The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-07-30
DR.. KEMPSTER'S PREDICTION.
New York Physicians Do Not Fear a
Plague Endemic.

| NEW YORK July 30.-Members OF the
| Board of Health and physicians gener-
| ally in this city are much interested in
! the plague predictions Of DR.. Walter
Kempster- OF Milwaukee Wis. The fact
| that he spent some time abroad study
ing the origin and spread OF plaques and
scourges, under the Harrison Administra-
ton. gives added weight 10 his state
ment- But local physicians expressed
the opinion that there was TO ground for
alarm
so we're going to have a siege OF
plague" said DR.. George z. Fowler, Of
! IS East Fifty-eighth Street, President Of
the County Medical Society DR. Fowler
continued: Let me tell you, in the first
place. that there is not the slightest
ground for alarm. The statements pre-
dieting siege of the bubOnic plague are
| hysterical thoughtIess and entirely IN
founded. The health officers are in po-
sition to care for any stray cases which
may reach our shores. As for Il seourge
its not worth talking about
1 cannot understand why Or. Kemp
ster should make the statements he does.
Such utteTances are likely to produce a
panic, and will certainly cause unneces-
saTy alarm. II continued they might
even affect the prosperity of the country
through its commercial interests Health
officers and physicians should keep post
ed to possible spread OF diseases.
1T is the business OF sanitary authori-
ties IN every city and State to keep in
formed as to the prospective invasion of
contagious diseases They should en-
ploy the means which the law has grant
ed them in order to control il The in
formation which they secure should be
Lya-, 70,
property through the newspapers. It can
do no good, and only causes needless
fright -
DR.. a. H. Doty. Health Officer of the
Port, said that he had no fear Of the
bubonic plague spreading here. He said
that while the plague might be destruc-
tive to people IN India, the conditions
were different here In India people slept
with rats and vermin- Ia the last three
years the plague had been in Rio JaneiTo,
Lisbon, and San Francisco, but there
had been no devastation at any of those
places
DR.. Doty declared ne had no fear what
ever Of the plague gaining any foOthOld
here, and he did not think any practical
sanitarian had. i was possible for the
plague to get here in q mild form, be-
cause in its early stages a passenger
toms of the disease would not be appar-
ent- The only VA in which tie disease
could be kept out of the country alto
getheT was by OBTAINING every ship at
Quarantine ten days after Its arrival and
that would, OF course. be Impractical bic.
The plague had been in San Francisco
for a year, and that city had not been
devastated 1t had been prevalent in the
Chinese quarter there. where net only
were sanitary precautions neglected, but
disease was concealed from the health
department
Dr. Frank p Foster. editor of the
Medical Journal" SAID that the plague
would have made greater Roadway IN
San Francisco than IL did II Dr. Kin
youn had not been pretty courageous
There was N need, however, for any
alarm here
we have n good man here, DR. Doty,'
remarked Dr. Foster and there are
good men in the Marine Hospital Service
who can be relied upon We need not
r-orry al cut the plague coming here any
more than we did about our houses being
smashed by the Spanish feet