Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-11-06
\ D NOVEMBER 8, 1865.
Tbe ATaIanta and her BurTIIen.


The AIaIanta aud her BurTIlehl
The telegraph on. Saturday morning
flashed across the land news which viii sci
half Che continent a~trembling. The Alta
.lanta, a steamship from London and
Havre, lies at the Lower Quarantine in
New York harbor, and her cargo is chOl-
era. The details of her voyage-the nor
rors Of that middle passage of the At
lantic-the brave prudence of the ships
surgeon-the curious carelessness aud I'M
concern of the passengers-have-be been Civ
en- to the public, with the statistics of sick
ness and death, seemingly slight, but full
of significance to our people. The story has
been told-its moral Is se~ff-evident. New
York, at Ieost, has comprehended it, and
the panic among her health officials is
proportionate to their previous criminal
carclessness. Her newspapers sound the
note of warning, her health commissioners
are sitting in conclaSe, q%uarantines and
cordons are talked of, the sinks and sew
ers Of our fostering civilization are receiv-
ing inspection, and the whole city seems
awaking to a sense of its imminent peril.
We do not apprehend any serious cau
for alarm in the fact that a c~holeraladen
vessel has arrived at vi shores. In fact,
if it arouses the country, as it should be
aroused, to the necessity of immediate
and thorough preparation for the pestilenee,
we shall regard the arrival of the Atlanta
as the greatest blessing that could be
Granted rs. The best medical authority
has decided that "cholera will not be-
come an epidemic, nor spread among the
people, until that mysterious atmospheric
condition favorable to its development
shall be present" In other words cholera
-~--~ssou@ -oV s~aE a. SaIPS-
is not carried by individuals from land
to land-but, by a sabtler and morefearful
power, laughs at cordons and ~quarantines,
rides upon the wind, and, like the wind,
goeth, with terrible caprice, whether it
listcth. This fact should not deceive US
into an idle hope of immunity from its
scourge. On the. contrary, the westward
march of the cholera during the present
/ season has but confirmed what lessons
have been drawn from its previous history,
and taught US that, after its first outbreak
in the East, its devastating progress to our
own homes is inevitable. 1t will surely
come. The peculiar atmospheric condi-
ton necessary to its prevalence has prob
abIynot yet been developed, and we may
hope that the frost and breezes of winter
may postpone its generation, but with the
early days of summer, if not before, the
Asiatic plague will again be among us.
We do not, therefore, regard the arrival
of the Atlanta as necessarily p~ortending
an Immediate spread of the pestilence.
But it brings the disease so close to our
doors that we cannot, if we would, avoid
looking at it, and being put on our guard
against it. Our duty is plain. Talk of
quarantine is idle and hurtful, for it leads
US to exertion in the wrong direction, ard
deceives us into false security. The true
way for preparation and defense is in the
strict observance of the old proyerb that
cleanliness is next to godlihess. We must
at once commence, throughout the whole
nation, a sweeping sanitary reform.
We must put into operation with
out delay all possible p%reventives
Of the incubation of disease We
must cleanse the atmosphere, drive
away the line-boiling nuisances, clean out
the noisome places of the city, look to onr
streets and our sewerage, and do what lit
tie we can to improve the sanitary con-
'dition of our poor. In Cleveland there is
less of this work to do than in most other
cities, and yet in Cleveland there is enough
to do. Let us be about the work at once.
The present winter is providentially given
US for preparation. Let us not waste it
The same advice is applicable to indi-
viduals. Let them keep themselves and
their houses scrupulously clean-let them
be regular in sleeping and eating-let
them abstain from intoxicating liquors
let them guard against ov~er-taxing the
mental or physical system-and they are
safe. Above all, every person should fight
against fear. Panic Stays more than
cholera. And, when the disease comes,
the best and surest protection against it is
simply to keep clean and to keep cool.