Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-07-16
THE CHoLERA-No TIME TO LOSE

The apathy that pervades the COM
munities of the great valleys, regard
ing the possibility of the advent of the
cholera epidemic, in view of the fact that
there is every reason to believe that it has
already reached New York, is not at all
creditabe to the people. We are perfectly
aware that the agitation of the subject will
be deprecated by goodly number of wor-
thy people. They. fear that it will d" hurt
the city" They insist that necessary local
reforms can be had by " quiet agitation
whatever that may mean. But the facts
are all against them. No sanitary advance
has ever been made by the people, except
as the result of very loud agitation. All
this worn and threadbare doctrine about
hurting place" by urging the people to
do their duty to their town is nonsense, and
suppression and quietude are the poorest
and most dangerous policies possible to be
pursued. If they have no concern for
themselves, citizens should still remember
that there are other considerations of i'm
portance to be taken into account 1t is
not to be denied that the whole country re-
CARDS the great valleys and their cities and
towns as especially inviting to the cholera
That this is largely undeserved, we believe.
but the impression prevails nevertheless.
In business view, then, it is important
that such timely preparation be made that
in case of an invasion by the plague we
ho1 40 oil l,o oil
in the best condition possible, under the
circumstances to be attained to resist its as
sault. Should cholera enter here there
will be such an exodus from the valley
as will stagnate business and set the
whole section back upon its path of prog
ress a decade. AS 4 matter of economy,
therefore, it behooves us to be preparing
1t is thoroughly well settled that cholera
is a disease that fixes its fangs most deeply
where there is most filth. 1t IS q disease
that takes hold where there is most to feed
upon. There are well-recorded instances
of towns and cities escaping the plague
completely by quarantine and sanitary
rigor, although the communities were in
tropical regions, and the whole surround
ing country was swept by the pest. BY an
intlexible barrier of soldiers upon the front
Ter, ruler of France once excluded the
cholera from entry to his realm though it
devastated ali contiguous countries. Only
two years ago. says Surgeon-General Ham
mond, the yellow fever was successfully
kept out of the towns on the southern sea-
board by quarantine exclusion, sanitary
precautions and absolute cleanliness being
enforced upon the people, while towns all
around these places were scourged by the
destroyer.
To properly inspect this city and the
towns and cities of the interior, and dis
close the spots which would breed the
cholera germ is no childs work, nor can it
be done in few days or weeks. 1t will
cost money TO do it, and to rectify the evil
also, but not one-tenth the sum that it will
cost if cholera once visits us There is no
earthly use in attempting to clean up at all
unless the work is done with arbitrary
thoroughneSs. A species of despotism
has to be exercised in such matters that is
born of great necessity. The apathetic and
those who seek to resist the common die
tates of cleanlineSs-and there are always
such in every city-must he treated as
enemies to the public good, and handled
without gloves.
It is within the memory of some attaches
of this paper and their personal experience
that the cholera visited western city that
was wholly unprepared for its reception.
Then ensued q scene that might have been
prevented had timely action been taken.
The city authorities had permitted cranks,
careless landlords and proprietors and
people who sneered at sanitary science, and
feared agitation, to prevail in the public
councils When the pest came it laughed
at these people, and set all their theories
aside by the terrible logic of death in about
every household. The authorities then
did what they should have done in the
first instance, and acted regardless OF
whines and pet theories, and succeeded in
stamping out the disease, but not until
about the time that it would naturally
have exhausted itself.
Sacramento the chief of the valley
cities, is upon q great highway of travel |
If cholera enters the United States this |
season, it will do so between this date and |
December and the probability of its reach |
ing US viii be very great. It is more likely