The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1909-08-20

was ascertained that the annual finan.
cial loss to the country from tuber.
culosis was 81 200, coo, 900, and since
this discovery was made there has not
been such another sanitary awaken
ing since the days of Moses. There is
a general demand today for pure food,
wholesome water, clear air and clean
surroundings, because these condi.
lions promote physical and mental Wig
or, which are In turn transmitted to
prosperity, and without these the
health of a hog avails nothing to
nation.
thine was when the country was
all one untainted temple OF Hygeia, but
now the baccillae of gregariousness
everywhere pollute the soil, and UNI
less we seek out and abolish these
sources of infection we shall be ply
sically undone. To him who wanders
abroad upon such a quest, the most
conspicuous germ carrier that will
challenge his attention will be the
railroad The great railroad systems
of the country spew their filth from
ocean to ocean, needless of all SAM.
tary considerations. The pollution of
the factory is local and Is amenable to
local restrictions, but the pollution of
the railroads. encompasses the entire
country, and they are without eXcep-
ton unmitigated, insanitary repro
bates. This statement applies particu-
larly to the transportation of passen-
gers. A different condition applies to
the shipping Of i've stock. Every roa1
furnishes its agents to the remotest
shipping point with regular bulletins,
containing the latest and most COM
prehensive information relative to the
prevalence of infectious diseases in
animals in every section of the coun-
try. Go into any freight office of
any road and you can learn of the
quarantine for foot and mouth disease
in parts of Maryland and Pennsyl-
vania, of Texas fever in certain coun-
ties in Oklahoma, or scabies in sheep
in Utah, of the laws of North Carolina
that prohibit bringing into the state
animals afflicted with infectious mala-
dies, or of the laws of New Mexico
that penalize the shipping of that
state of fruit trees that are diseased.
The roads have an elaborate system of
inspection, disinfection and watchful
ness to safeguard the carrying of live
stock. because there is a penalty at.
tached for violation of certain restric-
tons.
Come now to a survey of the
methods employed by the railroads in
the carrying of passengers. On the
trains we touch elbows with people
from the uttermost parts of the earth.
These people carry their diseases with
them, and over mountain and plain,
into rivers and upon cultivated fields,
through farm-yards, towns and gar
dens they distribute their germ-laden
discharges. to be washed into the
water-courses from which we take our
drinking water and ice supplies, to
be carried by the winds or by flies or
animals to our homes or food, be-
smearing and injecting a fair and
salubrious land with unseen and I'M
suspected sources of infection, to
spread disease, suffering and death
abroad. Obviously it is not in har-
mony with modern conditions for the
pulpit to proclaim the mysterious
yisitations of Providence where a
railroad with open closets traverses
the country. Thousands Of years ago,
in the early history of the Christian
religion and civilization, open closets
were prohibited. (See Deuteronomy,
23-13.)
ut is a popularity of invalids,
seemingly to be always travelling in
pursuit of that elusive illusion, the
fountain of health, and forgetting that
health, like the kingdom of heaven, is
largely within ourselves. In the chair
car in which l rode the other day
there sat a consumptive, splitting life
away into the aisle OF the car. In de-
fiance of the company's rules / went
out to the platform of the car, when
porter began to dry-sweep the car
with a broom while the train was NOV
ing. When he reached the car door,
the result of his work was only few
harmless scraps, the dust having all
been stirred into the air and left in
the car or blown out of the windows.
The roads have posted notice not
to stand on the platforms of the cars,
but there is no prohibition of sweep
ing while passengers are In the cars.
In the vision Of Mira 1t seemed to
him that many Of the vast cavalcade
that were crossing the bridge of life,
If left alone, would surely have passed
safely over and out into the mists that
enshrouded the farther end Of the
bridge, II 1t had not been for host
of imps who lowered about and with
scimitars thrust upon the trap doors
those who otherwise might have es-
capped; and thus the railroad, not con-
tent to have the public risk the num-
erous dangers, sanitary and otherwise,
that beset it's passengers, must send a
porter with that accessory Of death,
the broom, to increase the hazard of
railway travel.
Pictures a Station.
Here Is a picture of railway pas
senger station in a city of two hun
dred thousand. Have you ever been
in that ancient, moss-grown shack in
Kansas City called the Grand Union
passenger station? 1t Is gateway
tor large class of people seldom seen
on more northern roads-Orientals,
Arabs, Syrians, Chaldeans, Mexican
poems, negroes suffering from the I'M
comfortable diarrhoea of pellagra, and
all those unwashed hordes of germ car
riers who swarm in warm ATTITUDES.
There Is a common drinking cup for
all; the floors and walls are old,
mouldy and filthy; and the closets an