mber to the crews of two battle
ships, equal in three months to more than the total combined numbers of
the Army and Navy of the United States; equal in one year to more than
the total number of lives lost in all our wars since the Declaration of
Independence.

The Titanic disaster shocked the public for a moment, and seemed to
impress them as though it was a terrible and unheard of waste of good
human lives. Yet in the loss of life due to preventable causes we have
in this country every day in the year a destruction of our citizens
exceeding in magnitude that which occurred when the Titanic sank.
Think of it! A Titanic disaster a day, and yet the public does not
rise up and demand in a spirit of anger and determination that steps be
taken at once to put an end to this appalling and unnecessary waste of
lives.

Under modern hygienic conditions, the average length of existence for an
individual in Great Britain has increased ten years in the last half
century. Among all the enlightened and advanced nations, the expectation
of the individual for long survival is greater. Since the appearance of
uncheckable and epidemic disorders is less frequent and the percentage
of cures is greater.

Since quarantine has been regularly established and the sewage system
made efficient in large cities, and since the sanitary plumbing laws
have been made compulsory, the general death rate has decreased
enormously. These regulations have been the product of regularly
educated medical or sanitary experts. No 'ism or 'ology has ever
established any scientific principle which has contributed to the
general welfare of the people. We no longer fear the plague, or typhus
or yellow fever, cholera, diphtheria, typhoid, consumption, and other
diseases which once were a constant menace to the race. The plague, for
example, is practically limited to the Far East, where modern methods
cannot evidently be introduced efficiently. At one time it periodically
devastated Europe, where it cannot now get a foothold because of the
introduction of sanitary systems and hygienic principles.

Tetanus or lockjaw and hydrophobia are now amenable to cure while
formerly all cases were practically fatal. The mortality of diphtheria
has been reduced more than fifty per cent. Antiseptic precautions in
surgical cases, first introduced by the famous surgeon, Lord Lister,
have made possible and successful operations that formerly could not be
undertaken, thus broadenin