The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-06-18
WASHINGTON PASSES ON THE
SAN FRANCISCO PLAGUE

cisco had bon led 70 believe that plague
vas dIsrase OF frlEhtMh contagious
NESS when then. the quarantine was
raised and De- Chinese population was
| tliuwVd To- ru whore it chose in the lght
of thc afofo-statod information, the dts.
r1sr was expected 90 spread ut once
through thb city u ga. OF course, moth.
Ing 81 the sort And naturally the gem
| api. public at once lost confidence IN tho
local Board Of Health and In the correct
ness Of the diagnosis
Matters dragged ON. We are told
until the opening OF the state Leglsla-
ture In his message. Governor Gage
denied the existence OF plague In the
state. and passed severe structures upon
the surgeon of the Marine Hospital
service \ motion was passed 10y the
Legislature requesting the national
Government to recall the surgeon, Kin
youn. who demanded an investigation
of the hygienic state OF affairs In san
Francisco. The Treasury Department
thereupon sent to San Francisco spe-
cial committee. composed OF men Of
international reputation. Upon their
arrival bills were introduced into the
Legislature making 1t "a criminal of
Tense for anyone to report the exist
of the State Board of Health and pro-
hibiting the handling of cultures OF
the bacillus pestis as prejudicial to the
public health. These bills did not pass,
but they serve to illustrate the pecu-
liar mental attitude of some of the leg
islators. 1t had been charged that
bacterioloEists had Intentionally in
fected with the bacillus pests the bodies
OF Cinnamon dead of other causes, in
order to bolster up their diagnosis. The
special commission, after spending sew
eral weeks in San Francisco, and study
Ing six cases of plague, presented a re-
port confirming the existence of the
| disease i'm the city. A committee of
citizens then went to Washington, and
! agreed with the national authorities
that the city of San Francisco and the
State OF California should bear the eX-
pense OF cleaning and disinfecting
Chinatown. under the supervision of an
officer of the Marine Hospital service
This disinfection is now in progress.
The writer goes on to say:
That now, one year after the trouble
began, the State is compelled to do what
1t all along refused to do, undertake the
hygienic renovation OF Chinatown is an
obvious proof of the correctness Of the
1TanK ana open course. f1du tHe SHI1lere
section been promptly and effectively
cleaned one year ago. the disease would
have been stamped out at little cost, and
the episode would have been ere this for
gotten. At present the pail still hangs
over California and there is n general
distrust of her on the part of the other
States. We trust that the present meas
ures will prove effective, and that the
State has escaped the occurrence of n Sc
rious epidemic; but this escape will have
been purely accidental, and in matters
like these community has not the right
to trust to the fortune of chance.
Conditions have apparently not been
favorable to the immediate spread of the
disease This is, however, an old expe-
rlence; in many places and at many
times the plague has dragged along for
a long while, only to suddenly flare up
into an active epidemic. The recent ex-
perience in Cape Town is fresh illus
tration. The plague has been present
and dragging along in Cape Town for
eighteen months; on account of the mill
tary situation, its effective eradication
was neglected, and now the disease has
reused into active form. 1t Is this risk
which San Francisco has been running,
and this risk no community has the right
to assume.