The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-02-01 00:00:00

THE PLAGUE IN EUROPE.

There can be no doubt as to the serimag
nature of the pestilential epidemic raging in
the south of Russia. It has awakened in
Austria and Hungary, as well as in Germany,
the gravest apprehensions as to the dangn-
of its spreading. The German Government
has despatched one of the chief officials of
the Medical Council to Vienna, in order to
take pal t in the forthcoming deliberations
at the Ministry of the Interior, and in which
the deleffates of the Hungarian Govern-
an will aiso thke part. A project is being
prepared which will be submitted for the
approval of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs
at Vienna and Berlin, who, in concert with
Roumania, will decide upon the necessary
measures for opposing the spread of the
plague in Central Europe. It is supposed
that should the malady increase a military
cordon will be established, reaching from
the Baltic along the German, Austrian,
Hungarian, and Roumanian frontiers to the
Black Sea. It is of course, easy to under-
stand that the closing of her frontier might
prove a serious calamity to Russia, which
may not unnaturally have reckoned upon a
large export trade to rehabilitate her shat-
tered finances; and it is perhaps in view of
these eventual measures that the Russian
authorities persist in denying that the epi-
demic now prevailing in Astrachan is the
plague, whilst the Russian journals, and
more especially the scientific ones, avow that
it is.

Plague is an evil-sounding word—a term
of fatal omen which in all ages has excited
terror in the mind not only of the uncivil-
ized savage, but of the people dwelling in
the lands of progrcss and culture. A special
interest attaches just now to the supplement-
ary report of the Local Uovernment Board
just issued. Itcontains a minute account of
the progress the Levantine Plague in 1877
and a part of 1878, and of which the present
outbreak is apparently the sequel. How
perilously near this unwelcome visitor is
approaching, may be inferred from the pre-
cautions adopted on the line from Vienna ta
Warsaw, for the traffic by way of Granitza
has now ceased. At the same time a jealous
watch is kept on the shipping trade between.
the Danube and the Black Sea. The pesti-
lence of which we are now hearing so much
broke out in Northern Russia nearly three
years ago, and has not been extinguished in
the face of all the s; n'tary and remedial
measures brought to bear against it. Its
appearance was amongst the villages on the
wild shores of the Caspian Sea, and some of
these were nearly depopulated. For several
months it lingered upon the frontier between
Persia and Afghanistan. The narrative of
the progress of the scourpe reads almost like
a repetition of the stories told of the desola-
tion which it created in London more than
.200 years ago. The action, however, taken
by the Austrian and German authorities
shows that it will not be allowed to linger in
Europe as it was permitted to do in Asia.
The western manner of going to work with
such a devastating agency is far more practi-
cal than the fatalistic tolerance with which
it is regarded in Oriental lands. They look
upon it partly as a judgment from Heaven,
and partly as a visitor whose ravages it is
impossible to stay by human effort. So they
resign themselves to what they consider to
be an inevitable doom, with as much com-
posure as can be commanded under the cir-
cumstances. In Europe, however, we are
accustomed to take energetic action in emer-
gencies far less serious than this, and there
is every reason to hope that the deliberations
of the International Congress at Vienna will
result in the taking of such stringent measures
as will confine the plague to its present
quarters, and ultimately stamp it out alto-
gether.
It certainly seems incongruous that at
this time of day precautions should be neces-
sary by the ci Mad Governments of the
western world against that pestilence which
walketh in darkness, and which so often
finds a mention in sacred story. The do-
velopement of man's intellect has made
marvellous progress since those writings were
penned; yet the fatality amongst the people
in the districts watered by the river Volga
shows that medical science has still some-
thing to learn. Upon one point, however,
there can be little doubt, and that is that the
mysterious and awful visitation known as
the Plague invariably has its origin in
Eastern countries. The sunlit cities and the
plains upon which a cloudless sky looks
down, are too often the abodes of death and
desolation in their worst form. Its en-
deavours to move westward have not been at
all times successful for many substantial
reasons, amongst which may be mentioned
greater vigour in dealing with it, a more
opmplit ; knowledge of medical science, and
climatic conditions unfavourable to its
spread to the extent known in the Oriental
lands. The foundation of the plague is un-
deniably dirt, and the clustering together of
vast numbers of pilgrims on their march to
a given shrine has frequently carried the
disease far and wide. Not that pilgrims as
such are essenbially unclean; but they are
generally ignorant of the lavf s .of sanitary
sciences and upon a long and weary march
are without those changes of raiment and
facilities for ablution enjoyed by residents in
civilized comn.unities. That the present
outbreak should have taken place in Russia
is not perhaps surprising, for the subjects of
the Czar have the reputation of being about
the most unclean people in Europe or in Asia.
In addition to this primary cause of encour-
agement to the outbreak of a pitiless and
virulent malady, the loss of life in the late
war may have also had something to do with
the origin of the dreaded pestilence. The
carcases of men and horses that fell in
thousands on the plains of Armenia were
allowed to lie unburied, polluting the air for
miles around. There is, however, room for
hope that the progress of the plague west-
ward from the Volga will be successfully
combated. The cold weather is on one side
of life; there are nearly six months before
we shall have the dog-days upon us ; and in
that time the best intellects of Europe will
have been enabled to call science to the aid
of experience in locating back the advance of
a. merciless and remorseless foe.

THE I1:0 T RAI)
WoLVERHAMPTON, WEDNESDAY.
There was a fair attendance of merchants and
manufacturers on 'Change to-day, but the busi-
ness done was of a comparatively trifling
character. The general tone of the meeting
w3s, however, that the prospect of business in
the future was a little more encouraging, conse-
quent on the number of inquirics of a genuine
character which were made. The marked bar
makers are running their works at a tolerably
fair rate, and the hoop and strip people htve a
number of orders on their books, but at un-
remunerative prices. In galvanisers' sheets
there was scarcely anything doing, though
prices still rule low. Other sorts of iron are
little inquired ,after. There were but few
Rireels of pigs di,posed cf, foundry iron being
the most sought after. Local brands were
quoted at £4 5-4 net, cola blast ; and hot air a.l-
- 13 to £3 5s net; cinder pigs were £2. iii
the COulnion qualities the prices were soniewliut
stiirttr consequent on the recent blowing-out of a
furnace each by the following firms :--,--Meksra.
D. liendrick, Wednesbury ; dred Hickman,
ficriagvale, pilaw; siag J. wad ls

Parkfield ; though it is stated they are only let
out for repairs. Household eoal is in a to'CiOly
fair request, with prices the same as last IVO 'k.
There is a small demand for manufacturing fuel,
but little for cokes,