ost in the Cuban
War. In the yellow fever epidemic of 1872, the loss to the country was
not less than $100,000,000 in gold.

"With our present population there are always about 3,000,000 persons
in the United States on the sick list.... By means of Farr's table, we
may calculate that very close to a third, or 1,000,000 persons, are in
the working period of life. Assuming that average earnings in the
working period are $700, and that only three-fourths of the 1,000,000
potential workers would be occupied, we find over $500,000,000 as the
minimum loss of earnings.

"The cost of medical attendance, medicine and nursing, etc., is
conjectured by Dr. Biggs in New York to be from $1.50 each per day for
the consumptive poor to a greater amount for other diseases and
classes. Applying this to the 3,000,000 years of illness annually
experienced, we have $1,500,000,000 as the minimum annual cost of this
kind.

"The statistics of the Commissioner of Labor show that the expenditure
for illness and death amounts to twenty-seven dollars per family per
annum. This is for workingmen's families only. But even this figure,
if applied to the 17,000,000 families of the United States, would make
the total bill caring for illness and death $460,000,000. The true
cost may well be more than twice this sum. Certainly the estimate is
more than safe, and is only one-third of the sum obtained by using Dr.
Biggs's estimate. The sum of the costs of illness, including loss of
wages and cost of care, is thus $460,000,000 plus $500,000,000 equals
$960,000,000.... At least three-quarters of the costs are
preventable."[3]

[3] Report on National Vitality, p. 119.

The cost of certain preventable diseases a year is estimated by
various authorities as:

Tuberculosis $1,000,000,000
Typhoid 250,000,000
Malaria 100,000,000
Other insect diseases 100,000,000

A hopeful sign of awakening is the endeavor by life insurance
companies to bring home to the people the possibilities of race
betterment. One company sends out among its policy holders trained
nurses, who give plain talks on health subjects and offer practical
suggestions as to hygienic living. This, to be sure, is on the
economic basis of money saving, but if that is the only thing that
will appeal to the people is it not wise to seize upon it as a lever
to lift the standard of well-being?

The possibility of saving the enormous sums th