The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-05-26
SUFFERING SOLDIERS.
How Americans viii Root ont the
Disease on the IsInad.
when lbe Spanish batchcr, Goner

! We're concentrating troops Tor lat i0E3
sion of Cuba. he eooly remarked The
yellow fever viii KIN half Of them and
we shall dispose Of the other half
/ Weyler ia threatening our armies with
this scourge seems to forget that he
really furnishes this government with
an excellent and most cogenbreason for
ridding ourselves once for all OF the
proximity Of pest house on our bord-
ers, and the bringing Of Cuba under the
same sanitary conditions that hayepras
tically eztirpated the yellow fever from
the southern ports, writes Thad p
| Powers Had the United States ne
| higher grounds for interference in the
affairs of an adjacent island the filthy
and unhealthy conditions under which
the Weylers have perpetuatel them
selves in Cuba would have been alone
amply sufficient. For until the Span
iard is driven out the yellow fever will
remain to be n menace TO the health
and happiness Of the people Of this ma
ton, despite every effort Of congress TO
bar it out,
The United States will not neglect
cleanliness, vaccination and the procnr
ing Of wholesome drinking water for
the Cubans, and least of all need there
be any apprehensions that our peo-
Pile will encourage the Spanish idea that
epidemtcs are especially sent by God.
and that only in bis good timewill they
disappear The benevolent butcher
general need not rely too much either
on the defamation Of our troops by yel-
low fever which will eventually be
driven ont with the brutal despotism Of
Spain at the point Of the LANCET. For
meantime we shall burn enough sulphur
to not only kill all those murderous mi
crobes through which Weyler with
characteristic cowardice hopes to over
come the Falor Of oHr army, but TO
keep the name and proves Of the great
republic ringing around the ears OF the
dying dynasty Of Spain for the balance
Of Mr. WeYler's natural life
Don Weyler's calculation was that
the yellow Jack would fight wholly
on the side of Spain This is not with.
out interest Upon what is this hope
based2 Is sit upon the belief that the
microbes love the Spaniards and hate
the Yankees 1t is difficult to see how
Americans would be more amenabIe to
the disease than have been these sol
diers which Spain has already sent to
Cuba. That the Spanish however
rely as much on yellow fever as upon
the boasted tenacity Of their arms to
play havoc with the troops Of the Uni
ted States seems plain enough and the
dread Of tile efidana may hive some
influence in causing the country to give
such attention to yellow fever as II
never previously considered necessary
About ten years ago movement was
before congress to establish a commits
sion to check the rayages Of yellow few
er by incubation The proposed bill,
which was backed by the Louisiana
state board Of health was reported fa
yorably to the senate, but no proper &C.
ton was taken on the subject then,
though the investigation had the effect
Of increasing information on the nature
Of this disease that is far ahead of any
in the possession Of Spanish doctors
Yellow fever is thought to be a heri-
tage Of The era Of slavery, Had we
never imported Africans we might never
have known what yellow fever was
The virus Of yellow fever comes origin
ally in the last resort from the dis
charge Of the sick negro and from the
scourings Of slave ships that had been
thrown out at the ports Of debarkati0n
and which carried back and forward
With the flow and ebb Of the tide fer
mented under the heat Of a tropical sun
and so tainted the shores Of the sur
rounding atmosphere
The poison first generated in quarters
where the negro lived, from which it
spread along the shores Of the Gulf Of
Mexico, and fructifed particularly in
the nangroye swamps Of Cuba and the
West Indies, For years after the ter
mtnatiou Of the civil war slavery be
ing continued in Cuba it appeared in
some Of our southern cities with u.s.
however It has long since yielded to
science and sanitation, though occasion
ally the taint has periodically reached us
from Havana, where the virus has fer
mented and multiplied, being carried
into harbors IN trading ships through
various vapors on infected crews When
eztirpated from Havana It viii bo fl
ually eradicated from its fayorite habi
tat in the breeding nest provided for 4
BY Spain and from which repeated
quarantines. fnniigatiOns and disinfeC
tions Itare been pOwerless to abate its
virulence, principally On account Of the
difficulty of divorcing tile Spaniard
from lis filthy environments.
Yellow fever like typhoid, requires
certain conditions for its development
IT arises from noxious exhalation or
miasmata, and fouHshes in stagnant
water or under a bot snn Badly aired
vessels. impregnated with a fetid hn
mildly, generate Il and thesg conditions
can be misigated If it takos an entire
regiment Of doctors To accompany 0u1
sailors With competent medical oif