New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1901-12-22
ryc1rs1Oy OF CONsUMPTJTEs.

Tho American people and their officials, AMI
mated with zeal not according to knowledge are
in some danger of going to senseiess anu cfuei
extremes in hunting down consunptiVeS. iheie
is 4 tendency on the part OF people VINO nave
crashed the idea of the infectious nature OF thls
disease 10 become panicStricken ana act Us
l,sdly as we from time 10 time see communities
doing when they burn down contagious disease
HOSPITALS Undoubtedly great precautions shoulu
he taken to prevent the spread OF TUBERCULOSIS.
Buildings which have become breeding places OF
the disease should be destroyed. The law against
tba habit which spreads the germs broadcast in
streetcars and on sidewalks should be rlgldly
enforced Greater efforts should be made to
secure the proper treatment of afflicted persons.
Rut there is no reason why cOnsumptives,
whether our own citizens or foreigners, should
be prosecuted owing to unreasonable fears or 10
elavisblv literal Interpretation of our laws.
Rencrts from San Francisco say that the
Commissioner of immigration at that port has
inst made decision in answer to hypothetl-
cal question from a steamship company that an
alien traveller afflicted with consumption VINO
has ample means to care for himself ana De no
possible charge on the community cannot DE
permitted to land in this country. He says that
the conditions surrounding a tourist in his
travels are of a personal and social nature, ana
in no way affect his position as an alien from
statutory point of view. 1t is true the law
can be no respecter of persons; but when the
low as interpreted reaches such result it may
be questioned if there has not been lack OF
/ discretion in Interpreting it, Persons with dis
ease are excluded for two reasons-frst, lest
they become public charge. and, second, lest
they should menace the public safety. poor
consumptive like any other person who does
| NOT offer a reasonable promise of self-support,
should be excluded. Likewise a man should be
excluded. no matter what his means, who is
bringing in a new disease or is likely TO add to
| the danger to the public from an old one. But a
consumptive from abroad seeking recovery In a
| suitable climate, surrounded by proper care,
| does not add to that danger in any serious
degree 1t is not as if a person had smallpox
| or yellow fever or some other disease the germ
| of which can by quarantine be kept from get
| ting about among people. tuberculosis is as
much at home here as anywhere. Persons sui
4 ferng from it walk our streets and are quite as
| dangerous any tourist from abroad.
| We have in this country certain districts
whose climate particularly suits those afflicted
| with the disease. If European in search OF
health wants TO visit the Adrondacks: Colorado
or California when his physicians think one of
| these places better than any at home, it is a
| senseless and cruel thing TO turn him back
| Americans by the hundred seek the Riviera,
| Egypt, the Sahara and other parts of the Old
| World as best adapted to give them the change
they need when threatened by the same disease
! Would they think il fair to be shut out from the
promise of cure by prejudice or panic? Between
shutting out the foreign health seeker and con
filming natives 10 the spot when they are dis
| covered TO have the disease. no matter how
| unhealthy is only a step In California and
| Colorado talk of barring invalids from other
States has been heard, and there is danger thai
the common and natural anxiety TO guard
| against consumption may be INDUCED with
| heartlessness more characteristic of the Middle
Ages than OF this humanitarian time, which