World War I 100 Years Ago: Dec. 1-7

From The Indianapolis Star, Sunday, December 2: The liberal purchase of Red Cross Christmas Seals was encouraged by Dr. George Thomas Palmer, president of the Illinois Tuberculosis Association, in an appeal for help made at the Chamber of Commerce Saturday Lunch to solve the problem presented by tuberculous soldiers who will be returning from France in large numbers either in the course of the war or at war’s end. The latent tuberculosis that large numbers of American soldiers carry with them will simply be reactivated by the rigors and hardships of war. Out of the first thirty soldiers invalided home from France since American troops have begun training in that country, fifteen are tuberculosis patients. The problem is to have sufficient hospitals and sanitariums in the United States to care for all the soldiers who will suffer from this disease.