Frostburg mining journal., 1883-02-03

incomprehsnsible to those who have
permitted themselves to be carried
away with the belief that half the
population of Baltimore was in dam
ger Of speedy annihilation from the
smallpox. 1t cannot, however, prove
any more incomprehe nsiblo than the
reports of the rsvages of the disease
which have been circulated outside
of the city. 1t has been to Balti-
moreans the old saying over again Of
going away from home to hear the
news. That there was an attempt to
work up a scare in the city is as un-
deniable as that its origin was in the
spleen of disappointed place. hunters
"The "outs" insisted that the "ins"
were incompetent, and not a few of
the most disinterestsd citizens be-
lieve that the contest Of words might
tend to a practical demonstra tion of
competency, which would lead to a
condition Of purifcation that would
make the spread of the disease impos-
sible. The newspapers, believing the
test one worthy of experiment, assist
ed the "scare' by publishing statistics
80 placed as to create some alarm, but
when carefully ana lyzed really gave
ground beyond an apprehension Of
what the result might be if energetic
methods were not inaugurated.
The effect within the city was
straigh tway apparent in the almost
immediate decrease in the number of
cases, but outside the city it wan any
thing but assuring. Rival business
centres al once set about making all
the capital possible out OF it. No
more rapidly swelled the ranks of
Falstaf 8 opponents in the voluble
bragsdocia of the Shakesperian brag-
CART than the number of sma !l-pox
casos in Baltimore in the scheming
brains Of interested competitors for
trade and commerce. AS has hither-
10 been remarked, the atmosphere
this winter has appeared ever ripe for
the rapid spread of the belief in evil,
and there ars doubtless many good
people who to-day labor under the
delusion that there have been and are
still, for that matter, thousands oi
persona il Baltimore down with the
smallpox.
Assuming the population of the
city at four hundred thousand, there
has never been a day when the per-
contage Of the sick reached one il
sight huadred. To day there is hard.
ly one in a thousand, if indeed one in
twelve hundred. The highest the
weekly death-rate reached was less
than one hundred, and upwards d
seventy per cent, were children under
the age of ten. The disease has been
absolutely confined to the poorer and
more densely populated sections q
the city, and there has not been sci
itary case in any OF the hotels or
within the business or better resi-
dence portions. No one visiting Bal.
imore has contracted the disease, snd
not single instance has been known
where ii has been carried away from
the city. 1t is absurd to claim the
ightest dan er OF contracting sma l.
pox or any other disease by visit TO
Baltimore, AMI throughout business
ard social cir. les there has Loaf posi-
lively been 10 alarm. ladeed, the
aik about it Las been of the reports
circulated outside OF Baltimore latf Ell
has of tie ravaees of the pestilerce ce
within mualclasl confines. Tat
ihsie has been vely gen raj vaccl-
nailo is true, and therein lies the
,,,ea,esl l'nssi le pieventa i've 10 the
increase III. disease. The tel-tals
yellow fl u has been thius firth
from /. any aindo 9 whore il was
made to- !. Il At u possible rather
ttmn nh i.ct'nl danger, IN cIder that
vi ether SMALLPOX Itself or only
varIploid, contact Of the uncomtami-
mated srould tie ayefrad.
Food, money and attendance have
been lavish,d with unetintal hand
upon the sicG and the diecase kept
go Iosely within its centre Of origin
that even in mid,wlrter, when it pre-
walls 10 much greater eyteut tan
any other time its spread has been
stopped short and quick. So yigor-
ously and so successfully has it Teen
handled that it is hazardinG little, II
anything, to assert that there are TO-.
day actually a lesa numter Of small