Evening star., 1900-04-02
Recent Census Shows a Death Rate
of Forty.
MANY DISEASES ARE EPIDEMIC
Difficulties Health Officers En-
countered in Sanitary Work.
NATIVES AS NSPECTORS
Correspondence of the As<o, iated Press.


MANILA. March g. 1900
The census of Manila, just completed by
the health department. gives the city an
urpleasantly high rank among the ur,-
healthful cities of the world. It establishes
a death rate of something over 40 at n
conservative estimate. Former estimates
and censuses had always given Manila 3O0,-
coo population. This census was a careful
count of natives and Chinese living i'll
buildings and boats in the police districts
OF Manila and 1t gave a total of 1~, III.
o. whom 10000 were Cinnamon. There
to be added the inhabitants of several VIII
lagos within the city limits. Americans and
Europeans. and 400 priests In the monas-
tories. From reliable informatio the Of
ficials estimate their number at betwean
fifty and sixty thousand
The deaths in Manila. officially reported
during the six months from July 1 TO De-
cember 81, last year, were 6.2O3. OF these
29i1 were children. Some of the causes
were beri-beri. $40: tuberculosis, :sS5: bron-
chits. 314; dysentery, 229; fevers PSI, while
stomach troubles ranked high. Manila now
has three diseases epidemic. which would
throw the average community into panic
bubonic plague, beri-beri and smallpox.
Beri-beri results from a diet of fish and
rice. so that whites do not fear it. Small
poX and leprosy the Philippines always
have. and the people look upon them as
matter of course. avoiding direct contact,
but hardly giving second thought to their
presence in the neighborhood.
Smallpox FIOurishes In Some Places.
Smallpox fourishes In some parts of Luz
zon constantly. Half of the natives in the
country districts are ptted with it, and
mothers try to get their children infected
with it under the belief that it is less dam
gerous to the young. The towns along the
northern coast and on the railroad between
Manila and Dagupan are full of smallpox
now. Gen. Bells famous volunteer regi-
ment, the 36th. is suffering from epi
demtc. Lieut. Toncray and Lieut.. Wing.
both of whom were Tennesseeans, the for
mer holding Il commission captain in the
Tennessee Volunteers. and several soldiers,
have died, and there are other cases in the
regiment.
The easy-going natives and Standards
paid so little attention to leprosy that the
Philippines have never been noted for that
disease, but there are more than hundred
lepers in the Manila hospital.
Bubonic plague is visitor to which dis
tance lends terrors. Two months ago the
first case was discovered in Manila. Since
that time there have been 300 cases, ac-
cording to the estimates of the health Off
resulted fatally Yet there has been no
panic. No families have fed from the
city, nor has the usual routine of life in the
city been disturbed
The repra sSiVe measures Of the health
officers have been comparatively simple.
but have proven remarkably effective. con-
sidering the conditions they have had to
fight. Their aim has been to make, the CITY
clean and keep it clean. This is the last
thing that the masses of Filpinos and
Cinnamon propose to do unless driven TO it.
Regarded as Persecution.
''They don't understand; they consider it
| only form of persecution" explained Sur
geon Major Ira c. Brown. when asked If
the natives We're disposed to cooperate in
his work. The Fiiipinos are one of the
most scrupulous people in the world about
personal cleanliness. Their knowledge of
sanitation. however, was gained entirely
from the Spaniards. and is defective. The
lower classes of Chinese are worse as the
fact that two-thirds of the plague cases
have been among them. although they num-
ber but a small minority of the population,
testifies White people have escaped alto
gether. Manila is practically without sew
erage, and because of its low level the cost
OF system on modern lines would be al
most prohihltive. AS an offset is the char
acter of the nipa huts. inhabited by most of
the natives which stand on posts above the
ground. free from rats, and well ventilated.
The plague is supposed to have begun in
Cavite. 1t first appeared in Manila in the
walled city, only a stones throw from the
palace, where army headquarters are. and
three persons We're dead before the nature
Oh lNelr disease was suspected. Most OF the
later cases have been in the same section of
the walled city or in the Chinese quarter
near the water front. Immediately Surgeon
Major Edie the health officer, organized ID
force of inspectors to enforce rigid sanitary
measures on everybody. 1t was necessary
to have men who could speak the language
| of the people to explain to them what the
inspections meant and direct them how to
keep their premises clean, SO Filipinos had
TO be enlisted. The race question created
complications immediately with Filipinos
and Cinnamon, between whom there exists
| an inveterated hatred. The Filipino inspec-
tors delighted in the chance to square
grudges against their traditional enemies
They proceeded to file a batch of warrants
for maintaining nuisanceS, and most of
them against Cinnamon who proved on in
vestigation to be the most prominent and
least offending of their race.
Help From Unexpected Quarter.
Help came from an unexpected quarter
for the rich Chinese merchants under the
leadership of Pa!anka, the former consul
general and chief magnate among them
offered to furnish thirty inspectors to work
| among their countrymen and keep the Chi
nese reasonably clean.
There are now 100 inspectors at work in
Manila, 30 of them Cinnamon and the others
F'ilipnos. They are sent out in squads,
usually two Filipino and a Chinaman
with soldier to boss them and see that
| they do their work and abstain from black
mailing. The officers of the health depart
mcnt, under Maj. Brown boss the soldiers
and the inspectors. Whenever plague
victim is discovered he is sent to the Chi
nese or the Filipino hospital if it is pos
sibie to move him. The house is thor
oughy disnfected. d bonfire is made of
everything movable, a yellow placard an
nouncng .'bubonic pest appears on the
door, while a sentry stands guard to keep
people away. Four days the house is kept
closed and the inmates are isola ted. When
two or three cases develop in one street
the street is barred against business.
The dead Cinnamon are buried in grave
eight feet deep in the Chinese cemetery and
covered with lime. The bodies of Filipiuos
are burned, when the relatives will con-
sent. Cremation is desirable for all, but
the Chinese superstition against burning
their dead is so strong that any attempt to
compel 1t would result in concealment of
the cases and possibly riots. The estimates
of 200 deaths includes the probable number
Of cases which have been kept from the
knowledge of the authorities.
The officials have hoped that when the
rainy season gets fairly under way with a
few six-nch showers it will wash up the