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Show CHRISTMAS SEALS Tuberculosis Is Nation's Most Costly Communicable Disease In its never-ending battle against tuberculosis, the National Tuberculosis Tubercu-losis Association again this year continues its sale of Christmas seals for funds with which to carry on its program of education, medical research and rehabilitation against 'the nation's most costly communicable communi-cable disease. The story of Christmas seals in this countr; is the story of the battle against a disease that takes more than 40,000 lives a year in the United States. SWAP I OUT-W BUY AND USE CHRISTMAS SEALS Christmas seals have been sold in this country since 1907. In that year, the late Miss Emily P. Bissell put on a seal sale in her home town of Wilmington, Del., to raise funds to help a group of doctors continue the treatment of a small number of tuberculosis patients. When a Philadelphia Phila-delphia newspaper threw its sup- nnrt hphinrl thp sale. SUCCeSS WaS assured and $3,000 was realized. Miss Bissell's goal had been $309. THE IDEA was imported from Denmark. In that country, Christmas Christ-mas seals had been sold in 1904, the year the NTA was organized, because an obscure postal clerk, Einar Holboell, thought people should help needy children at Christmas time. He conceived the idea of a Christmas seal on letters as a way to raise money. The first seal funds in Denmark were used to build a sanatorium for tuber-. culous children. Jacob A. Riis, an American citizen citi-zen of Danish birth, proved the bridge over which the seal traveled from Denmark to America. He wrote an article about the Danish seal which was published in this country, and suggested that the idea be adopted. Miss Bissell remembered re-membered the article when she was looking for a means of raising funds and acted on his suggestions. THE AMERICAN Christmas seals are sold by local tuberculosis association asso-ciation which retain approximately 75 per cent of the proceeds. The balance is forwarded to the state association which, in turn, allocated six per cent to the national. Thus, 94 per cent of seal funds are used to support tuberculosis control programs pro-grams within the state where the money was contributed. The national and local associations associa-tions are fighting tuberculosis on four broad fronts: 1. Education getting true facts about tuberculosis and its prevention preven-tion to large groups of people. 2. Case finding searching out tuberculosis wherever it is and seeing see-ing that treatment is provided for persons with active disease. 3. Rehabilitation helping the tuberculosis patient adjust to his changed condition and prepare for useful living when his disease is arrested. 4. Medical research aiding qualified quali-fied investigators, through annual grants, in their continuous search for more knowledge about tuber-:ulosis. tuber-:ulosis. This is the broad program of NTA that benefits when Americans buy Christmas seals. |