
| Ginger bread | 5.8 | 63.5 | 9.0 | 18.8 | 2.9 | 1670 |
| Sponge cake | 6.3 | 65.9 | 10.7 | 15.3 | 1.8 | 1795 |
| Apple pie | 3.1 | 42.8 | 9.8 | 42.5 | 1.8 | 1270 |
| Custard pie | 4.2 | 26.1 | 6.3 | 62.4 | 1.0 | 830 |
| Indian Meal pudding | 5.5 | 27.5 | 4.8 | 60.7 | 1.5 | 815 |
| Fresh asparagus | 1.8 | 3.3 | 0.2 | 94.0 | 0.7 | 105 |
| Fresh lima beans | 7.1 | 22.0 | 0.7 | 68.5 | 1.7 | 570 |
| Dried lima beans | 18.1 | 65.9 | 1.5 | 10.4 | 4.1 | 1625 |
| Cooked beets | 2.3 | 7.4 | 0.1 | 88.6 | 1.6 | 185 |
| Fresh cabbage, edible portion | 1.6 | 5.6 | 0.3 | 91.5 | 1.0 | 145 |
| Dried peas | 24.6 | 62.0 | 1.0 | 9.5 | 2.9 | 1655 |
| Green peas | 7.7 | 16.9 | O.5 | 74.6 | 1.0 | 465 |
| Boiled potatoes | 2.5 | 20.9 | 0.1 | 75.5 | 1.0 | 440 |
| Fresh tomatoes | 0.9 | 3.9 | 0.4 | 94.3 | 0.5 | 105 |
| Baked beans, canned | 6.9 | 19.6 | 2.5 | 68.9 | 2.1 | 600 |
| Apples, edible portion | 0.4 | 14.2 | 0.5 | 84.6 | 3.0 | 290 |
| Bananas, yellow, edible portion | 1.3 | 22.0 | 0.6 | 75.3 | 0.8 | 460 |
| Oranges, edible portion | 0.8 | 11.6 | 0.2 | 86.9 | 0.5 | 240 |
| Peaches, edible portion | 0.7 | 9.4 | 0.1 | 89.4 | 0.4 | 190 |
| Fresh strawberries | 1.0 | 7.4 | 0.6 | 90.4 | 0.6 | 180 |
| Dried prunes, edible portion | 2.1 | 73.3 | 0.0 | 22.3 | 2.3 | 1400 |
| Almonds, edible portion | 21.0 | 13.3 | 54.9 | 4.8 | 2.0 | 3030 |
| Peanuts, edible portion | 25.8 | 24.4 | 38.6 | 9.2 | 2.0 | 2560 |
| Pine nuts, edible portion | 33.9 | 6.9 | 49.4 | 6.4 | 3.4 | 2845 |
| Brazil nuts, edible portion | 17.0 | 7.0 | 66.8 | 5.3 | 3.9 | 3265 |
| Soft-shell walnuts, edible portion | 16.6 | 16.1 | 63.4 | 2.5 | 1.4 | 3285 |