The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-09-04
The Yellow Fevsi-No Alarm I'm New
York,

apprehend no great danger here or in any
Northern city. There is difference be-
tween alarm and reasonable precautions.
There is nothing in our climate to prevent
the spread of the yellow fever in this city.
but it can make no progress here if the city
is made clean and kept so and if proper
safeguards against its introduction are main
tanned at Quarantine. We have at last,
owing to the persistent demands Of the
HEnALD-kept up from day to day,
week in and week out some APP
proach toward efficiency in our local
sanitary arrangements The streets are
much cleaner than when the HERALD began
its unrelenting crusade against filth and
garbage, and the action taken by the Com
NOR Council yesterday will give fresh
impulse to the good work. The cutters of
the densely peopled streets are to be at
tended to every day, and each morning,
between six and seven, food of CIoton
water is to be turned into them to give
them a thorough cleansing 1t is fortunate
that we have an ample and unwonted sup
ply Of water in the storage reservoirs and
that free flow through the cutters can be
permitted without endangering the supply.
There is nothing like copious streams OF
water for making the streets sweet and
healthy, and the proposed daily ablution OF
the cutters in the tenement house quarters
will disarm the pestilcnce even if it should
invade US.
1t is still none the less duty to meet the
enemy on the frontier and resist his APP
proach. The precautions at Quarantine
have never been more strict and efficient
than since the first breaking out Of the
fever in the South, and we may safely trust
DIR. Vanderpoel to prevent its entrance
through the harbor There is really but
little danger Of its invading the city by
rail, although at first view it might seem
quite the contrary. With all the channels
OF approach by land open and unguarded
it might be fancied that the quarantine
precautions are idle, since so many more
people visit the city by rail than in vessels.
A very little consideration will co nvince us
that this fear is chimerical. The VIC
Tins of the yellow fever in the Southern
cities are chiefly poor people who live
crowded together in filthy and unhealthy
streets They have no money to make long
journeys and to pay hotel bills on their way
and after their arrival. They even lack the
means of retreat to high ground within
twenty or thirty miles of the smitten cities
and Of subsistence there during the reign of
the pestilence. The free charity Of all our
4 ic IN fha nj
most to supply them with food and med
icine near the cities from which they have
fed. 1t is only people in good circum-
stances that can make long journeys from
the scene Of the fever, and this is the class
which is least exposed. The ability to make
long journeys from home and to live ut
hotels implies the possession of comforta-
BILE and clearly dwellings Mt home, and if
such people should come here they are least
likely to bring the fever with them.
There is another consideration which
must not be left out Of view. The crew or
passengers OF vessel having the yellow
fever on board cannot drop the patients in
the course of the voyage. They may, in
deed, bury corpses ut sea, but all the living
victims remain on board until their arrival
ut Quarantine. The sick passengers or
crew and the infected vessel bring the dis
ease as near the city as the quarantine regu-
lations will permit them to come. Passen-
gers by rail not only belong to different
class. but they can stop anywhere in the
course of their journey. A person who
has been exposed and has fed from his
home in consequence is impelled by his
anxiety to keep constant watch of his symp-
toms if he should feel any approach of ILL
ness, and to leave the train and seek medi-
cal assistance as soon as he is seriously
threatened. II he had been really exposed
and was anxious about his condition the
symptoms would in most cases begin to be
developed within day or two after he had
fed, and he would not afterward be willing
to increase them by the fatigue of continu-
ing his journey nor consent to postpone the
advantage and security of medical aid. If
he should complete the long journey to
New York without an attack that would
create a strong presumption that he had
not caught the infection.
This theory is in accordance with the
known facts. A few cases Of yellow fever
are reported in Cincinnati and Louisville,
not originating there, but brought there 1t
is improbable that persons with seeds of the
disease in their system would get very far
north of the Ohio River without being
brought down. If they are alarmed enough
or timid enough to flee it is pretty certain
that they would not continue the journey
after an attack beyond the first place where
they could secure able physicians. They
would 90 to the cleancst and healthiest
parts of the cities where they stopped, and
in such quarters there is little chance for
the disease to spread. We conclude, there
fore, that New York is in no danger Of re-
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