Arizona republican., 1899-06-15
FEARS THE PLAGUE
All Europe Trembies Because of
 inc BubOniC Pest.

While the past week has been pro
 fife in events of great importance, such as the quashing of the trial of Drevfus by the French supreme court, the meeting of Sir Alfred Milner and
 President. Kruger at B1oemfontein, and the announcement of the sale by Spain of her remaining colonial possessions
 in the far orient to Germany, yet the
 event which creates the most excite
 ment. and which surpasses all the
 others in gravity, is the outbreak ot
 the bubonic plague a Alexandria The first cases in Egypt occurred at Cairo,
 and inasmuch as the appearance of the
 pest followed shortly after the return
 of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, 1t
 may be taken for granted that tfe
 contagion was brought from that holy
 place of Islam where each year Mo-
 hammedans gather from every part of
 the world, chiefly from India, where
 the plague has been most virulent in
 it's ravages.
 F'rCm Cairo it has spread to Alex
 anria, the victims being mainly Greeks and Hebrews of the lower class, and it
 is practically certain that from Alex andria it will extend to Europe, com mencing with Naples, Marseilles, Ge-
 noa, Brindisi, ConstantinOple and Ath- ems, between all of which ports and Egypt there is an enormous amount of
 traffic at this time of year, especially in passengers of the poorer class, who, owing to the cheapness of the trip and the difficulty of earning living dur
 ing the summer months in Egypt,
 when all rich people are away and the
 hotels closed, hasten to Europe, re- turning to the banks Of the Nile when the season opens again in autumn
 While English and Anglo-Egyptian officials are endeayoring to minimize the danger, realizing how much harm is done in the case of epidemic by panic, and anxious to avoid the inau- guI1tiOn Of international quarantine against Egyptian ports, and possibly against English ports, if England does not join in the quarandning of Egypt, the leading medical authorities here who are independent of the govern ment dc not hesitate to express the gravest apprehensiOns.
 The bubOnic plague is essentially a filth disease, but there are centers of appalling filth in the s1ums of every continental town. and even in English towns, where, when once the plague becomes established, it is likely to re- main. IL will be more difficult to erad- lcate It from the slums of z, European town than from those of an oriental city. In the latter the buildings. eS- pecially those inhabited by the poorer classes, are of the most f1imSy descriD- ton and easily pulled to pieces at com paratively little cost, whereas, it is quite another thing when it comes to pulling down great brick and stone buildings IL has been shown that Cnce the p-agUe seizes hold of a city It does not cOnfine it's operations 'to the slums, but extends to the well-to- do quarters, while there is plenty of proof to show how infectious the dis ease is.
 The last visitation of the plague was III Iooo, when 1t was described by FepyS In his diary. Lcndon being a tne time almost depopuIated by what | was known as the black death. and | during the previous 200 years it lad i repeatedly ravaged all Europe Tn Genoa only a seventh of the popu1a- | tlon survived one of it's visitatfons Mhlle It's rayages were extended to 1NcrWay, Sweden and Greenland There 1 are many who hold that it reached America via Greenland, and is account | aoIe for the entire disappearance of | thosR islandic and Scandinavian col | onIes which are said to have existed along the coast of Maine two or three | centurles prior to the discovery of | by Columbus.
 fL IS heid here that Paris, with it's ueIectlVe sewerage system. and mel | o+,oin'aH water supply that is little | particularly favorable field for +ba | h., :" oohlc plague, which may bencnfortb oe regarded as one of the many dan- gers @ by which the international eTbi- oltlCn of 1900 is threatened - ordar, l-l-, CaoIe to St. Louis Globe-Democrat,-