The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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July, 1927 The Health Bulletin 17
Exposure to venereal disease depends
a great deal upon the self-control of
individuals. Vulgar shows, whether
they be in the form of motion pictures,
vaudeville, or drama, are responsible
for more exposures to venereal disease
than any other factor. The automobile,
intoxication, and immodest
dress may all encourage exposure to
venereal disease, but none as much as
do some of the modern shows. Nothing
seems more inconsistent or more
unjust to us than for a city to permit
shows to teach prostitution, and then
arrest those who practice it. Venereal
diseases, like all other diseases, are
more easily prevented than cured. We
never will be able to do much along
the line of prevention by merely arresting
those citizens, when caught,
who expose themselves and others illegally.
We feel certain that much
more will be accomplished if more attention
is given to those conditions and
places that preach sexual immorality,
which is responsible for a great deal
of venereal disease. Nothing can be
accomplished by merely ordering the
houses of ill-fame closed, unless those
conditions are remedied which create
the demand for houses of ill-fame.
Milwaukee is to be congratulated for
its recent stand against vulgar shows.
Every vulgar word and act eliminated
from the screens and stages of Milwaukee
will not only help to reduce venereal
disease in Milwaukee, but will
also help to prevent many deaths in
the future from this terrible disease.
Milwaukee Health Bulletin.
During the past two years we have
restricted the circulation of the Bulletin
to those persons only who have
requested that it be sent to them, or
who have requested that it be sent to a
particular friend. We have therefore
been holding each issue to conform to
this regulation, and have now approximately
twenty thousand names on the
list to which the Bulletin goes each
mouth. We are very anxious for any
family in North Carolina who desires
this Bulletin to receive it ; but we are
equally anxious to prevent waste in
the circulation, and we do not want to
send it under any circumstances to any
address where it is not desired.
It is natural in a circulation of
twenty thousand, which is not only
State-wide, going to every county in the
State, but to every State in the Union,
and to some foreign countries, that
there should be a considerable turnover
in the mailing list. Occasionally
some person who is receiving the Bulletin,
after having requested it, will
move to another address, and the Bulletin
will continue to be sent, of
course, to the original address. In
such cases, unless the family at which
address the Bulletin continues to go
desires it, and utilizes it, it is a dead
loss to the State. Sometimes the recipients
of the Bulletin, in such places
and under such circumstances, will
continue to let it come on, preferring
ABOUT THE MAILING LIST
to throw it in the waste basket instead
of taking the slight trouble necessary
to notify the postoffice department that
the original receiver is dead or has
moved away. The postal authorities,
we have found, are very careful in
checking up these things for us ; but
in many cases they themselves do not
know about changes taking place, and
so are not able to notify us to discontinue
sending the Bulletin.
We are very much pleased to know
that requests to receive the Bulletin
by people throughout the State have
increased a great deal during the past
few months. During the month of
April we received more than nine hundred
individual requests for the Bulletin.
This indicates a gratifying appreciation
of our efforts in attempting
to provide some information of value
through each issue of the publication.
Any householder desiring to receive
the Bulletin may procure a copy once
a month by sending us a request, giving
the correct name and postotEce
address.
The baby born in the United States
today has a reasonable expectation of
eleven years longer life than his father
had.
The chief saving of life has been in
the earlier years of life. The baby
death rate is less than one-half its
former figure.