The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1876-03-07
sMALIePOX ~ DALLAS.
A New Ern an iIe subIect- Some IN
pertinent Remarks with Some
Pertinent Replies.

| Fcri'nfhf Hopiieh'
The Mayor OF Dallas, four days after
the carnival, Issued II proclamation
calling upon nll the people TO DO vac
Ginntod. When we remember that
nearly every town Inv Northern Texas
was represented In the carnival we
may easily imagine the consequences
provided tho Infection existed IN the
city at that time, which IL, TO say the
least Of IT, highly probable. If the eS'
lstenGe OF the dire Infection was known
tn the municipal authorities OF Dallas
prior to the carnival, then those OF
ncers deserve 10 be handed down 10
future history as worthy OF o place
alongslde Of the soulless Nero, ana we
nre of opinion that even Nero would
object to being placed on the same leal
of history with such characters. Nero
held nigh carnival while Rome was on
fire, but II these worthy guardians OF
the people of Dallas knew that they
had smallpox in their city, they held
blph carnival when they could but
know Tint they were sending disease
and death into thousands Of homes
outside of the limits Of Dallas. Is II
possible that Dallas Is cursed with such
officers? We trust not, and that they
will be able to explain their ignorance
of the presence Of the infection.
THE HERALD copies the above from
the Longvlew New Era, both to show
the ignorance of the writer and 10 deny
in toto its statements. The special In
dIgnation of the writer seems to be
raised because the recommendation Of
the Mayor TO vaccinate was made four
days after instead of four days before
| the Carnival. TO have done the latter
would have been similar to eating
when one is not hungry, in anticipation
of u time coming when hunger would
have to be appeased. His Honor,
Mayor CabelI, acted, as THE HERALD
has before stated, upon the theory that
"au ounce of prevention is worth n
pound of cure,n and recommended
that, AZ q case of small pOX had been
reported to him as being in the city it
would be measure of precaution for
all citizens to have vaccination per-
formed, and, that the operation
might be performed with the least
possible trouble ard expense, instruct
ed the City Physician to open an office
and apply the virus to all who present.
ed the mselves.
1t would be strange, indeed, If a city
of the proportions and population OF
Dallas should Mt any season of the year
be entirely free from disease. Her pop
ulation is cosmopolitan to certain
extent, and no city in the Southwest,
probably certainly no city in the
State, has so large number of daily
arrivals and departures. So far as THE
HERALD is aware, there has not within
the past two years been but one single
death in the city from smallpox, while
in Cincinnati, for the four months end
ing February 20, 1876, there were one
thousand deaths from smallpox, yet
we hear nothing of "soulless Neros,"
etc.
So far as the exaggerated stories OF
smallpox in Dallas are concerned,
The HERALD can conscientiously and
does give them an unqualified denial.
| hnun N nd
may possibly be few now, but they
have in every instance been confined to
out-of-the-way, isolated places, where
there was not, nor could be, any posi-
BILE contamination with either resi-
dents or visitors. Those cases that
have appeared have been confined ex-
clusively to the low, marshy, mala-
rious portion of the city, sufficiently
removed, from the centres of trade
and business and social intercourse to
utterly destroy any possible argument
of its spread; and the most convinc-
ing and unanswerable argument that
could be adduced to strengthen this as
sertlon, is the fact that there has not
been more than one death in the city
of Dallas for the past two years from
smallpox.
Professor w. b. Davis, President of
the Miami Ohio Medical College, in
his valediCtory, recently delivered ut
the annual meeting, has the following
to say upon the subject which seems
to so disturb the editorial brains of the
Longview New Era:
We find that In the four months
ending February 30, 1875, there We're,
in round numbers, 1000 deaths from
smallpox in Cincinnati aud proba-
bly, there were not less than 10000
case of the disease. This wanton, use
less, criminal waste of life is n blot
upon the fair name of our State and
city. Vaccination and revaccination
should be made compulsory, and
smallpox constituted n grave offense
against the State.
Certainly, with the weight of such
authority, our worthy Mayor can af-
ford to overlook such little ebulitions
of spleen as the Longview editor hurls
at him, confident that if he has erred,
1t has been upon the side of prudence
and humanity, and that when the book
of history is made up his name will
not be found on the same page with
either Brigadier General Nero or the
editor of the Longview New Era.
Young Mems Christian Association.
The meeting of the Young Mems
Christian Association at Fields Thea
fro on Loaf Sunday wns largely attended