The Portland daily press., 1885-04-13
A NATIONAL CALAMITY.
Asiatic Cholera Spreading Rapidly
in Spain.
The Whole SeabOard Seriously Threat
ened.

LONDON, April 1.-THE Spanish govern
ment is st last forced to admit that it is threat
ened by another national calamity OF the gray
est kind. 1t has tardily been admitted that
the mysterious disease which made its appear
ance some weeks ago at San Felipe de Jaliva,
ia Valencia, is Asiatic cholera. This has been
maintained from the first by the press and
public. but has been persistently denied by the
physicians. The government officials have
chosen to credit the doctors rather than the
laity, and have hitherto been deaf to all ap-
peals for aid, or for the enforcement OF santa.
ry precautions. Now the doctors themselves
are appalled, at the spread and virulence of the
disease, and they are loudest in the cry for
help. No further concealment Of the facts is
attempted, and in fact, secrecy now would be
impossible The cholera has spread from San
Felipe de Jaliva to Alcira, Villaneuva, De Al
colca and Manuel, in the province Of Valencia.
which is on the eastarn seaboard of Spain.
Thence it has been carried by shipping to
Port Genoves In Almeria, at Fthe southeastern
corner of the peninsula, to Malaga. on the
southern coast, and even to Mahon, on the isl
and of Minorca, and to other ports in the Bal
earic islands. The whole seaboard is seriously
threatened. The municipal and provincial au-
thorities are at last aroused TO active measures
of preventation and relief. LaZarettos are be-
ing hastily provided, rations and supplies OF
medicines are being distributed to the desti-
tute, and volunteer relief committees are fur
nishing delicacies to the sick. There is great
destitution among the families of many of the
sufferers. The scourge as usual, chiefly at
tscks th 3 poor and those who, either from pow
erty or ignorance, fail to keep themselves and
their surroundings clean. But almost every
body in the places where the disease is most
prevalent, is poor. Those very places were
ravaged by the earthquakes last year, and
many people lost all their friends and property.
Those of the survivors who had means left
contributed literally to the relief of the others
and thus pinched themselves. Now it is as
much as the committees can do to care for
those already attacked, and to bury those al
ready dead. In view of the warm and humid
season, and the approach Of summer, the
plague is certain to spread, and if it does not
become uncomfortable it will at least become
an unbearable tax upon the money resources
OF the afflicted towns. They are now making
pathetic appeals to the provincial and general
governments to send them money, food, cloth
ing, doctors, nurses and soldiers, to form sani-
tary cordons. Public prayers for the plague
stricken people are ordered in many churches,
and the papers are urging prompt action BY the
commisssry and quartermaster departments.
The general public has hitherto been unexcit-
ed by the reports of sickness in Valencia, hav-
ing been fooled into calmness by the doctors,
but when the terrible gravity OF the situation
becomes realized there is likely 10 be a fierce
outburst OF indignation.