The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1909-08-20
THE NORFOLK WEEKLY JouRNA FRIDAY AUGUST lsos

Asiatic cholera or any of the major
infectious diseases all over the coun-
try and initiate an epidemic that
would cost thousands Of lives. Per.
haps II few railroad presidents
should contract some OF these diseases
while riding on their own trains, the
situation might change.
Briefly, may explain for those
who have not followed It's scientific
Importance, why all this should be.
come such a menace to the health OF
nation. Two French scientists in.
oculated field with the germs of ty-
phoid and found them flourishing in
the soil after lapse of three months.
Two German investigators performed
the same experiment with water in its
natural environment and found that
typhoid fever germs would live in wat
er fol~. period of eighty-fve days. An
epidemic of typhoid at the st. Law
renee New York; state hospital for
the insane was traced through a
laboratory investigation to the use Of
ice cut seven months previously, the
germs having been fast frozen in the
ice. Two physicians in Philadelphia
state and separated the bacillus of
tuberculosis from it, thus proving that
the stools of patient may carry the
germs of this disease. AS early as
1884 Koch proved that the germs of
common cholera could flourish in
water. and that atmospheric heat or
cold would not destroy them. That
Is the reason why the dejecta of PEG.
Il. .tnt,
when thrown upon fields or finding
it's way into a stream or pond, be-
comes a positive danger to nation.
Deadly Drinking Cup.
Besides the imminent danger from
pollution of the soil and water there
is the menace of the common drink
ing cup that carries the germs of diph-
iberia and a host of other diseases.
Then there are the unclean books
hawked on the train that may harbor
the germs of skin and venereal di-
seases. The system of cleaning trains
is also dangerous to the public
health, and is of no particular
benefit to the cars as sanitary meas
ure. At the railway terminal, gen.
orally a large city, the cars are dry.
swept and the dust and dirt thrown
upon the right of way near a public
thoroughfare or station where the
wind can blow 1t into public places
and where it will be inhaled by hun
dreds of people or become attached to
the food eaten, and in this manner be
provocative of unestimated mischief.
There is but one sanitary method for
busting a car, and that is to use the
vacuum process and burn the dirt
obtained Have you ever seen pas
senger car washed inside? l know
what elaborate care is given to the
outside of the cars, but my magma
ton was never equal to the task OF
believing that the cars were ever
washed on the inside or that the plush
cushions in the sleepers ever receiv-
ed sanitary renovation.
This is but brief recitation of
few of the many ways in which rail-
roads undoubtedly spread disease and
transgress sanitary laws, and yet to
make even this brief indictment has
required the employment of several
thousand words. To tell the entire
story would transcend the entire ses-
sion of this association.
"The fearful significance Of the in
discriminate and unrestricted journey
ing from place to place of those carry
ing infectious or contagious diseases,
and the criminal negligence of the
railroads in contributing to the dis
tribution of such diseases has not yet
dawned upon our senses. Only fort
night ago. within fifty miles of this
city, on the same train, woman gave
birth to a child and man dies of
consumption. Whatever excuse there
may have been for the woman, no cir
cumstances could justify a person
with terminal tuberculosis in riding on
train.
at is begging the question to say
that the railroads cannot exercise any
supervision over such cases. That
same railroad would not transport a
horse afflicted with CHAMBERS or
single sheep having scab, for any
money. It would not carry IN its ex-
press car the corpse Of person who
had died from a contagious disease,
except it had been disinfected and
placed in a metallic coffin. And what
excuse is there for open closets, for
the lach of disinfecting solution in
all closets, for the neglect to disin-
feet cars and sweep them in a sani-
tary manner? To ship corpse is
serious matter; dying man journey
ing in car with other passengers is
not an incongruity to the railroad.
Can you imagine how the berth in
which that man died was disinfected?
Would it be difficult to imagine that
it was made up again within an hour
for some other person? Truly the
railroads are living up to their motto
Look out for the cars!'
1T would involve no great expense
to the companies to have their cars
disinfected at the ending Of each run.
A shed is needed to house the train
and the train generally lays over for
several hours. The shed could be
made tight and gas turned into it and
an entire train disinfected while it
waits for it's run. When we realize
that for every person who dies OF
tuberculosis, five others are infected,
the frightful menace of the upholster-
ed car, the foul mating on the aisles
and the dry sweeping of cars with
passengers in them, become apparent
to even those who run as they read.