The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-05-24
FOR A CITY PEST HOUSE.

Under instructions from the city
council an effort is now being made by
the proper authorities to purchase for
the city a new hospital for the use of
persons suffering with smallpox The
present pest house was built by permits
sion of the county in the fair grounds.
Since that tine the county has leased
the fair grounds to a company for ex-
position purposes, and the pest house
must move out.
In view of this situation, It seems
that the city should proceed with con-
siderable care and not spend a large
amount Of money when all the require
ments of the case will be met by
smaller expenditure. Those delegated
to secure a new pest house are said
to be considering the expenditure of
several thousand dollars in the pur-
chase of building and land to be per-
manently used for pest house purposes.
It must be remembered that small
pox is not a permanent fixture in the
city Of Topeka. Prior to the Spanish
war a case of smallpox was exceeding
" rare in this city. The existence of a
single. case of the disease would almost
produce a panic. Isolated cases We're
quarantined where they occurred, and
protected from comm unication to out
siders by building a high board fence
around the premises, SO dangerous was
the disease considered. Familiarity
with smallpox has considerably in
creased public contempt for it. The sta
tistics of the city prove that the cpl
demic is rapidly dying out. In the last
five months, when smallpox is supposed
to rage" only 26 cases were sent to the
pest house. In the corresponding
months of last year, there were rs
cases in the pest house. The year before
that there were over a hundred cases
of the disease
Thus it is easy to understand that in
addition to becoming less frequent,
smallpox cases are much less dangerous
A death from smallpox is decided
rarity Within a year or two more. it
seems almost certain that smallpox will
cease to exist. If the city spend two or
three thousand dollars on a pest house
now. it will be that much money wasted,
for the pest house will be useful for
nothing except food for flames.
In order to economic in the pending
transaction, the county should give the
city the right to use some of the numer-
Gus pieces Of property to which title
could be acquired by canceling the back
taxes This would be virtually nothing
more than the county is now doing
toward the maintenance Of a pest house,
and would entitle the county to the
right to use that institution for cases
occurring outside Of Topeka.
For its part the city should erect a
temporary structure similar to the one
now in use, or smaller. This could be
done at an expense of a few hundred
dollars. The building could be destroyed
when the smallpox epidemic is gone
without entailing the waste of so much
money as it is now proposed to invest in
a permanent structure.
According to the testimony of those
who SERVED terms" in the present pest
house, the accommodations are all right,
provided the institution is in the care of
a competent smallpox nurse. It is pos
sible to keep the building clean, safe and
sanitary if the right person is in charge.
Topeka needs a pest house now. but
the council will certainly act unwisely
by spending a large amount of money
for a building which viii be of no use
after possibly another year of use.