Arizona republican., 1903-01-09
For the Public Health.

The postmaster of Phoenix has de which will have the unqualified approval of every sensible per son, resident or visitor, in the city. Expectoration in the lobby of the post office is to be prohibited. and violations of the rule will be punished under the city ordinances which cover the of fense This step should have been taken long ago. A few people may ob- ject. but their objections should have no consideration. Apropos of this sub ject, we quote with pleasure the follow ing from a forceful editorial in the New York Sun:
 Tt is a reduction to the absurd to resent as an invasion of personal right and liberty the efforts of the more ad- vanced members of the medical pro- fession to save the individual from dis aster. No human being has right to communicate either Intentionally or un- Intentionally his physical infirmities to another. That tuberculosis is a com municable disease there is not the slightest doubt. Any person of sup posed sanity who would stand up in scientific body and question this as- sertion would be justly classed with that group of modern Ishmaelites who now oppose vaccination, and would have medican science entirely deprived of the untold benefits which have been derived and are still to be derived from the humane employment of vivisection.
 In a recent issue of the Sun it was shown that compulsory vaccination had within a few months wiped out a frightful epidemic of smallpox in the island of Porto Rico, and had brought the death rate almost to zero. This could never have been accomplished without enforced vaccination. and its results in this as in other epidemics justify the restriction of individual lib- erty as applied to the public health
 
 The department of health has not rigidly enforced these regulations, for the reason that it was not deemed pol itic. The absurdity of this opposition is evidently dawnfng upon the minds of the misguided breth- ren, for while during 1894 only 4,263 eases of tuberculosis were reported, in 1897 9,572 were reported, and in 1901 IT, 5S8 cases were sent to the department.
 Tt is high time that these laws should be vigorously enforced. If a human being beyond the pale of idiocy has tuberculosis he is entitled to know 1t, and If he knows it and knows it is communicable, he has no right to con- Vey his misfortune to another. Every one with tuberculosis of the lungs who expectorates on the sidewalk or street, or in any public place, distributes enough germs of the disease to infect thousands of his fellow beings. l. should be just as much of an offiense to spit upon the sidewalk as to spit in q street car or public conveyance. and persons with tuberculosis should be compelled to use for the reception of expectorated matter handkerchiefs or cheap cloths, which should be kept carefully guarded and destroyed by ere nation"
 Phoenix has laws sufficiently rigid to protect the public in large measure from the ever-menacing possibility of infection, but the laws are not properly enforced. In the words of the Sun, ''it is high time" that they should be enforced. It is not enough that the sidewalks be kep, fairly clear of pollution. The prohibi- tion should be made to apply to the postoffice, to the city hall, the court house, the theater, all public halls, the street cars, and every place where peo- pie congregate. And splitting in the streets should be made as unlawful as on the sidewalks.