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Show DEATH RATE ' Thin TfaiiriT fl i?n dn ' III InfilSANJfc High Percentage Caused Principally by Tuberculosis. Tu-berculosis. Carlisle, Pa., Dec. 17. Because the Indians have a death rate estimated at 35 per 1,000, mpre than double the dentil late among whites, Superintendent Super-intendent m Friedman, o. the government gov-ernment Indian school here, declnrcs that the government has hardly setaped the surface of the Indian health problem and that thoro are too few physicians in the Indian service for the work of coping with disease on the reservations. "To think lhat one physician can care for thc health of air entire tribe of Indians scattered over mountain territory Is an absurdity, he sas. and adds that until every borne on ovor reservation Is t cached there will continue con-tinue to he unnecessary sickness, suffering suf-fering and death. "This Is a national problem.'1 savs Mr Friedman, "as St not onlv affects af-fects tho lives of 300.000 Jndiiin.s but ol millions of white men. women nnd children w-ho llvo on and around the rcenations. This work calls insistently insist-ently to be done, and If we are lo sae the Indians it must be done now." Mr Friedman said. "The Aine-Ican Indian is facing a critical period in his fight for health and strength, and agniust disease, which Is toda made all tho harder by his changed economical condition and the elimination of his formcrl transient existence. Those who have made a study of tho history of our Indians are of the opinion that in the carlv das tliov knew nothing of tuberculosis, tu-berculosis, and that their death rate duo to chronic disease was far less (ban it U todqy. Thin was due to the fact that the Indians lived more of an outdoor existence, where physical phy-sical endurance marked their activity, while at the same time, they had no ulfficultv in obtaining from nature and by hunting a stead supply of wholesome food Fiirthcimore, the In- dlans did not live in one place for a long enough period to create an un-sanitarv un-sanitarv condition, but changed their place of habitation with the seasons and in accordance with their desires. Thin is impossible today. They hac a definite habitation In a fixed locality without modern sanitation or sufficient ventilation. They are dependent de-pendent for their food supply on steady toil, and unless they have remunerative re-munerative employment, or successfully success-fully farm their allotment, which too often Is not the case, they and their families do not have wholesome food at regular period's , and in sufficient quantities, such as is demanded by every normally healthy person. Not knowing the nature of tuberculosis and the danger of Its spread, sick Indians In-dians and v,o Indians are thrown together, to-gether, and often live In the snmo room, where they sleep, cat and cook, with the-resultkj.that there is a rapid spread of this dreadful disease from one member of the family to another, or to some fellow-tribesman who comes In to Join In passing the pipe around the circle, where It is taken In to the mouths of sick and well alike In the same way. other diseases, in eluding trachoma, are spread very quickly. "The health problem among the In dians is a most serious one. especially especial-ly when it is remembered that there is a" death rate among the Indians estimated esti-mated at 35 per thousand, while the death rate among whites Is less than 15 per thousand It Is also estimated that 30 per cent of the total number of deaths among Indians is due to tu berculosis, whereas only 11 per cent of the deaths among whites Is due to this disease. "One of the reasons for the large amount of tuberculosis among Indians is due to the fact that the Indian race has not yet developed resisting pov-ers pov-ers against iL This will come with education and civilization. There Is a difficult medical problem facing the government in its work with thc American Am-erican Indians There can be vo question but that this problem is one of the Individual home, no mnttr where that homo may be, while, at the same time, no genuine far-reaching allevlatlve results will bo obtained obtain-ed until the younger generation Is taught to guard against this disease and to teach tho older people the same lesson The bulk of tho work to be done is on the reservations and not in the schools There are sufficient suffi-cient physicians and medical facilities, generally, in the schools, but the reservations res-ervations must have more attention." oo |