Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1900-02-23
LEpROSY IN H.. RIGA RIGA.
National Home F or Lepers Sug.
gested by Father Mulhane.
THINKS THE DISEASE INCREASING

He Has Inspected All the LeDer
Camps In the United States and l.,
Cuba-Lepers In the Antiiles-Arl-
soma His Site For a Lcper Home.
Father L. w. Mulhane. vino has done
much for the lepers III the United
States, is now visiting New Orleans to
inspect the condition Of the lepers in
Louisiana. He went there from Cuba.
where lie also investigated the leppr
problem. and he may 80 to Hawaii and
the Philippines to study the condition
of the lepers in the orient, says the
New York Sun. While in Cuba he Wis
tied the hospital Of San I.aZaro, where
the lepers are confined. and consulted
with Governor General Wood as TO the
proper course to UC i,al.';ch in reSar;:
to them. While in New Orleans he has
visited the Louisiana lrppr home at
Indian Ca!:ll AZ las In St'vpl::l con
ferences with the h;ij.;I recently ap
pointed by Gov'v:lcr Foster 70 select !.
new location for lnc irppi' home.
Father Mull!Hur finds that lcprcSy
is incrca sing in CNla and in the Unite
States. and he th::.';:' that it is likely
to become more formula ;'le in the Unit.
ed States by introduction from our new
colonial possessions unless the govern
mCnt takes steps to establish home
where the lepers can be kept isolated
from the rest Of the community.
H,.1
ly awake to the Importance Of the lep.
er problem. The lrprr hospital at
Havana is an excellent one in many
respects. he says, with an abundance
Of room for the inmates. but there are
Il number Of improvements that can be
made by General Wood and will be
made by him. His idea is to make the
home so comfortable that lepers will
be glad to seek its seclNsion. During
the revolution. when tie Sraniar,ls
had as much as they could attend to
with their military hospitals. the leper
hospital was neglected, 1t had very
few inmates. While the lcp:rs ran at
large. General Wood has ordered that
the laws in regard to the confinement
Of the lepers in the hospital shall be
rightly enforced. \ large number Of
these unfortunate people have vol,n-
tarily surrendered themselves. recng-
nizing that they will be we'll treated,
and Il lcper is as rare in Havana today
as in an American city.
Father Mulhane thinks that the NUN
Der of lcpers in Cuba has been under
estimated, because Of the unwilling
disease in it's first stages. He is also
Of the opinion that. for the same re;,
son. there is more of it in the United
States than is popularity supposed. i1d
he roughly estimates the number Of
lepers in the United States at 5000.
not including Cuba, Porto Rico. Ia
wall or the Philippines.
Father Mulhane is in favor Of the es-
Establishment of a national leper home Or
hospital and believes that the best site
for 1t would be in Arizona or some Of
the high aud dry sections around TIE
Rocky mountains. where the isolation
would he perfect and where the ell
mate would be admirably suited in all
ways for the patients. The national
hospital would be independent Of any
state hospital that might be needed in
a locality where through neglect or any
other cause leprosy had made any
Roadway, as in the case Of the gulf
marshes Of Louisiana. Father Null
hane attributes the disease in Iol:tsi-
ana to the Chinese fishing stations on
the gulf coast, which are seldom WIS.,
tied by whites, from which leprosy has
hranclrd out to some Of the neighbour
ing districts. There might be, he
thought. 100 lcprrs In Louisiana. Of
whom only small proportion were
confined in the home at Indian Camp.