Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-09-28
YELLOW !. FEVER ! SPREADS.
Mild Cases of the Disease Appea
Daily.
STATE BOARD KEEPS SILENCE,
fellow Jack rrlghtcns the Residents of
New Orleans, and Gov. Foster Sug-
gests Secrecy-Panic In Italian Quar-
ter of the City.

New Orleans, La, Sept. 21.-Another
death occurred here Sunday from yell
low fever, the second within thirty
hours and the fifth since the disease as
serted itself here Up to nightfall there
were six new cases reported in the city
Sunday, and the patients are dotted
here and there in various sections OF
the town.
The lateness of the season will doubt
less initiate against any alarming NOR
tality, but that many patients will die
may be taken for granted when it is
considered that frost is not looked for
here or in the fever-infected belt until
Nov. l. 1t is the opinion of well-post-
| ed experts on the subject that yellow
fever does not become virulent in dis
| trict until about a month after it has
been implanted, that time being neces-
sary for the disease to overcome the
current disease upon which it usually
superlmposes itself. A feature in favor
Of the spread of the disease is that the
scourge has not been in Louisiana since
| 1878, save in one Or two isolated cases.
Since that time fully one-half of the
population has been born or is COM
posed Of people from other sections
who have settled here. These people,
1t is ordinarily believed, would be the
chief victims of the disease provided it
becomes epidemic.
| The greatest trouble about the situa-
| ton is that the presence of the fever
has occasioned an alarm throughout
! his section Of the country that seems
wholly needless. The panic has never
been so widespread nor the shotgun
policy so strictly enforced even when
hundreds were dying here and in other
infected sections in those years when
yellow jack reigned supreme. So much
has this feeling unbalanced trade in the
states of Mississippi, Alabama and
Louisiana that the local papers have
recommended that the state boards OF
health discontinue their regular meet
lngs, bcause the nightly conferences
have the tendency only to alarm the
people. Acting on this suggestion Gov.
Foster communicated with the local
state board and advised against the
regular meetings, which had been held
nightly for two weeks, and his advice
was accepted. Henceforth there will
be no regular meetings, save in cases
Of emergency. This decision, intended
10 allay the public feeling, is having
contrary effect, and people are point
ing to the decision as indicative OF the
fear the board has of the plague
scourging New Orleans.
In the Italian quarter the sanitary
condition is something fearful and the
panic is widespread A case of fever
was discovered in big tenement, in
which sixty people live. The attend
ing doctor made the tact known, and
in trice forty-eight of the inmates
He'd, leaping over fences and running
in every direction to avoid the Quaran-
tine which they knew would be i'm
posed against the entire block. The
Italians have come to the conclusion
that the authorities are prosecuting
them, and as they cannot understand
English, the situation in their quarters
Is made uncomfortable for any sanitary
/ officer detailed there.