Excerpt from Transactions of the State Medical Society of Kansas, 1888, Vol. 2 The State considers the minds and morals of its children a part of its capital, and compels their development, taxing its wealth to secure the means. How can it consistently refuse or neglect to enact laws for the protection of the powers thus developed Oi what use to the State are developed minds in unsound or dead bodies? N 0 one has a right to destroy the capital of the State. A man can not burn his own house; much more he cannot destroy the body and mind of a citizen. Can the State then, consistently permit the exist ence of causes which will destroy both - causes which she has power to remove, but over which the citizen in his individual capacity is power less? The State is bound by its relations to its people, and by its own interests to extend the necessary protection. Only a part of any human life is productive, and a portion of that is lost to the State by the necessity which compels it to provide for the unproductive portion. In an ideal state of society, three-eighths are under twenty years of age, nve-eighths between twenty and seventy, and one eighth over seventy. A little over one-half is productive, but this is only an ideal condition. Many die under twenty, and many who reach twenty die under seventy. In the United States the productive class varies from 47 to 56 per cent., the lowest being in Georgia and the highest in Massachusetts. Of the non-producing minors 35 per cent. Die under twenty, before they reach the productive period. The cost of these non-productive lives to the productive, is estimated at not less than fifty dollars per year. At ten years they have cost $500, and at twenty, all of which is lost by death. Thus in their economic relations to the State, we are enabled to estimate the enormous loss of 85 per cent. Of the youth destroyed every year by scarlatina, diphtheria, small-pox, and other largely preventable diseases, but who will calculate the suffering and sorrow, the sighs and tears? Who will measure the agony of soul endured by those who are called to consign to the silent tomb these treasures of the heart? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.