The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-19
TO CRUSH YELLOW FEVER.
II MUST BE ELIMINATED IN cUBA
As WELL Al WERE.

enc Measures In Force AionE the calf.
NEW ORLEANS, Juno 1.-THE Southern
Boards Of Health will hAvo On opportunity this
summer to show what they can do In crushing
out the yellow fever or:keoping II under control.
and they express tho Rroatest.confdenco in their
ability to do 20. Indeed, they hone that with
our occupation Of Cuba yellow Jack" which
has been 20 destructive Of life not only. In the
West indies, but also ON our own Gulf and
South Atlantic coasts, will be completely elm
mated, II q proper sanitary and quarantine sys-
tenn IL adopted. Tho fight against the fever
this year 10, therefore, OF far more Importance
than 1t was last fall, and the necessity of crush
ing II out 10 far greater. Should 1t be allowed
to secure q foothold In this country tho result
would bo most serious to our chances Of success
in the war with Spain. 1t is easy to conceive Of
the Generalization that would follow the intro
duction OF yellow fever now that we have $780,
900 Northern troops, utterly unacclimatod. en-
camped, or soon to be oncamped, In the South.
The spaniards have counted on the yellow fever
as their next ally, just as tho Russians counted
on Gems. "JanviOr" and 'Fevrier" in their fight
against Napoleon during the Invasion of Rus
sia. The SpaniardsShRve played q policy Of
delay in tho hope that an outbreak of this dis
case would disorganizo or demoralize the Amer
lean forces. Hence the Importance Of the work
tho sanitary authorities and the Southern
Boards Of Health have undertaken to prevent
the importation Of yellowsfever from Cuba or
the recrudesconce of the fever which prevailed
along tho Gulf coast and. as far north as Mem
phis last summer.
1t IL, of course, with tho "hold over yellow
fever that these Boards Of Health are most con-
cernsd. They have been at work preparing
their plans against it all. tho winter. getting
ready for q fight which they thought possible II
not probable. That fight ia now on. The yellow
fever made its appearance at McHenry, Harri.
-zk- IT. -- Lava q .-A . l-- 400
were ssubsequently discovered at Bond, in tho
Bame county, and at Eschutta, in Wayne
county, q short distance away. All these cases
have boon clearly traced to. McHenry. 1t is
against McHenry, therefore, that the quaran-
tine campaign must DO mainly conducted, as it
was against Biloxi in 1886, Jacksonville in
1888, and Brunswick, Pensacola and other
towns on other occasions. The efforts Of the
Board Of Health will DO to confne the disease
10 the town in which it originated.
SConBidering the fact that only twelve cases
of the fever have made their appeRrance-nine
at McHonry, two at Eschutta, and ono at Bond
-andsall, these OF a very mild typo. the effect
seems almost incredible. We have q war 60
ing on which has naturally diverted attention
from sanitary matters. The war has had the
natural effect of sending up the price of pro-
visions, and yet 30 important q matter was the
appearance OF q dozen cases of mild fever in
Mississippi considered that 1t offset the in
huence of the war on the price of provisions
nnd sent them tumbling down in Chicago. 1t
has had its Influence on the war itself. The
McHenry cases of fever have been considered
in Cabinet meetings, and the disposition of the
troops, as we'll as the plans Of campaign. have
boon changed In consequence. Its natural
effect has been to bring about q removal of all
army CAMPS from. territory whore the fever pre-.
vailed last year. 1t was, for instance, deter
mined at once to remove tho troops from Mo-
bile, where a large force of Southern volun.
teers were being concentrated. There has
been a great deal Of talk oa the subject, sup
pressed, but none the less vigorous, at Mobile,
ever since the MoHenry cases were first re-
ported. The Texas troops. in particular. were
very restive at the.menace OF a disease which is
regarded in Texas with such horror and appre-
hension. The first order was to remove the
troops to Mount Vernon barracks. forty miles
away, but this has been oonntermanded, and
they will probably DO ordered: to the front at
once. to Tampa, Jacksonville. or :Fernandina,
on the way to Cuba OF Porto Rico. The Wal
Department seems to have reached the con-
clusion that they might as well be sent to the
West Indian yellow fever belt at once as to be
kept on its border.
At tho first report of the McHenry cases
there WAS q disposition to abandon even the
C~hickamayRs camp, and 1t required a vigorous
s saPdity s on this s st aetion aG tn prsTsnt IT. Of aa sS0 it a Is
.yen now P%Eotsble. in case moro fever should
could cog1 BE- I'd DONE ne:oS c~h hi kan j. probably as
Western troops there were not able to recog.
GiES tho territorial yaSt1Ss: Of the South.
never for a moment took into confederation
gle. Tennessee. and North Carolina yellow
fever has never prevailed and can no more
The Southern Soards of health and the
United States Marine Hospital Service have
that R Siiehfi has t ooc1 Sqrs ruth = p SSshHEsRc tGbs ss
yySe a OT.c fever IEr germs rs night hibernste in some q
prevailed last year, and where the necessary
disinfectlon and guarantees have not been
ttsrtSinsd of New Orleans M obiis a iedF the wS other her
larger towns, Thelr.sanltary systems are SO
Was. felt that they had crushed out every germ.
towns. the fishing villages on the seaShore, and
the sS%mi H. towns In the interior: Here. II
ignorance and lack of sanitary prosecutions.
y vas on these points that the s%tteption Of the
State boards of health was concentrated.
Since the epidemic Of last year there has been
State boards Of health. 1t was generally hoped
In the South that Congress would arrange fol-
a fionSa eItS SSn bT ips or SG%rs 9Rt nSw and .; a tSa n Ms,
rine Hospital Service or by the creation OF a
nHtonal BOARD OF heelth. This hoped-for leg
war SO occupied the attention of Congress that
other matters. particularly quarantine. upon
which required careful consideration stoodlittle
chance or consideration. When It became evident
that there would be no national quarantine
steps were at once taken to secure the cordiai
and complete cooperation. of all tho health and
sanitary bodies. and to increase and extend
their powers as far rs possible. Conferences
were held at Atlanta and Washington, at which
q plan of action was agreed on. A uniform
quarantine was adopted, and the several boardI
promised thorough cooperation. This is II
was an utter lack Of uniformity. when no TIVE
qu1rsntinss were the same, and when tho sew
oral boards spent most OF their time In SQUAD
bling and in fghtihg each other. Moreover
the weak boards were strengthened by legis
lation. The weakest was tho Mississippi hoard
which was almost powerlesB last year in add
tion 70 being without funds. II could do moth
ing then, and practically had to turn all ii
work over to the United States Marine Hos
pitSi Service. The Mississippi LEGISLATURE hal
extended. and an ample fund provided for it, q