Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-04-24

I
years, the Chronicle has warned tn.
health authorities of this CITY tha
there is constant increase of lepros,
here, and we now more earnestly thar
ever repeat the warn NO. Every physi
clan OF considerable experience in tn,
city VIII confirm the statement. TIL,
pesthouse few years ago contained
but two or three cases. 1t now ha
ten. These are not dangerous to tn,
healthy, but they are. in all probable
ity, only small part of the Who'll,
number of the infected among US
There are two sources of supply
Chinatown and the Hawaiian islands
1t is impossible to penetrate thu
hideous secrets of the Chinese quarter
most of which are underground anc
as difficult to get at as the cad OF rat
hole. Even The police, from motive
OF self-pre avoid these dens
OF rotten infection and living death
But once in while there escapes into
the streets leper from his close con.
finement. in spite of the vigilance OF
the agents of the Six Companies, to be
seized by the police and hustled off tc
the leOer quarter. There does not ap
pear to be any legal provision for oct.
ting rid of these confined lepers. and
the city is taxed for their care and sub.
sistence. In the absence of any treaty
stipulation on the sub ,,ect. Congress
should pass a law to have them re-
turned to China at the exp nse of the
Federal Government. since it is no
FAULT OF the State or the city that they
are here, but the fault of an oversight
on the part of the United States in
making and confirming treaties.
The least danger, however, to the
healthy people of San Francisco on ac-
count of leprosy is that from the Chi
nese. which race keeps itself secluded
from such close contact with the whites
as is supposed to be most favorable to
the transmission of the disease, Many
families use Chinese servants in their
houses, but they sleep at the Chinese
quarters and eat by themselves. They
do not frequent the hotels, or churches,
or theaters. The greatest peril is from
hawaii, where the climate and habits
OF the people are most favorable to the
propagation of the plague. In January,
1888. the Honolulu ha.et!e made the
startling statement that con moderate
climate there were tl:en 81, 800 to
1000 lerers in the islands. Twenty
five year, before then. according to the
same paper, ''there were not one hun
d"ed lepers in the county," This state
ment of increase is rot exaggerated,
but by other testimony from Hawaii,
rather under the mark. And though
there Is a lepcr csslony at MoIokai,
where many in the Il st stages are CON
fined for life, there are hundreds of
others in the first ane second stages LETT
running at large in Honolulu and all
other towns, where c>rt.nct with whites
is ola ly, hourly. close and 1.s;:s .ridable.
1t is indisputabie that the disease IS
contag Ous-as much so, under certain
conditions. as the smallpox. The fact
that the infested arc in all countrie.
Sc rrega ed from the healthy is an adj
of its infections. Every wear
our commerce al relations with Hawaii
are growing closer and closer They
are now almost as intimate as those be-
tween here and Oregon. Every steamer
from Honolulu b:ings its living
freight OF pass myers, and it is hardly
extravaganza to say that every one
brin5 IS or is liable to bring the fresl
seeds of ieprosy; not natives; but
iites; not in the last or most abhor-
rent stages. but in the first, when the
disease is only detachable by an exper-
fenced physician. These fnd their
N1VS ipfn Of bo,o. ;~+o 4t>o
churches. the theaters. the hotels,
where the seats, the beds. the atmos-
phere of rooms and the very food and |
trink used by the healthy are infected.
A short time ago case OF well-devel-
)ped leprosy was discovered in photo
graph gallery on Third street. The
ctim was clerk, who had taken the
plague at Honolulu, but did not suffer
pain from it till after he arrived here.
Another case was recorded in
his paper of young woman
rom Honululu, who took the disease
year after her arrival here. Some
lines the leper in the islands is given
'hoice OF MoiOkai Or emigration. They
Ilways emigrate. and always to this
lty. a year ago the Chronicle noted
hat "Several such are now residing
lere. among them young ladies'" And
the same paper it was mentioned that
"a middle-aged man went from here to
Massachusetts,, where the nature of his
isease was soon suspected, and he
vas isolated from society. Cases like
hese are becoming more and more fire.
uent. 1t is bel eyed that there are now
lore white persons infected with lep-
osy at large in his city than Chinese
nd all others in the pest house. They
love about in society; they eat and
eep at the hotels; ride in the street.
ars, and. of course, are planting the
erms of the infection broadcast among
he healthy.
1t is the reverse of pleasant to pup
sh these things; but it is better to do
lat now, when it is still possible to
amp out the evil before it gives us the
'putation Of leprous city, than to be
lent about it. The increase from 100 i
1000 on the islands in the course of
7enty-tive years admonishes us of
hat we are to expect if the health an
orities do not take the matter more ,
gorously in hand now, in the inspec-
IN OF Honolulu vessels and passen- t
RS arriving here.--jSan Francisco
lronicle. I
Alarm Among the EmperOrs. t