Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-29

Let me turn aside from my story long
enough to say few more words about
climate. When 1 said that asthma and
kindred throat troubles We're unknown
in the Truckee- Carson valley, and
that the altitude, the dryness, the con-
tinuous sunshine and the invariable
temperature forced the conclusion that
of all places l had yet visited it
seemed the ideal climate for those af-
flicted with consumptive tendencies.
did not for moment mean that 1t was
Il climate adapted to consumptives
only. 1t appeared to me to be an ideal
climate and every person that I met
seemed to be in robust health. There
are no consumptives there, no
invalids, but among the mill
ions of good men and wo-
men, bright boys and girls. victims
of this dread disease, If there is spot
on this globe where climate will work
change 1t is just such a place as this
and ! am glad to give testimony that
is not biased by any real estate or min
ing interest. Just how much or how
little climate has to do with 1t is a
mooted question. The Sea Breeze
Hospital" in Coney Island where the
children of the slums who are victims
of the Plague" are taken, seems to
refute all climatic theories. Read
Jacob Riis' story in December Century.
On the other hand we know that Won
derful recoveries have been made In
Arizona and by means of out door life
in the valleys OF Colorado, but no one
ever heard of a recovery in California
nor at Colorado Springs, and the Ari-
iona heat is so great that it is apt to
deplete the system.
For years and years California has
been advertised as the mecca for con-
sumptives. The boomers and the real
estate syndicates and all the people
there with axes to grind, or with some
thing to sell, have We'd with each other
in the most villainous and unconscion-
able lying and all this in the face of
the fact that not single cure has ever
been recorded in lower California, and
that, at Colorado Springs, as lady
friend said to me. "They all go home In
a box" For years and years lower
California has been advertised to the
world as a climate favorable to weak
lungs. always had my suspicious that
some one was lying. l could not I'M
derstand how a temperature varying
from 40 in the day time to two
blankets at night could be beneficial
to a man weakened by night sWeats.
When / visited California my suspic-
ions became convictions. then knew
1t was a humbug and fraud. l had
a brother who went to Los Angeles
from Nebraska The immediate effect
of the change was good, but within a
few weeks he began to fail rapidly and
soon died. 1 talked with friend
LAWYER, who has lived there eight
wears. He is honest. He told me with
a sad shake of the head, that the rep
resentations made were lies, that he
had never known of a. case where the
patient did not decline. He sald: Mr.
Norris, they simply come here TO ole.
How could it be otherwise! true tne
change from cold winter to balmy ar
and the perfume of roses is dellSht1ui
but one soon tires of perfumes ana
one must be we'll to enjoy them. AND
now, after having induced all these UNI
fortunate people to go to California;
after having drained them of all their
resources; after having cultivated
their boom by means of the tourists
cash, they think they can stand alone
and looking around and seeing the wan
faces of invalids on every hand, they
now tell us it is bad climate for peo-
pie with weak lungs.
This confession is a very recent one
1t appeared in the daily papers since
wrote my last letter. 1t comes from
some so-called health association, ana
undoubtedly has the sanction Oh the
California authorities, as 1T has the
ear marks of paid" article. 1t is
better for sick people to learn this
fact at this late day than not at all.
The gambling that has been going on
in human life is disgraceful. am very
glad that the people of California nave
acted even if their motives are again
selfish. First they invited sick people
to spread their disease in order TO get
their money, and now they seek TO re-
mel them in order to get other peoples
money, AS retribution. we ought to
send them all our sick. but in the in
terest of humanity it ought to be
stopped.
lam not a physician. but firmly be-
1ieye that consumption is durable Ii
taken in time, and this is the opinion
of medical experts. But when we
learn more. we will not let people SO
afflicted mingle with others. There
ought to be a strict quarantine for
everyone who has reached the expect
Grating stage.
We left Reno because the men we
wanted to meet had moved to Hazen. so
as to be near their work. Here Mr.
Taylor the government engineer in
charge of the Truckee- Carson project,
has a little white city all his own. for
himself and his, assistants. and their
families. Twenty-Five miles east of
Reno in the Truckee valley we found
what is known as the diverting dam
of the Truckee. 1t IS built OF stone
and cement and has eight or ten open
NJ IN q N IN M fB 90 "a @S N az
lM1lNE' SFTa.H