Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-15
f ROST HAS COM E
And All Danger of Epidemics is Now Re
ported as Over.
The Good Work of the Year I'm Fight
ing on Disease From
Our Coasts.

The appearance Of frost In this part OF
the country and the probability that Il
Will soon be felt along the gulf coast Is
a certain sign that the season of epidem-
les Is nearly over. There IL almost no
chance whatever now that there will be
any trouble from either the yellow fever
or the cholera In this country, and the Of
fcials Of the marin hospital service are
congratulating themselves that there has
been no scourge this year to fight. Surgeon
General Wiman said today to a Star re-
porter that this immunity from the fever
has not been the result Of a lack OF op-
portunfty.
This has been an unusually bad year
for yellow fever" he said. There have
been epidemics CT the fever raging in al
most all of the countries south of US and
particularly In Cuba. We are terribly
menaced every year by the nearness Of
Havana to our shores. That port, which
is only few hours by steamer from Key
West Is seldom free from the scourge. Its
harbor is constant source of Infection.
and there is scarcely a season that does
not bring scores of infected vessels TO our
ports. This year a great majority of our
cases have come from there.
notwithstanding this danger that has
been present ever since the beginning Of
warm weather, We have not had a single
case of yellow fever in the country, all of
the germs having been caught at quaran-
tine. l consider that this has more than
demonstrated the possibility of our keeping
clear of the disease. This season We in
augurated a system of quarantine inspec-
tons. There have been three officers con-
stanc1y on the go up and down the coast,
looking over the stations, making sugges-
tions here. remedying evils and defects
there and putting the service in a generally
effective shape. There have been many
loopholes found and stopped up. OF course
our strength lies in the fact that We have
every possible avenue through which the
an instance of one of these defects. There
was a port in Georgia where quite a number
of vessels from the south entered. The
collector of customs. and therefore the port
of entry, was some miles further In than
the harbor itself. a vessel reaching port.
therefore, would drop anchor outside while
the captain went on to the office Of the
collector, trip taking several hours. to
report his arrival In the meantime there
was nothing to prevent the men on board
going ashore and scattering fever broad
cast If ii CHANGED to be present on the ship.
we have now arranged to have an inspec-
tor board the vessel at the outer port as
soon rs ii comes in, and send II to quc ran
tine without waiting for the report TO be
made to the collector IL he finds il infected.
Then there has been another innovation
that has proved a success this year. Early
in the season We made arrangements with
the State Department officials so that the
consuls in all the South American ports
were instructed to notify the captains of all
should develop while on the way to this
country they were to stop at Dry Tortugas.
Florida, where their ships would be dis
infected. To accommodate this work there
has been splendid station built up there,
which has been buster this season than
ever before. 1t has been found that the
commanders OF vessels have taken ad-
vantage OF this suggestion very generally.
There is disinfecting plant and a power
ful steamer to assist the ships to the quar-
antne anchorage. We have had many
cases at the quarantine stations There
was ship as far north, you may remem-
Der, as Baltimore. But that case was very
we'll handled by the quarantine officers
there, and there was no real danger
AS TO cholera, il is certain that there has
been none on our shores this year There
was scare at Cumberland, but il proved
TO De false alarm. l attribute our fmmu-
nifty from cholera this season to the fact
that while the pestilence has been scat
tered over an immense area, il has not been
at all prevalent In the ports of northern
Europe, from which the larger part of our
European shipping comes. There is almost
no trade with St Petersburg, compared
with the German ports, and there Is where
most or the cholera has been this year 1t
has been spread, too into Austro- Hungary
but IL has not gone far enough north to
bother Us. There has been an officer of this
service stationed in Europe throughout the
summer-Dr. lrwin-who has kept us in
formed of the progress of the epidemic and
We have at no time been alarmed over the
prospect"