Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-16
POOR TIME TO MEET
If the Cholera Reports From
New York Are Not More
Satisfactory, the
GRAND ARMY GATHERING
Nay Not Be Held at the National Cap
ital Just Now, After all.
ONE CASE OF AsIATIC CHOLERA
Reported by . Washington Physician to Be
in the City Now.
GRAND ARMY GATHERING
ONE CASE OF AsIATIC CHOLERA
OFFICIALS CONSULT ON THR SUBJECT
rraoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENCE

erection of stands for spectators still goes
on, and though everybody and his neighbor
are hanging out bunting and a thousand
and one devices in proof of good will and a
desire to heartily welcome the veterans of
the Grand Army, nearly everybody yet
predicts disaster to the success of the an
nual encsmpment. Additional news from
New York, showing that there has been no
exaggeration in the reports of yesterday,
furnished no reinsurance, and anxiety on
account of the situation in the metropolis
was not lessened by the report that has
been flying on the wings of the wind all the
afternoon that there is here in Washington
o genuine case of the Asiatic cholera
A rumor first got into circulation that
there were two well-authenticated cases on
Capitol Hill, but no one could give street,
number or name. A physician assured the
correspondent of THE DISPATCH this even
ing that there is no doubt that q case has
been developed in the city, but where it is
or W no IL 10 he refuses to state. Up to this
time the health officials refuse to admit
that any knowledge of case is in their
Office and say that if physicians are aware
OF the presence of the contagion 1t is their
duty to report the facts. If there were q
case it would almost undoubtedly be re-
ported to the health Office and if any such
report has been made it is suppressed, as
the cases in New York were concealed for
more than a week, and until after there had
occurred no less than five deaths
Every Effort Made to Prevent Scare.
As every effort is being made to prevent
scare on account of the people who have en-
gagged in expensive preparations to make
money out of the thousands of veterans
next week, it is possible the health authori-
ties here may be as secretiye as those of
New York, and that the presence of the
plague here, if it be here, may not become
known until the encampment is well toward
its end, or until there occurs an outbreak
that cannot be kept from the public. The
managers of the affair admit, however, the
gravity of the situation, and the District
authorities admit 1t is vet possible some &C.
tion will have to be taken TO stop the as
sembling of the veterans, In the interests of
their own safety as we'll as for the safety of
the community. Nothing is yet done,
however.
Commissioner Douglass was asked what
be would attempt In the matter, and an
swered that 1t was yet too soon to say, but
that they would hesitate to take any action
that would throw a damper on the assem-
bling of the Grand Army until 1t should
become evident that any other course would
result in disaster. He doubted If the Dis
trict authorities have the power to estab-
lish q quarantine, but he supposed there
would be away found to erect barrier if
II should become necessary.
All Depends on the ChoIera's Spread,
Later in the day the Commissioner and
the Secretary of the Treasury were closeted
together for long time in discussion of
the subject, and it was practically agreed
between the two officials that if any alarm
ing increase of the disease at New York
were developed within the next "a hours,
and especially if there proved to be a case or
cases of cholera in this city, some radical
action in regard to the encampment would
be imperative, as fearful results might come
of the presence of so vast q crowd If there
should be q sudden development of the
disease in the midst of it
The local authorities assure the public
and the Government officials that the sani-
tary precautions for the encampment are of
q most elaborate and perfect character; but
the TACT remains that the precautions are of
the 1imsiest and most primitive descrip-
tion. In one of the most malarial spots of
the rains and the rotting vegetation of the
swamps, $4,000 people are to be lodged in
barracks and tents ct o season of the year
when the nights are cold and the days warm
in the sunshine, the difference between the
temperature in the sun and shade being SO
marked as to cause chills when one steps
out of the sun into the shadows; and of
course these contrasts will affect one who is
not acclimated much more than one who
is accustomed to such quick and radical
changes
School Buildings No Places for Barracks.
The clamor against the use of the school
buildings for barracks is naturally much
heightened by the prospect OF the advent of
cholera Hitherto the basis of opposition
has been that the buildings would be
greatly damaged and the children of the
District would lose one month OF the 1nstruc
tion which they should have during the
school year. Opposition on this score is
trivial compared with that which has
sprung up on account of the possibility of
the contamination of the buildings with
cholera germs, and it is already evident that
if there are cases of cholera during the
presence of the encampment many hundreds
OF the families Of the District will refuse to
permit their children to enter the building
Tor some time to come.
This is not the least grave aspect of the
affair, as in the event of contamination of
buildings the disease might be distributed
to quarters of the city which would other
wise enjoy perfect immunity.
The next "a hours will probably tell the
story of what is to be done to preserve the
Capital from the dangers of the contagion
which would be vastly heightened by the
presence of great body of strangers. If
IN ha al ~ ha
before Saturday, as after Friday night q
great bulk OF the veterans and others who
purpose visiting the city will be on their
way.
Preparing for the Dread Visitor.
The office of Secretary Foster in the Treas-
ury Department might have been mistaken
for the Cabinet row at the White House to-
day, and the Secretary for a kind of acting
President Postmaster General wana-
maker called to consult the Secretary In re-
gard to the prospect of g fumigation of the
mails in case the cholera makes rapid prog
ress in New York, and preparations look
ing to that action will be taken at once.
Secretary Tracy called, as he has every day
this week, to talk over the cooperation of
the navy with the civil authorities at New
York harbor Agents of steamship COM
panies besieged the Office to secure Is speedy
a release as possible of vessels liable to de-
tention.
No less dlgnitsry of the Catholic Church
than Cardinal Gibbons, of Baltimore, was
ushered in by "Dick" Kerens, the ST. Louis
politician, to confer with the Secretary in
regard to probable annoying detention of
the representatives of the Vatican who an
tlclpate attending the dedication of the
w orld's Columbian Exposition OIL the 21st |
of October, and the Secretary did Q grace
full and polite act by the Immediate writ |
ing and cabling of raassurinc infarma atom