Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-11-25
A CAREFUL WATCH
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to isolate a case of smallpox under such
conditions. The sick man must sleep
in the same room with all the others
and a lumber camp at night is very
close and hot. There is no ventilation
whatever. and the temperature Is only
surpassed by a SUMMER day.
In Seme Of the larger caIhps there are
smal&r buildings used as blacksmith
shopssor for storage. but there are not
very common, Where. they exist II
would be possible to make them COM
Portable for a sick man and to. isolate
him in a measure by keeping him there.
This, however . duld. be Sonsiderable
of job. ks a.rule there. would be
nothing for the men to do but take
their Chances fra case should appear
in camp.
The matter of vaccination is a per-
picking one. In the first place many of
the men do not place implicit conf
dence in this nor realize the necessity
OF It. A sore arm with many attend
ing complications sticks out prominent
Iy to them and they do not care to UNI
dergo the operation until obliged to. a
bad arm will mean the loss of time and
with the limited means of caring for IT
at hand may become a very serious
matter.
Most of the men in the woods are
miles from physician and when SICK
must doctor themselves with the simple
remedies available or get out TO their
homes or the town as best they can
They are very healthy lot as rule
knowing little about sickness so the
sore arm is very distasteful to them.
The men coming from Canada laugh
at the fears of the disease and most OF
them would rather take their chances
than submit to vaccination. Under
these conditions the men will not be
yaccinated unless forced to it.
With infected or exposed men drift
ing about the camps the boss will have
some perplexing problems to- face.
Suppose a man arrives atthis camp
late in the day tired and hungry. The
next camp may be miles away over
difficult roads. The boss will not feel
like refusing him shelter and food ana
yet have no good method of giving
these without endangering his crew
II will be a hard situation for him TO
face. BY this time men will doubtless
be refused employment in any camp
unless he can prove that he has not
been exposed to the disease. But for a
time there is bound to be more or less
drifting around with the attending
danger Of spreading the disease.
All these things will have an in
fuence on the business. The season
has not been very favorable one any
way and now the outbreak of the dis
ease is causing much anxiety. If the
men are vaccinated the sore arms are
going to cause much lost time and de-
Law. Men cannot or at least should
not be hired freely and crews will have
to get along as best they can. Any
extended spread of the disease Will
cause a serious loss in the winter
operations. Even with few cases
the condition is serious and the lum-
bermen are rather blue over the pros
pect.
1t has been suggested that quaran-
tine stations or hospitals be estab-
lished at several convenient points
through the numbering country so that
the sick men can be taken to them
and be properly cared for and this
seems TO be "A feasible scheme. With
such stations established all the men
KNOWN 10 nave beeT eNpoStu NVuiu p'
gathered there and kept confined until
the danger is past. AS 1t is now there
is no place to take man suffering
from the disease and no way of fur
nishing proper medical attendance.
Men breaking away from the infect
ed camp. and they can hardly be
blamed for doing this under the cir
cumstances, have no place to go unless
they conceal the fact that they have
been exposed and thus endanger those
taking them in. Without some regu-
lations there is no way of fighting the
disease and it is bound to spread. "A
chain Of quarantine stations seems
the only method and the quicker this
is done the better pleased will be those
familiar with the situation. If the dis
ease once gets n good start among the
camps the business will be seriously
crippled and there will be no end of
suffering and hardship among the men