The Irish standard., 1908-02-22
ARIz0NA's BURDEN
White Plague Victims Who Be-
come a Tax Upon Citizens,
Colorado and Other Western
States Not Exempt.

The victim OF the white plague who
turns to the Southwest. hoping to find
7 no dread of. the disease, will be bitter
Il " disappointed. The ever growing ex-
\ perience with it. says a writer in Out
West, has impressed a fear upon all the
s people, and each year adds to the feel
Ing. The sign Rooms to Let" has
been coupled, sometimes in print and
often verbally, with the warning "No
consumptives taken"
No part in the United States is more
concerned in this question of the help
less consumptive than the Southwest.
Texas, Colorado, New Mexico. Arizona
and California confront such a prob
from the nation as a whole.
For good many years California
and Colorado divided tho westward
drift. and conditions in those states
are more generally known, but soon the
arid regions Of New Mexico and Ari-
zona began to catch the overflow and
it is here that the problem centers to-
day in it's most naked difficulty and
pathos-particularly Arizona.
No small part of the difficulty comes
from the complete misunderstanding
2 Of conditions and possibilities of life
in the Southwest. The invalid, his fam
lily, and even the physician by whose
advice he comes. have no adequate
knowledge of the simplest conditions
that will confront him.
One physician sent a tubercular pa
tient to Hawaii just av the opening of
the rainy season, assuring him that a
dry climate was his one hope. An
other sent a man into one of the most
arid parts of the desert, and gravely
advised him to spend his time in fish
ing, live on fish as far as possible, and
sell his surplus catch to get what else
he might require. The patient would
have needed a line some hundred miles
cong to reach running water enough to
wet a fishhook!
Many a man has lost his chance for
life because those on whom he was
dependent could not realize the diff
ference in the cost of living. One poor.
proud boy starving on a pittance. try
ing to camp out and cook his own food.
fell into the hands of a kindly person
who wrote the plain truth to his fam
lily.
They replied Indignantly, telling him
not to endure such hardships, but to
go up into the mountains Che had been
forests) and find some hotel where he
could got comfortable room and good
food. And for this they thought 81 a
4 week muniflcent!
The mountains of the Southwest are
not the Adirondacks. There are not
half a dozen hotels in 500 miles of
them. A man may ride a long day in
many a direction and not find SO much
as a ranch house or miners cabin
at the end, and if he lives on 81 q
week he will sleep in his own blankets
Nor is it possible, except occasion
ally for an invalid to realize the usual
injunction Of his physician to "get
out on a ranch away from sick people.
Live out OF doors, and eat all the fresh
eggs and drink all the new milk you
can get" The farming area Is rela-
lively limited; the weary head of a
charitable organization has said that
II there was a farm on every quarter
section of land in Arizona there would
still not be accommodation for all the
invalids who have applied for IAN easy
Job on a ranch" in the last five years.
The largest chance for recovery lies
in reasonable freedom from anxiety
\ as to living expenses, Tor O few months
at least. Without this the invalid
inight far better remain at home. Ci-
mate cannot make up for lack of nour-
/. ishing food. for lack Of warmth and a
comfortable bed and cheerful sur
roundinEs.
(. Many person has died Of depriva-
tion and hardship in the Southwest
who might have lived outdoors in his
own backyard, eaten home cooked
food, enjoyed the society of family and
friends and regained a good measure of
& health. When it comes to be under
stood that any clean outdoor air, with
y nourishing food and warm clothing,
& will go far to cure tuberculosis, the
pathetic pilgrimages in search Of eli
!. !. mate will cease-at least in the mad
dest phases.
In the winter of 1905-O6 the city of
y Phoenix and the county of Maricopa
spent $4,000 in relief. public and pri-
waite, for these suffering strangers
whose own home states, counties and
towns left them to the mercy of the
N.