St. Tammany farmer., 1905-08-26
A PASSING TERROR.

A PASSING TERROR.
The source OF the yellow fevel
that has appeared in New Orlean.
has been traced abroad, thus show.
ing what many experts have always
contepded, namely, that the disease
does not originate in this country
The Surgeon General OF the United
States few years ago had . paper
in one of the magazines, in which
he held that during the century the
yellow fever had appeared in this
country nearly every year, and
wherever the origin was tracable,
it could be traced to Cuba or Bra
zil or other places to the south
OF us.
II the fever IS alien to the United
States, as we may safely assume.
the thing to do is to keep 1t out of
this country, and to establish such
sanitary safeguards that, if it does
get in, 1t will have no opportunity
to spread. Yellow fever has ap-
peared in Philadelphia and New
York in years gone by. and We be-
lieve it has even broken out in Eu.
rope. 1t effected a lodgment in
Philadelphia because the sanitary
conditions there were favorable
to it.
The South has learned two valua-
hle lessons in recent years. The
first is the value of sanitation. and
the second is not to get panic-
stricken when the words .'yellow
fever" are mentioned. There was
time when these words were as
carefully eliminated from Mem
phis newspaper as tile mention yf
any kind Of Intoxicating drink is
forbidden in the pages OF the Ladies'
Home Journal. An enthusiastic
jag. erroneons!y Tabled "a suspi-
cioue case" once sent several thou
sand people out Ut Memphis, and
must have cost the town at least
$lUO,0U0 The mere mention Of tue
disease was once as disastrous to
the business Of the city as the rifle
shot in the Alps that may jar loose
the avalanche.
But we Of the South have out
lived all that. VI course there are
some people who thrive on ''scares, .
but the public can no longer be
stampedee. Sanitation has made
spidemics thing Of the past in
this country. New Orleans has
been clitlcised III some quarters for
not having published lu The wolld
under scare heads the fact that there
were several cases of yellow fever
in the confines.
There are number of good rea-
sons why she should do nothing of
tn. kind. When typhoid fever app
pears III city, il Is never .'fea-
tured" in such way as 70 alarm
the entire country; yet typhoid
is much more deadly disease than
yellow fever. Philadelphia and
other northern cities have thousands
Of csses Of typhoid every 3ear; al
most enough to make il epidemic;
but it is not MADE the news sensa.
tion Of the day. Why should the
press anu the authorities of New
Orleans make any more Of yellow
fever than Philadelphia makes of
typhoid. Or some ether city does Vt
email pox.
there is hardly any more danger
Ut yellow fever becomiDg epldenlc
anywhere in the South than there II
Of typhoid becoming epidemic III
the North; indeed there ls hardly
as much. We haze learned thor
oughly the lesson OF sanitation, and
we no longer fear the once dreaded
visitant. We should therefore
treat yellow fever Just as We would
any other undesirable disease.
Whenever it appears We should be
ready to battle with the best weap.
ons that sanitation can provide.
Least of all should we fear II. There
is no need TO court il, Of course but
no man should let the mere name
of the thing inspire hlm with terror.
So far as Memphis is concerned,
the alert DIR. Jones Is on deck, aud
II it should ever become necessary,
ne may be relied OH to do every
thing to keep the disease out. The
most troublesome thing about the
appearances Of the disease in New
Orleans seems to be the quarantlnes. !
Mempais Appeal.
William X. Vanderbilt, Jr., ran
for the Office OF chief of the Great
Nank fro donarfmoNt nnunlo ~