ECONOMIC ASPECT OF LENGTHENING HUMAN LIFE

The economic loss from preventable diseases constitutes a powerful argument for the extension of sanitary measures. According to statistics from the report on National Vitality submitted to the Conservation Commission for the information of President Roosevelt, the loss of life from the preventable cases of tuberculosis, diarrhea, enteritis, pneumonia, violence, typhoid fever and diphtheria amounts on the average to 7.3 years. Professor Irving Fisher, as a member of the Conservation Commission, concludes from a careful investigation of the ratios of preventable deaths from each of ninety principal causes of death in the United States, that over one-third of all deaths which now occur could be prevented. This would amount to a prolongation of the average life for over 15 years. It is difficult to estimate the influence of such a prolongation of life on industry and economic relations in general. There is one branch of business, however, which is vitally