The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-11-06
AMERICA MENACED
BY DREAD SCOURGE
BubOnlC Plague Sweeps East
ward From the
Coast.
BROUGHT FROM ORIENT
HAS CLAIMED MILLIONS OF
VICTIMS.

New York. Nov. 5.-America is
once more in danger, the scientific
and medical authorities say. from that
most terrible of Oriental scourges. the
bubonie plague. Recent inquiries have
shown that in spite Of all the efforts
that have been made to stamp il out
on the Pacific coast, where il was
brought from the filthy and huddled
cities of China, Japan and India, the
dread disease still persists. And not
only persists. but has been spread, and
is being spread, over wide areas by
such agents as rats and mice and
squirrels Rats and mice more par
ticularly inhabit towns and cities. and
while they make long voyages in
ships, are not given 10 inland jour
neys. The present fear of the health
authorities is that such rowing small
animals as ground squirrels, prairie
dogs and the like. passing il on across
side unpOpulated areas where there
is no possibility OF DISCRIMINATING them,
will bring it farther and farther in
| land from the ports, until il breaks
| out among the human population in
widely distant parts Of the country al
most simultaneously, enmeShing the
whole continent in network of infec-
I ton such as Asia has writhed and suf-
fered under so helplessly from imme-
mortal times.
American Medicine. the great health
authority among publications, takes
/ this pessimistic view Of the future
/ possibilities of the present situation
[ as Indicated in the following extract
/ from that conservative journal:
Plague infection of the ground
/ squirrels of the Pacific coast is PROV
/ ing TO be much more serious matter
/ than was thought when it was first
| discovered that the flea had carried
/ the bacilli from the city rats to these
/ country rodents.
DIR. Colby Rucker of the public
/ health service. whose efficient work in
I san Francisco has been mentioned i'm
! connection with the plague crusade OF
/ DR.. Rupert Blue, has been organizing
| a scouting expedition to determine
/ Just how far the infection has spread
/ Preliminary reports Of his work show
| somewhat alarming condition in
fected squirrels having been found in
| widely separated places in one cOun.
~. with evidences that other coun-
ties are also involved. Plague is there
| fore disease 10 be expected in human
! beings for some time 10 come in IN,
/ United States, for the bacillus has OBJ
tained fOOthOld. As the eXtermina
ton of the squirrels is apparently i'm
possible, the spread of the diseasl
throughout the continent by the squir
rels, prairie dogs and other rodents
depends entirely whether they hav
sufficient tolerance TO keen the baeiH
alive. g"
That one phrase in the mouth of S,
careful an authority as American
d -In
more dangerous than the iayman can
conceive of. For what would it meal
Ilf the bacilli-already established il
America-were not speedily eradicat
ed by the scientists? By those sam,
! scientists who now confess themseIve
puzzled over the situation?
One brief glance at the history O
. the plaques most devastating invasion
Of Europe, which then boosted a tOta
population not greatly larger than tn
United States has now, will give SOM
idea of its terrible pOtenualities.
In the fourteenth century alone q
less than $4,000 900 peOple-or one
fourth of the entire population of IN
continent of EurOpe-Were killed b
bubonic plague. And that was onll
one series of visitations The histor-
of the plague in the Occident gOe
back to the earliest times. Again an,
again il has swept out Of the east an,
taken its toll Of lives; again and again
has the western world fought II back
The ancient Greeks mentioned il a
a thing that came out of Asia: and tn
medical history Of the early Christial
era, and OF the middle ages, is of
long succession of losing fights agains
the black death, or the leVantin
scOurge, as il was sometimes called
In the far east itself-that careIes
Orient which seems TO be aroused b
neither war nor pestilence from tn
many dreams of its many gods an
creeds-the bubonic plague is Away
present somewhere. But the Orienta
history OF 1t is a blank They seem [
accept it as one OF the conditions O
life: an occasional visitation Of tn
malign gods. to be suffered-and in
cidentally spTead-in stOlid silence. ]
takes something more than bubOni
plague or ieprOsy to make the inter
esting and dirty east either wake u
or wash up.
Out of the Orient it first came {
Americas Pacific coast with the rat
aboard ships from Oriental points. No
only rats. but mice. snakes. flies, bee
ties. bugs, dogs. jackals, squirrel.
gOphers ground squirrels, prairie dog
and other small animals are infeete
during an epidemic. The herbiverou
. animals, such as horses. oxen, shee