The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-09-03
BUTLER AND YELLOW FEVER,

ferrous assertion has recently been revived In
many Northern Journals, 1t is repeated by
some ignorant and partisan residents of our
CITY who when asked as to the method EN-
ployed to effect this result, refer to the meas
ures directed by Butler for cleaning and
sweeping the streets, opes1inE bitches and
drains: that by Oh utterly lawless exaction OF
q million Of dollars from the capitalists aud |
merchants Of the city and the expenditure OF
the same on thousands Of lHoorers, to the
great enrichment Of his pets, to whom he
gave the contracts he made the city SO clean
as to exclude the pesti'ence-
To demonstrate this assertion 1t would be |
necessary to assume and prove that the
epidemic originated in the unoeanly condi-
ditRon, and The lack Of such drainage and
lustration. as Butler claims TO have orlgi-
mated, and to Justify HE assertion that the
city was never so thoroughly cleaned and
drained as under his administration, and that
it's former visitntions occurred when 1t was
in such condition OF unclennliness and ineom~
pete drainage These premises are noto-
riously false and In conflict with past expert
ence.
Eyrstlv-It Is deried that tho scaven-
gering and draining done under Butler was as
thorough and effective as In previous years,
when the yellow fever appeared and pre-
vailed with great violence. as In 1s53-5a-5s.
ScconEftp--The health statistics Of the two
years previous bo that In which Butler held
sway in this city, to-vit; in 18G0-Gi, exhibited
better sanitary condition than those Of 1869.
7Nirdig That the year 1862 was u portion
Of the period Of three and not unfrequently
hive and six years intermisson Of the cpl
demical visitation. The present epidemic
comes after an internission Of eleven years;
that of 1859 was preceded by six years Of en-
tire exemption; so of that of 1899.
FouffhJg-tThe epidemic OF 1924, which was
O very destructive one, and which occurred
during very rigorous quarantine, WIGS fol-
lowed by five years Of exemption, when, too,
the quarantine had been abolished.
During these years the city, or that portion
above Canal street, was one huge quagmire
DIR. Mcfarland. who was then prominent
physician of the city, thus describes it's C on
dition at that time:
During the eventful year OF 1926, the year
| In which Lafayette visited the United States,
there were not twenty days in which It did
not rain violently. The Original soil'' was
disturbed to such an extent that caverns
| were opened In the principal streets q the
First. District. In front OF the Camp Street
Theatre Iilss an impassable gulf Of mud opened.
extending nearly the whole length OF Camp
street, In some places four and five feet deep.
] have seen horses perish In the street oppo-
site Lafayette Square, from mlrlngt 50 deep
| that they could not be extrcated When La
fayette, in O splendid chariot drawn by four
| beautiful horses. proceeded to make visit to
the late William Brand, on Magazine, near
Foydras by the timehe arrived, the present
In. 4 ytn ,fnh hsC
horses and carriage became cngulphed to
such an extent that he was with some diff
Guilty extricated, and performed the remainder
of his journey on the flat gunwales which
then formed the only sidewalks OF the city,
for there was not at that time q perch Of paw
ing stone or a particle of slated roofing from
Canal street to the Red Church. At the cor
ner Of Common and Tchoupitoulas there ex-
listed gulf, embracing the whole OF Tohoupi-
| toulas street, SO deep and dangerous that the
city authorities deemed it necessary to plant
posts and erect O. fence all around 1t. Hun
dteds of horses persisted In the streets, until
| at length all attempts ut transportation by
vehicles and horse power were abandoned !;
planks were laid along the sides of the streets
| and cotton and tobacco were conveyed to the
| warehouses and presses by human labor at
| 81 per bale and hogshead
| Such was the condition OF New Orleans IN
! the fall and winter OF 1925 the very year the
| quarantine was abolished.
|
ton of both the quarantine and draining and
clean street theories, with challenge OF de-
nalacf the assertion that with an extended
| intercourse with the whole tropical region
and yellow fever zone, there did not occur n
case of yellow fever in New Orleans and for
six years afterwards.
| The doctor might have added other Illus
| trations of his assertion that this disease was
| entirely independent of or disconnected from
and In no manner affected by the condition OF
| the streets and of the drainage of the city.
! He could have pointed at the facts, strikingly
developed by the present indications of this
mysterious malady which show that the
epidemic has limited its sphere of resistance
| and destruction to those quarters of the city
which are as we'll paved, as clearly and free
from all the imagined sources of terrene and
malarial Infection and procreation as those
Of any other city in the world. And in those
parts of the city which are tilthiest and the
worst drained, in the novels and shanties
along our draining canals and on the borders,
and even within the swamps, the disease Is
rare visitant Where do you find the heca-
tomhs of the victims of this disease, it not In
Magazine, Camp, Carondelet, Euterpe, jack
son anG other of our best built up and paved
streets.
| He might, too have instanced the remarka-
| BILE year of 1649, when three-fourths of the
present area OF the city was overfowed by the
| Sauve cgevass, and emerging from that condi-
ticn in midsummer, and the whole overlooked
surface was covered with o deep deposit of
debris, and all drainage stopped, not a single
case Of yellow fever occurred In that whole
year.
But why multiply proofs on one of the ques-
lions relating to the source of this disease,
upon which there exists a nearer approach to
unanimity than any other, to-wit: that its in
PRODUCTION and spread are entirely indepen-
dent of any such conditions as defective drain.
age, bad scavengering and the prevalence OF
| fifth and uncleaniiness. These conditions
may produce remittent and malarial fevers,
and of these the statistics Of Buffers army
will exhibit a large prevalence. From yellow
| eo.-o~. wow f,a +ba4 bn aif e