PUBLIC HEALTH

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 14, 11 October 1918, Page 8

PUBLIC HEALTH

THE SOCIAL HYGIENE ACT

(To the Editor.)

Sir,— Democracy in peace time elects liard-tvorlung party nprasentativos to rartiament ior wuom id lias little or no moral respect with the certain understanding mac by mutual irritation their etfoics will be neutralised. In the advent of war, being always possessed of splendid laith and of a sentiment easily moved by sounding phrases, it fuses tliese parties into (.lie iu tho odd hopo thai, tlwugh there .js no on© to replace tliom or usurp their salaries, they will collectively prove the saviours of 'their country. So we get tho Social Hygiene Act of 1917. No subject is so difficult to handle as venereal disease. It comprises disorders invested by past mistakes with an inverted halo ol morality in order to make them disreputable. it. has rendered their prevention impossible, their cure difficult, the sufferers callous, and has fastened their effects permanently upon the next generation. Venereal diseases have to do with the oiigin of tho race and with joung children. They are fundamental. All States have to deal with thorn, and for that reason wo here lay out the matter shortly in order to divest it of the fallacies which hitherto surrounding it have rendered an intelligent compromise impossible and prevented its eradication.

Venereal disease can be wiped out of New Zealand in five years—and for this reason; Every doctor all over the world now acknowledges that venereal disease is more often than not acquired innocently without sexual intercourse.

Let every man and women in NewZealand grasp that fact, and the country will .be at a bound within measurable distance of victory. It is true. It at once separates the basic issues of the matter into practical and visionary. An acceptance of the proven fact immediatelydieesta the subject of the moral and religious millstones which clog the progress and hopes of every one who wants to deal with the grave business. It pulls us together into one camp. The public ?nd members of tho various hospital boards must roalise that their business is to deal with diseases because they are diseases, and that it is no more their business to stamp out the social or sexual conditions _ which may give r'se to them than it is to stamp out the conditions which compel the use of the circular saw. Let them leave the circular saw to bs protected by inspectors of machinery, and the intelligent education of the workmen, and the social conditions to be protected and directed by real statesmen; progress will bo made in mitigating the accidents. The fundamental fact is that both send diseases to the hospital and affect the nation's citizens.

Wo are very patient people.- It has long been clear that so long as venereal disease remain cloaked by an impenetrable armour of religion real morality will not be allowed to effect its eradication.. In short, civilisation and bacteriological research, which has shown up the disease in a twentiethcentury manner, put it on the movies, educated the public, and brought out the most marvellous methods of eradication, is now asked.to stand by to the. prejudices of A.D.1., That surely is a Hindenburg line—to be broken. ' It makes no difference at all to dociqrs. nurses, and a public surgically wishing to treat a black eye (and so preventing by jn-ompt treatment and cure contamination of it and'by it), whether it was obtained by going down to tlie gutter in an orgy or by' knocking against the knob of a praying chair under emotional stress. The black eye is tho matter at issue. No one would surely think of shruggingtheir shoulders, of pulling aside their garments, or of going to the extraordinary mental trouble of calling it "the black plague"—if it is curable, and morally good to have it remedied.

There is another factor or set r.f arguments which has to be considered. It is feared that public discussion 'in the Press of venereal disease may lead children privately to discuss, and want information upon the mater. In our opinion nothing could bo happier than that they should do so. Think. The whole trouble is that hitherto they have not asked tho questions openly. Is not that true? Children and adolescents are taught always to look.upon courage as tho highest aim of a proper life. Self-control is only another form of courage. 'Equally arc they laughfc to regard cowardice-, as despicable and unworthy. Self-abuse, of whatever sort, is but' cowardice undar' another name. If children can bo led to discuss these things and to worship courage as the idea], and to wage a lifelong war upon cowardice, an all-wise Providence will give us absolutism. No sutor ultra crepidani ("Let the cobbler stick to his last") is so very true a saying. Yet tho cobbler Kopcnick exposed the military system of Germany to tho eyes of tho whole world.

Tho business cannot bo left as it is. Many, very many, tiny infants are being born here, and through no fault of their own or their parents develop venereal discharges oil their eyes, which become so virulent so quickly that their sight is permanently destroyed. Tiny ehiklreni have become blind this year here to our knowledge. Their lives are ruined.. The expense to the State is alone a great consideration. Picture their fVture. 11 is to stretch out their infant hands over the faces they have learned to love—in order to recognise thorn.: To grope their way along a .corridor, to reach a room they can never see. To—is it not economically unintelligent, and frightfully cruel, if these diseases are proved cable r

Another and a hotter saying of a Lawn, sage has become a maxim ol law. "Uiilibst in arte sua jerito est credenduin" ("Every man should he given credence whim dealing with his own profession"). The Social Hygiene Act was brought ftorward without consultation with any representative body of medical opinion.. If any step touches the health of tha nation ever so little tho success of it lies inseparably in the hands of the medical practitioners of the nation. It is not sagacious to antagonise a. bc/dy of men which is among the best educated in tho country. Or to publish a policy of "Ersatz" ' (substitutes), like tho Germans. We ai'e not at war with any section in this country, are we? If not, that impression should be removed very quickly. The Social Ltygiene Act is incontinent with mistakes. No man's fcelin«s matter at all in these big things. What does matter is the next generation. Blind babies! No, no. wo aro not going to tolerate it any longer.—l am, etc., (DR). EDGAR. WHITAKEE. Palmerston North, October 9.