The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-09-04

j
| Just before the news of its presence was
made known, and it probably existed at the
| time was there. SRrat0ff is in the south
eastern part of Russia, about eight hundred
miles south of Mini Novgorod and seven
or eight numbered miles from Moscow. It
lies right on the Volga, and it is sur
rounded by rolling country, the hills Of
which rise up back of the city and on the
| top OF which there stands Q long line OF
great windmills, which swing their arms
against the hot blue sky. There is deep
ravine running through the city and divid-
| ing it in three parts and coming to the city
from the river it looks both picturesque
and beautiful. 1t is very fair Russian
town. and is better built and better look
ing than the average cities of the Volga.
1t has about twelve thousand people, has a
good theatre and e number of fine churches,
some of which belong to the Germans. 1t
| is one of the centers of the German colo
| MES of Russia, and you find that nearly
every other man in the town speaks Ger
mau as we'll as Russian. The buildings
are, as rule, Of stucco. The streets
are paved with cobble stones and she town
is lighted with gas. 1t is, on the whole,
much cleaner than any of the other Volga
cities that visited, and it seems strang g
that the cholera should have first broken
out here. l understand that the people are
leaving in large numbers and those that
remain are almost frightened to death. The
town has had considerable experience with
the cholera in the past and nearly every
great cholera epidemic of history has
rested during its march through Russia at
Saratoff.
| With the increased facilities for COM
munication diseases OF this kind spread
more rapidly than ever before. The hot
bed of the cholera seems to be Agia Minor,
Persia and the regions along the Trans
Caspian railroad. The great cholera cpl
Gemic of 1923 came from this region and
extended into Asiatic Russia. The cholera
of 1880 first manifested itself in Persia,
and it got its start on the shores of the
Caspian sea. 1t crept up the Volga just
as this cholera Is doing and it ravaged the
Russian empire, and during the following
year spread over Europe and wrapped
its disesse-spreading arms around
England, France and Germany. Thence it
over to North America. Nearly every
cholera of history has come from the
trans Caspian region, and though Russia
is doing all IL can to keep IL down IL is i'm
possible to tell whether she will succeed.
Down at Astrakhan the people are dying
by the dozens every week and there are,
am told, in the neighborhood of hundred
cholera cases in that city. 1t is through
this town that all Persian travellers must
come and rigid quarantine is enforced.
The officials on the trans Caspian road in
spect all passengers and careful examina-
ton is being made at the different cities.
At the present writing, however, the peo-
pie are suffering from the lack of doctors
and there is practically no medical service
in connection with the Russian villages.
During the typhus fever and the famine
the most of the prescriptions were made
by private citizens, and the care of the
sick was largely by well-to-do people, who
did the work for charity's sake. Reports
from the cholera districts are so unreliable
that it is impossible to tell just to how
great an extent 1T exists. There are said
to be few cases in the hospital at Mos
cow, but so fer none have manifested
themselves here. and the disease seems to
be confined to the Volga.
The sanitary arrangements of Moscow
and st. Petersburg might be improved
upon. 1t is not that the streets and the
houses are not kept clean enough, for they
are as well cared for in this respect as those
of any other cities of the world. The police
have charge OF the sanitary arrangements
and If man does not keep the roadway
in front Of his house clean or allow any
nuisance. TO remain about his premises he
is liable to ana himself in Jail, and if he is
q storekeeper his shop may be ordered
shut for a period OF some months, as the
I.authoriries decide. The great trouble Is
sanitary building of the houses neither ST.
Petersburg nor Moscow has the best of
drainage, and this city Of ST. Petersburg,
as cool az it often is in the summer is built
upon q marsh, and its night air is filled
with noxious vapors. The authorities are
always fixing the streets and the Nevski
Prospect has been torn up during
great part Of my stay in Russia.
About one-half of this street is
rod xuJt of
wood I hese are watered twice a day.
and the moist air of the sea makes the
wood rot quickly, and this rotten wood,
packed full of the foul elements which it
has gathered during years, is now thrown
up under the sun TO dry. 1t is no wonder
that fashionable St. Petersburg moves al
most bodily into the country In the sum-
mer and that the city has high death
rate The death rate of the Russian peo-
pie in ordinary times is greater than that
of any other civilized nation, and il runs
between thirty-hve and thirty-seven per
thousand. This is 81 per cent. greater
than the death rate of Great Britain, 81
per cent. greater than that of Germany
and 80 per cent greater than that of
France. Over the whole Of Russia the
average death rate is about thirty-six to
the thoueand in ordinary times, and this is
twice as high as that of our largest cities.
1t is estimated that fully half of all the
babies born in this country die before
they are i've years old. and still
children are produced so rapidly that
this loss is overcome and the coun-
try has million more babies every year
than the year before. A curious thing
about the health statistics Of Russia is that
the mortality is greatest in the villages,
while with US it is greatest in the cities
The reason of this is the poor food and the
poor sanitary arrangements which the
peasants have and which during this
famine, the typhus and the cholera have
become more apparent than ever.
Speaking of the cholera picked up the
Berliner Td0ebldtt this morning and looked
to see what the German reports of the Rus
sian cholera were / found nothing in it,
but on the first page were two big black
blotcnes which effectually stamped the
printed matter out of at least q column of
the newspaper. This was probably the
news concerning the cholera, and it is q fair
example of the state in which the foreign
newspapers come into Russia No reports
concerning the cholera which are not ap-
proved by the government are allowed to
be read here. Every paper Is carefully
examined and anything which the cen
scrs do not like is stamped out
This is SO with all newspapers. and such
magazines and books as are admitted
often have pages torn from them, and there
is no such thing as free press in Russia.
The papers here receive instructions from
the government as to just what they shall
publish. If they do not follow out these
instructions they receive first q warning.
If they offend again this warning is re-
peated. and at the third offense the paper
is suspended. Three such warnings always
result in the abolition of the newspaper.
The warnings may be years apart and they
may be caused by the mistakes of cheap
reporters or careless proof-readers, but the
psper loses its standing, and at the third
rarninr tia existence. Its editor Is also