The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-06-18

Asa result of nnal decision that lta
chinatown is Infected with plague. san
Francisco il rcno,ntinr ANA dlsInfcct.
ing chinatown under the supervision
OF an officer OF the United states Ma
rlne Hospital service The Government
health authorities ut Washington anal
|ly took the matter up. and there ap-
pears to bc no further doubt that
plague has existed Tor some time IN
/ the chinese quarters of san Francisco.
Information on the subject is so sue
cessfully kept from the public that
only the scientific journals tell the
STORY The following review of the sit
Iuation from the Literary Digest gives
l the history Of the case, and shows how
the Federal authorities finally got tired
Of Frisco taking
THE existence of the buhonic plague
i'm the Chinese quarters of san Fran
cisco. which has been asserted and
Istrenuously denied during the past
year, now seems to have been establish
ed beyond doubt. The history of the
|
the attempt of the state authorities,
following the plan of the legendary
papal bill against the comet, to quiet APP
prehension by legislative denial of the
disease, and even to threaten those
who should venture to disagree with
them The subject is thoroughly venti-
lated in a leading editorial in Science
| May ~. from which we quote a num-
8 Nl,a, 90 Ia
the first case of plague was discovered
in the spring of 1900, and was imme-
diately followed by other cases all OF
which were promptly reported by the
health authorities The diagnosis was
objected to by number of local physi-
clans. and on this basis the existence
Of the disease was at once denied by
most of the city press. The events
that followed which are both curious
and interesting, are thus described in
Science:
Fearing that the State Board OF Health
might quarantine the city and that other
States might quarantine the city, or even
the State, to the vast injury OF public
and commercial interests. the commercial
interests of the city solicited the estab-
lishment by the city Board of Health OF
a quarantine of chinatown" the por-
ton of the city occupied by the Chinese
| in which all the reported cases had oc-
CURED. This request was acceded to, and
the quarantine was established. The pub
| lie was given to understand that plague
was a disease of frightful contagiousness
and rapid spread and that this quaran-
tine was necessary to prevent the spread
of the disease through the entire city.
The quarantine, though inadequately en-
forced and obviously ineffective, was
quite naturally obnoxious to the Chinese
residents of the quarantined area, and
they sought relief in the courts.
In the opinion rendered upon the case,
Judge Morrow decided the establishment
and maintenance of the quarantine ille-
gal but marred what was, under the
laws, a correct decision by the prejudi-
cial and unwarranted statement that no
cases of plague had existed in San Fran
cisco That the quarantine was, in the
light of our knowledge of plague and
in the light of the Oriental experiences
with the disease, an unwarranted and
mistaken procedure, is obvious. AS n
rule, plague is not personal infection; 1t
is a house infection: the best evidence of
this fact is the statement of one of the
European commissions that about the
safest place in Bombay is the plague hos
pital. AS stated, the public of San Fran