Daily Honolulu press., 1885-10-20

A LESSON FROM PORTUGAL.

Fanatics proclaim that epidemics are
divine visitation, in punishment for
our sins. 1t may be SO, but recent
examples have shown that human will
and human prudence can do an i'm
mense deal to check those visitations,
and that it is only the sloven, the super
stitious, the unclean and the ignorant
who suffer from them. Such is the reason
that has made the DAILY HONOLULU
PRESS undertake its studies on santa
ton in Honolulu and urge the Gov
ernment to take proper measures
against the possible advent Of the cpl
denies which have been decimating
the most careless and ignorant popula-
tion of Europe. But in the matter of
what proper precaution can do, some
thing can be learned even from our
neighDor, O Lnso HaaOaiiano who tells
us how Portugal has managed to keep
free from the plague.
When the cholera, early last spring,
first broke out in Spain, if any one
nation seemed condemned inevitably to
suffer from the contagion, it was Por-
gal, which nation has been made out of
part Of the Spanish peninsula, and
which not only has no natural separa-
ing, isolating fronters-but even in
many places, where water, streams and
rivers, flow direct from Spain, seems to
be in the direct course of any evil
coming from that country But it has
been the good fortune of Portugal in
having at the head of public affairs,
some men of energy and self-reliance.
Those men resolved that if the cholera
could be stopped by any human means,
nothing would be spared to obtain that
result The first thing was to close up
the open frontiers with sanitary
Gordon at first 5000 soldiers were
employed to see that no one coming
from infected Spain should enter into
Portugal before previously submitting
to all the sanitary precautions, disin-
fection and others, that science could
suggest afterwards the Gordon was in
creased to 5000 soldiers, and those
even, being insufficient to stand the
tedious duties of continuous watch,
the whole reserves of the army were
called out to help, giving, as the Luso
says, the extraordinary and probably
unprecedented example of an army put
on war-footing, not against foe, but
against divine visitation.
Then all over the country sanitary
measures were prescribed and rigidly
carried out, and anything which could
help propagation OF the cholera was
attended to. We read in the Lnso that {:
"Houses were improved both interiorly
and exteriorly, cleanliness was estab-
lished or perfected everywhere the
crowded habtations of the poor were
emptied Of their superabundant popula-
ton, whilst public and private charity
took good care of the poorest people
who could not afford to help them
selves the sale of all eatables was sub
mitted to several inspections; hospitals
and distributing agencies Of remedies
and of disinfectants were established
everywhere and finally gentlemen and
ladies We'd to form helping committees
and to distribute furniture, clothing and
money to the poor"
The result of those public measures,
so we'll seconded by private enterprise,
is that when the plague has visited over
100, 900 people in Spain, not one case
has happened in Portugal, and the
Ministers of the State will certainly have
the glory of having saved their country.
Could the Ministers Of Hawaii
boast Of even looked into
the most elementary question of sani-
tation, if any plague was brought at our
doors, by the very possible arrival of
ship coming from infected ports ?