The Germ of Laziness

Book excerpt: "The Germ of Laziness" chronicles the formation and five-year history of the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm Disease and its fight against the debilitating parasite, "the germ of laziness", that, by the early years of the twentieth century, afflicted nearly 40 percent of our Southern population. The Sanitary Commission was not John D. Rockefeller's first philanthropic venture, and certainly not his most ambitious; it was, however, one of his more interesting creations, later becoming the prototype for the Rockefeller Foundation's early public health programs around the world. Ettling skillfully places this medical concern in the context of the history of public health and education and against the backdrop of American reform in the progressive years.