The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-06
e,;S A Witness From Laredo.

fToH the w dSHlIRtoH IOSl.
 Mir. T. E. Horstman a resident of Lar edo, Texas, visited Washington a day or two ago and 'etalked to a Post reporter about yellow fever down his way We are pained. though not at all surprised, to find that MT. Horstman takes no stock whatever in the so-called mosquito the ory. In the candid and warm-hearted fashion of his locality. he said
 .There has been quite an epidemic of yellow jack down our way, and a good many sdeaths on both sides of the ,Rio Grapde have occurred The disease has bssnkof an obstinate type. but its pre- valence has not been due to mosquitoes, ,seeing that very few of these insects be- long to that locality. If Git is through them that the fever is transmitted, as some of our scientific men aver. how do they account for an epidemic in a place "that sis practically devoid, of mosquitoes? Il thinkTit is up to the scientists to revise their theories. .ra K kOf course MT. Horstman overlooks' the higher scientific aspect of the ease. Evi- dently he is not impressed by the demon- strated fact that. the mosquito, under .careful. .Smanpulation, can tbe made .ls communicate yellow fever from a petesa to a healthy person. His view is the narrow, ,laymans view which is that sc-
 
 ods for spreading the malady. but with measures for preventing or healing it. MT. Horstman, in other words,Sis a Pkil- istine. He doesn't care three straws about the mosquito as afvehcle of dis semination. What he wants is a system that will eliminate that and other vehi- cles He is practical man. with no nonsense about him. .IIow yellow ferert originates does not coEcern him in the least. Neither does he set the smallest value upon expedients for Its indefinite multiplication. The crying need of the American people, Texans included is for some means by which yellow faEr can be circumscribed and it's expansion effect ually prevented. Looking at the situa- tiona from this viewpoint, Mir. HorstHan | finds the mosquito a negligible quantity. As well he may. ..,
 If there be anything in the mesquite hypothesis-anX hing of value to the hu- man race. wekmean; and we doubt it we should seek it ip the application to rslrposes of remedysand protection. If ! the knowledge that a mosquito which has bitten a yellow fever patient can after wards communicate the disease to some one else be of any practical use, then that knowledge must expresssitself in meas ures to prevent the. mosquito from biting. Were such measures adopted in Laredo. and, if not. why not? The yeil2~ fever has run its course along the Rfo|Grapde. it appears Beginning in September. 1t ,still prevails. There have been several thousand cases in all, and, apparently as many hundred deaths. The official report from Laredo made public few days ago. showed in that town alone 7ss cages and S1 deaths. Surely, onrAmerican Soil and under American authority our offi-' cials must have been free to apply the mosquito theory, if,. indeed, it is suscepsi- ble of useful application. They were in absolute control. and <the stare and fed eral funetionaries could work in perfect harmony Yet we find not only that the epidemic was not checked, but that its ravages were alarming. Ten or eleven per cent is a very high rate of mortality