Arizona republican., 1900-11-18
DESPITE SANITATION
What the Work of the Sanitary De- partment Has Accomplished and What Remains to Be Dene-The Number of Fatal Malarial and Typhoid Cases-No Suppression of Facts.

Washington, Nov. 1.-The present
 controversy over the yellow fever sit
 uation in Havana seems most unne- | cess2ry when all things are consid-
 cred. The yellow plague is unques- tior2bly more active this year than it
 was a year ago, although the death
 roll for 1900 is not nearly as long as for
 many previous years. The most sig
 nifcant feature of the Havana health
 report is the great decrease. since the
 American occupation, in the numoer of fatal cases of malaria and typhoid. The sanitary work has been especial ly directed against these diseases. They gre more prevalent, more insidi-
 ou= and more disastrous in their ef- fleets upon the human body than yellow fever The Americans, in their first
 enthusiasm over the work done in Gu
 ba- may have been eXtravagant in their claims as to what had been ac-
 coImpIshed. But even in the first days of the occupation conservative officials
 recognized the hopelessnesS of the
 fight against yellow fever until many
 changes should be made in the phys
 ical conditions of Havana and the GUS
 toms and habits of her people. It was
 about a year ago that General Lud-
 low stated his belief that when
 Havana should have been properly
 drained, the streets repaved and the
 people educated in modern sanitary science, that it might be possible to have no more yellow fever in that city than there was in New Orleans.
 Colonel Black. then chief engineer of the city of Havana, also made a
 statement at the same time to the ef-
 feet that it might be possible within
 twenty-five years to entirely eradicate the germs of the disease from the an
 cient city. The desire to impress the
 people of Cuba, as well as the people of the United States, with a full sense
 of the benefits of the American occu-
 patton led to some statements being
 made by those in power which would
 necessarily fall of their own weight in the course of time. No one familiar
 with the sanitary conditions in Ha-
 vana could believe that the battle
 against disease would be fought an1
 won in two years time.
 There is not a house in the city from
 which the drainage is sufficient or the sanitation within 50 Der cent of what
 it should be. In nearly all of the 22.- coo buildings of any size. the drain age consists merely of acesspool gener- ally in the kitchen. This is allowed to become full of offensive matter be- fore it Is cleaned out, and before the Americans took a hand in the munic- ipal affairs, these disease breeding in- stitutions were never attended to any more than was necessary to prevent the overflow of sewage upon the kit chen floor. A heavy shower in Ha- vana fills the streets of the lower part of the city from house to house on either side. This surplus water only finds its way to the harbor by natural overflow and seepage, with the excep- tion of one or two small storm sewers constructed by the Spaniards in early days, which outlets are entirely made quate for the purpose.
 The houses of the city are great. soft stone affairs, not easy to keep clean. even with careful housekeeping. some thing rarely found among the lower classes of Spanish-American people. or in fact, even among those who should apparently know more about the art of healthfuI living. Until the Americans came there had been for centuries no attempt to destroy the germ-breeding features of these abodes, and with all the energy, intelligence and expend1- ture which the Americans have ap- piled to this tremendous problem. 1t cannot be expected the solution can be reached in a day Havana must be severed. paved and the water system re built before any real basis can be se- cured for such a sanitary condition as is demanded by modern progress
 The season of 1899 was very dry and favorable to the suppression of yellow fever Extraordinary efforts were made to isolate all cases which ap- peared and even suspects were treated with the utmost rigor. General Wood must be mistaken if he made the state ment that deaths from yellow fever were not reported a. year ago, and that the death rate was below what it should have been. There were too many efficient and honorable men in charge of this work to suppose a plot to suppress the truth. There was ev- cry reason indeed to publish the fig ures, even in full, for they were most creditable at their worst. The few who went so far as to argue from those figures that yellow fever had dis from Havana, or would all ways be under control of the sanitary found wide publication for their statements.