The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-09-21
WILL THE EPIDEMIC INJURE NEW
ORLEANS?

1
few days since the vicksburg Herald took
q very responding view OF the effects the
prevalence OF the yellow fever throughout the
Southwest is likely to have upon the future
prosperity and growth OF the towns and cities
scourged by It. We see no reason for any
such gloomy forebodings. Epidemic pesti-
lences have never permanently injured any
city, crippled its commerce or checked It's
growth. There is scarcely q great city In the
East or in Europe that has not been time and
again desolated by pestilence. For several
centuries London was subject to the plague
but London became the greatest city in the
world. The plague never injured the trade of
Florence. Many Of the cities OF Spain have been
more fercely ravaged by the yellow fever than
any In North or South America; but the effects
were visible scarcely month after the sub
sidence Of the epidemics. New Orleans Is
perhaps, the most striking case In point
This city was founded about 160 years ago
4 From little colony Of fifty people 1t has
grown to be city of 225,O0O Inhabitants
During the period Of Its existence it has been
the field Of o number Of yellow fever epi-
| denies. But none OF them ever checked Its
growth in population and trade. On the con-
trary, 1t steadily increased In wealth and
Importance despite all Ito epidemic vista
| tions.
Neither the epidemic Of 1889, nor of 1e47, nor
of 1862 nor of 1858, nor of 1867 Injured the city
In the least. Nay, the winters and springs
following those mournful years were generally
seasons of unusual prosperity. The largest
was that Of the season which followed upon
the heels Of the frightful epidemic Of that
year. The poison OF yellow fever SO deadly
! to human life Is undoubtedly invigorating to
vegetable life. In q yellow fever year the
| vegetation seems to be almost as 1uxuriant as
| it Is in those tropical countries where the
fever has its home. Cane, cotton, corn, rice,
tobacco, In fact every kind of vegeta-
tion yields a rich return and the
most abundant crops are gathered.
These are poured into the lap OF our city to
supply its trade. A new life a new vigor is
impaired to our society. The reaction, after
months Of gloom, and sorrow, and despond-
ency, is naturally very great, and is seen in
the influx Of multitudes of visitors, the gaiety
OF the city and the great activity in trade
gaiety and activity restore the proper aver
ages Of progress in the development of q
community. and hence we find that, up to
certain period, the growth of New Orleans,
like that Of other great cities, was uninter-
rupted.
The growth OF this city was not checked
nor it's trade injured until the whitening
plague of carpet baggery fell upon us, and
our people, palalyzed by their burdens and op-
pressions, permitted more enterprising cities
to drain away their trade over long lines OF
railroads. The depression Of this city is due
entirely to bad government and it's want of
commercial enterprise. The yellow fever has
had nothing to do with 1t. An epidemic Of
yellow fever every summer would not iniure
New Orleans one-tenth as much as the lethar-
gy and want Of foresight which has failed to
connect it with Texas by a railroad has injured
it, The present epidemic, like those which
preceded it, has filled our city with lamenta-
| ton and woe; it has suspended, for a. number
| of weeks, our business and caused much loss
| But it will not work any permanent injury,
unless the want of enterprise on the part of
our people, combines with the visitations Of
the fever to render the city an uninviting field
for investment, and a point difficult and cost
| " to reach from the interior.
If we choose to fall behind the balance of
the country and refuse to avail ourselves Of
| the important lessons of vigorous and
aggressive commercial civilization, what
right will we have to complain If capital and
I trade, repealed by Incidence, and sloth,
and pestilence, turn their backs upon us and
leave us to dwindle into half-Africanized
and semi-civilized fever-scourged community
"a dead and rotting city.
There is much food for reflection in these re-
marks for those who are interested in our prop
erty, trade and Industries. From every locality
comes the news of crops Of unusual luxuri-
ance. This is the compensation provident
and all-wise law of nature accords people
who have suffered Affections they could not
see or avert. Subject to the direful visitations
of the pestilence, shall we not grid up our
loins and set to work to establish such con-
nections with our fellow-men as will enable
us to reap the compensating riches Provi
dence casts before us.
Nature itself originally provided New Or.
leans, as it has all other cities subject tc
= visitations of epidemics, with the highways
necessary to enable her to avail herself Of
the prodigality of her climate and soil, which
are stimulated to such an extraordinary
i degree in seasons of pestiIence. The
/ Mississippi and it's tributaries, draining
half the Union, and the richest part of it, was
all that New Orleans needed to render her the
greatest city In the Union. Mr. Jefferson,
while President, writing to Gov. Claiborne
relative to one OF our earlier epidemics,
predicted this destiny for her, notwith-