The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-04-10
TUBERCULOSIS IS
SPREAD IN CARS
Texas is First State to lake
Definite Action
TRAINS TO BE VENTILATED
Contract Is Awarded for More Big
Guns to be Used by Uncle Sam.
Secretary Wilson Urges More
Coffee Culture.
TRAINS TO BE VENTILATED

washington, April J.-lSpeclal. )-f'Ol-
lowing the recent report of Surgeon-Gen-
eral Wyman of the marine hospital SER
vice, there has been a veritable crusade
by health boards throughout the coun-
try for better ventilation of street and
railway passenger cars. Texas was the
first state to take active steps in this
direction, and under a recently enacted
law the Texas health officer has direct
supervision over the ventilation and san
itation of all cars used in the transporta-
tion of passengers in that state, and
very rigid regulations have been promul-
gated. Health officers who have made
a study of this matter hold that next
to cleanliness in the cars proper ventf-
lation is the subject most needing at
tention, at this time
Tuberculosis Is now universally regard
edas one of the most deadly diseases
the human system is heir to- and those
who have investigated the subject most
thoroughly maintain that this dread dis
ease Is spread over great sections of the
country by means of the Initiated and
infected air in passenger cars. Statistics
are now being collected which, it is ex-
pected, will sustain this contention.
white plague" long before they are
aware that it is sapping their lives, and
they travel back and forth through the
country, throwing off, with every breath,
the poisonous germs to be taken into the
lungs and systems of fellow passengers,
not yet affected, while scarcely a train
to certain sections but carries a number
of persons afflicted with tuberculosis and
seeking another climate. scattering the
of thrO11Qbnnf ha
Insist on improvement.
To check the spread of this and other
diseases in railway cars is the work now
before the health boards. They insist
that railroad officials shall improve the
ventilation of all cars used In the trans
portation of passengers, and of late the
inquiry has been extended to the i'm
proven ventilation of cars devoted to car
rying perishabe food products, it being
patent that such productes are very
readily inoculated by disease germs.
The question of ventilation of passen-
ger cars Is an old one, almost as old as
railroading itself. and the devices that
have been patented number a score or
more Every traveller has felt the an
noyance occasioned by the clouds of dust
and cinders introduced into the car every
time window or door was opened, and
yet he has craved a breath of fresh and
pure air from the outside. So it was that
the efforts of inventors turned toward
solving the problem of introducing fresh
air while excluding smoek dust and Gin
ders.
Should be Changed Often.
Prominent health officers have stated
that the preservation of the health of
the travelling public demands an entire
change in the air in passenger cars at
least once In every five or six minutes,
and it would be much better If it was
changed oftener than that To effect
this change without producing drafts has
been the knotty problem engaging the
attention of health officers. railroad au-
thorities and inventors. 1t is not nee
essary to provide for the ntaking Of
pure air from the outside, but at the
same time for the expulsion of the foul
or vtiated air To accomplish this and
not produce a draft that would be dam
gerous to the health of the passenger and
not long since considered an impossible
ity, yet health officers insisted 1t must
be done
This situation has lead to many inter-
esting experiments and tests those by
DIR. Walker, chief of the department of
health of Brooklyn being quite elab-
crate and successful In his statement
of the result of these tests DIR. Walker
said that when the car was filled with
smoke, everything being closed the ven
tilators were opened by his order and
the smoke was entirely replaced with
fresh air in two and one-half minutes,
without a particle of draft. In another
test, the air was completely changed in
sixty seconds.