WEBVTT 00:19.466 --> 00:24.799 [Music] 00:24.800 --> 00:31.633 [The National Tuberculosis Association presents] 00:31.633 --> 00:41.933 [On the Firing Line A travel tour to scenes of the fight against tuberculosis] 00:41.933 --> 00:49.466 [Narrator: Vaughan Glaser Produced by Courier Productions, Inc. New York] 00:49.466 --> 00:58.932 [The assistance of numerous friends who aided in the production of this motion picture is gratefully acknowledged] 01:00.933 --> 01:03.633 [Glaser:] All over this broad land of ours, 01:03.633 --> 01:07.299 a bitter of war is being fought against tuberculosis. 01:07.300 --> 01:12.133 Able warriors armed with modern weapons are on the firing line. 01:12.133 --> 01:14.366 How goes the battle? 01:14.366 --> 01:19.532 Come with me on a journey and let's see what is being done. 01:19.533 --> 01:29.299 [Train sounds] 01:30.733 --> 01:34.999 First, to Washington to get a few facts. 01:35.000 --> 01:37.666 In this building is the Census Bureau 01:37.666 --> 01:40.966 where Uncle Sam keeps his health record books. 01:40.966 --> 01:43.266 There is a card here for each of us, 01:43.266 --> 01:47.299 telling when we were born, when married, what we die of 01:47.300 --> 01:49.000 and many other facts. 01:49.000 --> 01:52.266 Ingenious machines sort these cards 01:52.266 --> 01:55.232 so that statistics may be compiled from them. 01:58.166 --> 02:03.366 Imagine all the people in the United States divided into groups of 100,000 each. 02:03.366 --> 02:04.866 Here is one such group. 02:07.566 --> 02:11.732 This Grecian urn represents 50 deaths from tuberculosis. 02:11.733 --> 02:15.233 In 1910, there were about 150 deaths 02:15.233 --> 02:19.166 from tuberculosis for each 100,000 persons. 02:19.166 --> 02:22.166 We need three urns in this role. 02:22.166 --> 02:27.599 Ten years later, there were 100 deaths per 100,000 persons, two urns. 02:27.600 --> 02:31.433 And in 1935, about 50, 02:31.433 --> 02:33.033 only one urn. 02:33.033 --> 02:37.699 Death rate cut to one third of what it was 25 years ago. 02:37.700 --> 02:39.033 What a retreat. 02:39.033 --> 02:47.266 [Train speeding along tracks] 02:48.333 --> 02:50.633 Next, we visit New York City, 02:50.633 --> 02:54.899 where so much of the nation's business is transacted. 02:54.900 --> 03:01.333 In New York, the headquarters of the National Tuberculosis Association. 03:01.333 --> 03:05.133 Its network of state, county, and city associations 03:05.133 --> 03:10.166 covers the country, including our territories and possessions. 03:10.166 --> 03:17.066 The whole enterprise is financed by the sale of tuberculosis Christmas seals, which you buy each year. 03:17.066 --> 03:22.166 Renowned artists create a new design for the seal each year. 03:22.166 --> 03:25.299 Here is Rockwell Kent at work on one. 03:25.300 --> 03:27.733 The local Tuberculosis Associations 03:27.733 --> 03:30.566 send them out to you and me. 03:30.566 --> 03:34.466 In some places, The Scouts or other organizations lend a hand. 03:38.533 --> 03:42.133 Every seal carries a message of hope and cheer. 03:42.133 --> 03:45.199 With the money, these associations keep up the fight 03:45.200 --> 03:49.066 through education of the people, by the printed word, 03:49.066 --> 03:52.199 pamphlets, 03:52.200 --> 03:55.133 posters, 03:55.133 --> 03:58.133 the newspaper, exhibits, radio... 03:58.133 --> 03:59.899 [Announcer:] "Education of the people 03:59.900 --> 04:03.833 and through them of the state is the first and greatest need 04:03.833 --> 04:06.533 in the prevention of tuberculosis." 04:06.533 --> 04:11.466 These were the words of Edward Livingstone Trudeau, our first president, 04:11.466 --> 04:19.299 when in 1905, he charted the course of the National Tuberculosis Association. 04:19.300 --> 04:21.733 [Glaser:] Let's go next to Saranac Lake 04:21.733 --> 04:25.899 in the beautiful Adirondacks, which Dr. Trudeau loves so well. 04:25.900 --> 04:34.066 [Train rumbling on tracks] 04:34.066 --> 04:38.832 Here is the bronze statue of Trudeau reclining in his chair, 04:38.833 --> 04:44.733 a pose so characteristic of his own successful struggle against tuberculosis. 04:44.733 --> 04:49.866 It was Trudeau who introduced the modern treatment of tuberculosis in this country: 04:49.866 --> 04:53.466 rest, fresh air, and good food. 04:53.466 --> 04:57.332 Nestling in the hills now surrounded by fine buildings, 04:57.333 --> 04:59.266 we find a little red, 04:59.266 --> 05:02.932 the first cottage built by Trudeau in 1884 05:02.933 --> 05:05.433 for the treatment of two young women. 05:05.433 --> 05:12.333 It has served as the inspiration for the more than 700 sanatoria built since then. 05:12.333 --> 05:21.099 [Music] 05:21.100 --> 05:33.466 [Train rumbling on tracks] 05:33.466 --> 05:35.932 Let's have a look at one of these sanatoria, 05:35.933 --> 05:39.599 or tuberculosis hospitals as they are called today. 05:39.600 --> 05:45.100 Real hospitals for the tuberculous and not merely resting places. 05:45.100 --> 05:48.800 Here we are at a large southern sanatorium. 05:48.800 --> 05:51.900 This one has beds for 500 patients. 05:51.900 --> 05:56.233 Altogether, there are now 90,000 such beds available. 05:56.233 --> 06:00.733 Rest and more rest, as Trudeau discovered when he himself 06:00.733 --> 06:03.333 took the cure as a young doctor. 06:03.333 --> 06:05.399 Yes, and good food. 06:05.400 --> 06:11.033 Nowadays, doctors don't stuff patients with more milk and eggs than they can digest, 06:11.033 --> 06:13.733 just good, well-balanced meals, 06:13.733 --> 06:15.866 enough to gain weight on. 06:21.000 --> 06:22.500 Mmm. 06:22.500 --> 06:25.800 Smell those delicious loaves. 06:25.800 --> 06:28.800 New ways of resting the lung have been developed. 06:28.800 --> 06:32.433 This patient is getting pneumothorax treatment. 06:32.433 --> 06:34.866 Air is let into the chest cavity, 06:34.866 --> 06:38.099 and that rests the lung so that it can heal. 06:38.100 --> 06:40.633 When the diseased lung is fully healed, 06:40.633 --> 06:43.299 it is allowed to expand again. 06:43.300 --> 06:46.333 A lifesaver for many. 06:46.333 --> 06:49.933 Each patient is helped to find his place in the workaday world 06:49.933 --> 06:52.333 when he leaves the sanatorium. 06:52.333 --> 06:54.799 Here's a class in typewriting. 06:57.066 --> 06:59.732 In this sanatorium, as in many others, 06:59.733 --> 07:02.033 children of tuberculous parents, 07:02.033 --> 07:04.833 who cannot be properly protected otherwise, 07:04.833 --> 07:08.433 are cared for in a special department of the sanatorium. 07:09.966 --> 07:14.532 [Train whistle blowing] 07:14.533 --> 07:18.966 Finding the cases of tuberculosis is a very important job. 07:18.966 --> 07:21.932 Not only the specialists, but the family doctor too, 07:21.933 --> 07:23.999 is constantly on the alert, 07:24.000 --> 07:28.166 knowing that tuberculosis may disguise itself as some other disease. 07:36.766 --> 07:39.866 Doctors in the villages and country districts, too, 07:39.866 --> 07:43.499 keep in mind the dangers of unsuspected disease. 07:43.500 --> 07:47.066 Even when patients do not complain of the common symptoms, 07:47.066 --> 07:51.332 such as cough, tiredness, loss of weight, or indigestion, 07:51.333 --> 07:54.199 the alert doctor thinks of tuberculosis. 07:56.433 --> 07:59.466 Clinics for the diagnosis of tuberculosis 07:59.466 --> 08:02.432 now exist in every enterprising community. 08:07.833 --> 08:11.666 Specialists are in charge and X-ray services at hand. 08:17.533 --> 08:22.633 Public health nurses teach the families of those who have tuberculosis. 08:22.633 --> 08:26.033 They see that the doctor's orders are faithfully carried out. 08:26.033 --> 08:29.366 They urge all members of the family to be examined, 08:29.366 --> 08:33.666 for tuberculosis, though not inherited, runs in families. 08:34.900 --> 08:40.966 [Train rolling on tracks] 08:40.966 --> 08:44.766 What about the thousands of people in out-of-the-way places? 08:44.766 --> 08:47.232 Let's see how they do it in the bayou country. 08:47.233 --> 08:56.899 [Music] 08:56.900 --> 09:01.133 Work in the cane fields under the hot sun is picturesque, 09:01.133 --> 09:03.433 but mighty hard labor. 09:03.433 --> 09:07.833 These sections are not well equipped with clinics or X-ray apparatus, 09:07.833 --> 09:11.133 so necessary to discover tuberculosis. 09:11.133 --> 09:13.266 Very well, says the health department, 09:13.266 --> 09:15.732 if people cannot come to the doctor, 09:15.733 --> 09:20.633 the doctor and all he needs will go to the people. 09:20.633 --> 09:23.833 Here is an auto trailer, expertly designed, 09:23.833 --> 09:29.866 which carries complete equipment for making diagnoses in the modern manner. 09:29.866 --> 09:32.366 A doctor and nurse go with the outfit. 09:32.366 --> 09:36.366 Advance arrangements are made with the doctors and local health departments 09:36.366 --> 09:38.499 so that all who should be examined 09:38.500 --> 09:42.466 will be on hand when the trailer comes. 09:42.466 --> 09:45.032 Here we are arriving on the public square, 09:45.033 --> 09:48.266 alongside the courthouse and ready for business. 09:48.266 --> 09:52.632 Quietly and efficiently, the work is carried on by skilled workers. 09:52.633 --> 09:58.466 The family doctor gets the report of the X-ray examination of his patient. 09:58.466 --> 10:02.332 Inside the trailer, everything is snug and shipshape. 10:02.333 --> 10:04.333 It looks compact, doesn't it? 10:04.333 --> 10:07.366 But there's space enough to do the job well. 10:07.366 --> 10:11.232 The dressing room is just a corner, screened off by a curtain. 10:26.133 --> 10:29.699 The X-ray apparatus is one of the latest models, 10:29.700 --> 10:33.300 for a poor X-ray picture maybe worse than none. 10:33.300 --> 10:38.666 Efficiency and economy make it possible to give this important service to the people. 10:47.266 --> 10:49.299 So that's all over. 10:49.300 --> 10:53.400 The plate is removed, later to be developed in the darkroom, 10:53.400 --> 11:00.566 and in a moment, the next patient will go through the same steps, inside the courthouse or sometimes a school or church. 11:00.566 --> 11:03.132 The doctor makes the rest of the examination, 11:03.133 --> 11:08.166 gets the history of the patient, and consults with the local doctor about the patient. 11:08.166 --> 11:11.632 Then on their way again to the next town, 11:11.633 --> 11:14.199 up and down throughout the state. 11:14.200 --> 11:18.466 This shows you but one of several such diagnostic auto trailers 11:18.466 --> 11:20.899 now being used in rural areas. 11:27.500 --> 11:30.866 [Train whistle blowing] 11:30.866 --> 11:38.166 [Train rolling along tracks] 11:38.166 --> 11:40.832 [Train whistle blowing] 11:40.833 --> 11:44.166 Now we are in a large Midwestern University. 11:44.166 --> 11:47.766 We meet the flower of American manhood and womanhood. 11:47.766 --> 11:51.399 How many of them will fall victims to tuberculosis? 11:51.400 --> 11:56.266 Well, if nobody cares, at least six out of each 1,000 students 11:56.266 --> 11:58.466 before they reach their 30s. 12:01.500 --> 12:03.300 But someone does care, 12:03.300 --> 12:06.433 enough to search out the very beginnings of the disease 12:06.433 --> 12:09.999 before there are any signs or symptoms. 12:10.000 --> 12:13.233 All students are given this simple tuberculin test 12:13.233 --> 12:16.866 to show whether tuberculosis germs have entered the body. 12:16.866 --> 12:21.332 All who have tuberculosis germs in their bodies are X-rayed, 12:21.333 --> 12:24.299 one out of four in this university. 12:24.300 --> 12:28.966 Tuberculosis must be seen before it is heard, say the doctors. 12:28.966 --> 12:31.432 That's why they urge all young people 12:31.433 --> 12:35.533 to be tested with tuberculin, and to be X-rayed if positive. 12:39.033 --> 12:42.033 The X-ray plate is developed in the darkroom, 12:42.033 --> 12:44.933 much as you develop your own Kodak pictures 12:44.933 --> 12:48.633 in the mysterious amber lighted closet at home. 12:48.633 --> 12:51.633 When the film is dry, the shadows are read, 12:51.633 --> 12:54.933 or interpreted by the doctor. 12:54.933 --> 12:57.599 Here's the chest picture of a young athlete. 12:57.600 --> 12:59.866 The trained eye of the physicia 12:59.866 --> 13:05.099 sees the damage already done by tuberculosis. 13:05.100 --> 13:08.933 The fight also goes on in the quiet research laboratory. 13:08.933 --> 13:12.833 Scientists are studying the life and habits of the germ. 13:12.833 --> 13:18.866 Did you know that the tuberculosis germ actually breathes, eats, and reproduces? 13:18.866 --> 13:21.766 They are finding out how the germ causes disease 13:21.766 --> 13:24.632 and also how the body defends itself. 13:24.633 --> 13:28.133 Someday maybe, they'll give us a specific cure. 13:33.400 --> 13:34.700 [Train whistle blowing] 13:34.700 --> 13:36.400 But don't exalt yet. 13:36.400 --> 13:40.700 There is another side to this optimistic picture. 13:40.700 --> 13:43.233 The death rate has gone down, true, 13:43.233 --> 13:48.799 but 70,000 tuberculosis victims still march to their graves each year, 13:48.800 --> 13:51.100 and many more are disabled. 13:51.100 --> 13:53.366 Most of them are young people 13:53.366 --> 13:57.166 in that period of life where it is most productive and sweet. 13:57.166 --> 14:01.832 Eager students, young parents, wage earners on the upgrade of life. 14:01.833 --> 14:04.333 Not an old man's disease this, 14:04.333 --> 14:06.933 but a bitter foe of youth. 14:06.933 --> 14:10.566 Here they are, the young people we're concerned about. 14:10.566 --> 14:15.566 Out of each 100,000, in the age group fifteen to 45, 14:15.566 --> 14:19.299 66 died last year. 14:19.300 --> 14:22.500 There's another sore spot on the optimistic picture. 14:22.500 --> 14:27.366 Certain racial groups, such as Negroes, Mexicans, and Indians, 14:27.366 --> 14:30.299 suffer heavy losses from tuberculosis. 14:30.300 --> 14:34.633 The death rate among Negroes is three times as high as among whites, 14:34.633 --> 14:36.399 not only in the Southland 14:36.400 --> 14:39.666 but also in the northern industrial centers. 14:39.666 --> 14:43.432 Poverty, bad housing, and a depressed scale of living 14:43.433 --> 14:45.499 seem to be largely responsible. 14:49.766 --> 14:54.299 Living cheaply really means living expensively. 14:54.300 --> 14:57.233 How would you like to try to keep warm this way? 14:57.233 --> 15:02.066 Buying your firewood at the curb, sixteen sticks for five cents. 15:02.066 --> 15:06.832 And when that is gone, perhaps on some cold night, 15:06.833 --> 15:10.933 having to pinch pennies for food is another hardship. 15:10.933 --> 15:13.933 Rabbits, two for a quarter. 15:13.933 --> 15:16.399 Here's the chart we saw before, 15:16.400 --> 15:19.866 showing the decline in the death rate among whites. 15:19.866 --> 15:24.999 Each of these strips represents 100,000 Negroes. 15:25.000 --> 15:28.833 And each urn, 50 deaths from tuberculosis. 15:28.833 --> 15:33.933 But notice that the decline has been just as rapid is that among whites. 15:33.933 --> 15:36.099 And in 1935, 15:36.100 --> 15:40.233 Negroes suffered no more deaths than whites did in 1910. 15:44.366 --> 15:47.599 There's a lag, but the trend is hopeful. 15:47.600 --> 15:54.733 [Train rolling over bridge] 15:54.733 --> 15:58.333 Another problem: industrial workers. 15:58.333 --> 16:02.999 Did you know that tuberculosis is the particular enemy of the working classes, 16:03.000 --> 16:07.700 the men and women on whom rest the prosperity and welfare of this nation? 16:10.433 --> 16:15.066 In this chart, each group represents 10,000 men with a job. 16:15.066 --> 16:19.432 Here are the professional men, here are the white collar workers, 16:19.433 --> 16:22.466 the farmers and foresters. 16:22.466 --> 16:26.266 Here the skilled workers, and finally, the unskilled workers. 16:30.533 --> 16:35.033 Each urn represents one death from tuberculosis among these workers. 16:35.033 --> 16:38.433 Professional men, not many deaths among them. 16:38.433 --> 16:42.566 Clerks, about three times as many. 16:42.566 --> 16:47.099 Agricultural workers seem to fare pretty well. 16:47.100 --> 16:51.600 Skilled workers a little more than clerks. 16:51.600 --> 16:55.133 And unskilled workers, here's our problem. 16:55.133 --> 16:56.599 Look at the urns. 16:56.600 --> 17:02.800 Seventeen out of each 10,000 die of tuberculosis each year. 17:02.800 --> 17:04.666 This time, we go west, 17:04.666 --> 17:08.499 Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and California. 17:08.500 --> 17:12.100 For here, there is still another problem. 17:12.100 --> 17:16.333 Years ago, it got noised about that climate was the magic cure. 17:16.333 --> 17:19.433 That error is still believed by many. 17:19.433 --> 17:23.633 But out here in the Southwest, there are... 17:23.633 --> 17:28.533 oh, nobody knows, but perhaps 5,000 persons who have tuberculosis 17:28.533 --> 17:31.399 roaming aimlessly about, looking for help. 17:31.400 --> 17:33.333 Some of them come alone, 17:33.333 --> 17:36.866 spend their last dollar for railroad fare and cheap lodging, 17:36.866 --> 17:41.299 look in vain for a job, and die. 17:41.300 --> 17:45.800 Others bundle up the whole family in the old car and start out blindly, 17:45.800 --> 17:48.200 just hoping to make a new start. 17:48.200 --> 17:51.833 They seldom find work, eke out a miserable existence, 17:51.833 --> 17:54.533 and when the last drop of gasoline gives out, 17:54.533 --> 17:58.266 they become a burden on some hard pressed community. 17:58.266 --> 18:02.432 Little can be done for them, for they have lost their settlement rights. 18:02.433 --> 18:06.533 They don't stay long enough in one place to win the rights of a resident. 18:06.533 --> 18:12.166 The children suffer neglect and are constantly exposed to the danger of getting tuberculosis 18:12.166 --> 18:13.832 from the sick parents. 18:13.833 --> 18:16.799 They become shrouded in gloom and despair. 18:16.800 --> 18:21.033 Whatever becomes of them, no one seems to know precisely. 18:21.033 --> 18:25.133 Though some excellent studies of this situation are now underway. 18:25.133 --> 18:27.399 This problem is our business, 18:27.400 --> 18:30.533 not only because we are our brother's keeper, 18:30.533 --> 18:33.833 but also because every such sick wanderer 18:33.833 --> 18:37.599 carries the seeds of tuberculosis along the countryside. 18:37.600 --> 18:40.933 The wandering consumptive is, of course, 18:40.933 --> 18:44.433 only part of the larger problem of migration, 18:44.433 --> 18:47.666 which social organizations and government departments 18:47.666 --> 18:50.932 are trying hard to solve. 18:50.933 --> 18:56.766 [Train rolling along tracks] 18:56.766 --> 19:00.999 Ah, home again. Best part of a journey. 19:01.000 --> 19:04.366 But do you know that we are still on the front line? 19:04.366 --> 19:08.066 For tuberculosis threatens every doorstep, 19:08.066 --> 19:11.499 rich, poor, and medium class. 19:11.500 --> 19:17.033 And no home is safe until every home is safe. 19:17.033 --> 19:18.933 [Music] 19:18.933 --> 19:25.366 [The End]