The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 40

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40

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

ing seen Negro neighborhoods both in the North
and in the South which were simply breeding-spots
for disease of every nature. Primarily this condi-
tion was due to the neglect of health authorities.
There was no adequate sewerage system, if there
was one at all; and in many neighborhoods sewers
had been laid only for the white population of the
town, but not for the Negro section. The inevitable
result was rather an increase than a decrease of
disease. A Negro physician once told us that he
had traced five different cases of typhoid fever in
a community to the neighborhood well which served
as a reservoir for much of the polluted surface
water, due to the lack of a proper sewerage system.
Ié has been surprising to us that this condition has
not caused much more disease than is the case now.

On the other hand, the Negro himself has not
always taken advantage of the opportunities to im-

Home of Several Colored Families.

prove sanitary conditions in his home and environ-
ments. In so many instances it could not be other-
‘wise than that sickness and death should stalk about
and become a familiar intruder.

Procress 1N HEauru.

But health conditions have nevertheless im-
proved among the Negroes. Some years ago that
peerless leader of the Negro race, the late Booker
T. Washington, inaugurated an educational move-
ment, which has become a mighty and genuine force
in the fight against preventable diseases. The
American Red Cross, the national Public Health
Service, the National Child Welfare Association,
and the Public Health Bureaus of many States are
at present cooperating with a number of national
Negro organizations in an annual Negro Health
Week. Already there is noticeable a decrease in the
death-rate. Tuskegee quotes the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Company as reporting a decrease of nine
per cent. in the death-rate of Negro policy holders

in eight years as a result of health education and
district nursing.

To-day we find the death-rate among Negroes
in cities such as New York and Springfield, Mass.,
lower than in the cities of the South. This is also
true of infant mortality.

No less an authority than George IE. Haynes,
recently Director of the Bureau of Negro Hco-
nomics of the United States, declares “that the
aggregate decrease of numbers of deaths in the
Negro population between 1900 and 1910 was about
16 per cent. For the native white population in
the same period the figure was 9.9 per cent.”

The Negroes themselves are doing heroic work
in combating disease and are cooperating with every
agency which is endeavoring to assist them in this
great work. They are teaching their poorer classes
the importance of sanitation and proper living.
This, together with the four thousand Negro phy-
sicians and surgeons and the three thousand Negro
nurses, “is one of the most definite signs of progress
in Negro health and sanitation.”

We have tried to give you some idea of the
present physical condition of the American Negro
and hope you have found something of interest,
and that what you have read will induce you to
do your part in improving health conditions among
the Negroes.

Above all, however, we are interested in the
health of the Negro’s soul. We know he is sin-sick
and dead in trespasses and sins, and we also know
there is just one remedy. Will we withhold it?
May we be principally interested in seeing the
Negro saved from eternal death! 3

Philadelphia, Pa. W. G. Souweny.

A New Worker for Luther College
Installed.

Upon Prof. H. Meibohm’s acceptance to a pro-
fessorship at Northwestern College, Watertown,
Wis., the Hon. Mission Board of St. Louis called
Prof. Oscar Luecke to fill the vacancy at Luther
College. Professor Luecke was formally inducted
into office November 26, 1924. ‘The installation
service, to which all our local congregations were
invited, was held at St. Paul’s Chapel, the Rev. E.
H. Wildgrube, pastor.

‘The installation sermon was delivered by the
Rey. W. Beck, of Mount Zion Church, on “The
Value of Christian Education” After commenting
upon the popular idea of education, the speaker

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