Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1903-03-28
DISTRIBUTE DISEASE
Street Cars as Disseminatsss of In
fectious Maladies.
Initiated Air and Expect or atAons n en-
der These OOnveynnces Fruit
full Sources of Coatagion--
Need of stei nxent Rule~.

IN the larger cities OF this country
the street car is as potent a factor in
the dissemination of communicable
diseases as many of those usually ca Ia
logued in the standard works of hy-
giene. In these larger cehters of popu-
lation the condition is one of an ex-
cessive number of passengers crowded
into limited number of cars. In some
cities this continues throughout the
entire day, and in all of them during
the morning and evening hours. Dur
ing the period of congested traffic, the
cars are crowded to tie limit, every
seat being occupied, and the aisles and
rear platforms literally packed with
all classes of our variegated popula-
ton, says the Interstate Medical Jour
nal.
The ventilation Of these cars is in
ferior, both on account OF inattention
to this important matter on the part
of the builders of this class of rolling
stock, and also because the passengers
differ so widely as to the proper tenn
perature and circulation necessary
to their comfort.
tuberculosis is undoubtedly propa-
gated through the medium of these
cars, which become infected by the
promiscuous eKpectoratiOn indulged
in by consumptives, notwithstanding
notices Of warning. Hannum. of Cleve-
land, recently examined % specimens
of sputum found in street cars Us
from the interiors and ten from the
Il g.,
was present in three instances. Other
specimens showed the pneumococcus
and the bacillus influenzae.
These conditions, the person-to-per-
son contract, and the breathing of
vitiated air frequently laden with
contagious exhalations and with dust
from dried sputum, are most favora-
bic to the distribution of contagious
diseases. OF course, it is only prob
lematical as to the number of small
pox cases which were infected
through these conditions during the
recent epidemic, but it is certain that
but few better opportunities of in
lection are offered than through the
street-car contact of all classes
Other transmissible diseases can
very easily be, and no doubt are, com
municated in the same way.
The solution of this problem is not
easy. Street railway companies are
not inclined to relieve the present
situation without compulsion. Health
officers, however, have authority over
the sanitation of these public con
veyances. This authority in most
municipalities gives sufficient power
to prevent undue overcrowdng of
cars when such prevention would be
for the protection of public health.
When necessary, as in times of a
general epidemic, such authority
should be exercised. Under all cir
cumstances regular disinfectiOn of
street cars should be practiced in an
efficient manner. In this way the
cars can be made biologically clean.
and the health of the community bet
ter protected. There is just as much
occasion for this procedure as there
is for the disinfection of Pullman
cars, now energetically practiced at
different points. Investigation has
developed the fact that there is but
one city in the country, Philadel-
phia, where any pretense is made of
disinfection of street cars. The
Union Traction company of that city
disinfects its cars with carbolic acid
This possibly answers for the killing
of bacterial life on the floors and
walls of the cars, but does no good
for the contaminated places where
dust has settled, and which nothing
but gaseous agent would reach.