The Alaska citizen., 1911-05-08

or other bloOd.~uCkiuC parasite Hunters live upon the flesh. bat direct intestinal infection i- believed uor ro occur. While ,hc hunters are in the field thcy do nor suffer from plague. the disease only mani fe4ts itself when hey come back for the winter
 Nanchouli. the chief center of fhr trade. has. aparr from d Russian garrison ~ >.5uu. permanent Chi ucsc population of 4.5uo. who, with several hundred Russians engaged in the trade. live together near th" railway station Caravanseries are not numerous. and they are in or diuary times overcrowded. lmag- inc then the conditions when 4.ooo or 5uuo hunters return from camp and cram themselves into squalid rooms already ovcrfllcd with one fourth the number. RHt there k still greater uvcrCroWdiug af this season. Chinese in ManChuria al" mainly natives of the three nOr'hern provinces Df Shanghai proper. Shan
 'ung. Chihli. and Shansi X consid- crable portion of these come to seek work in Mauchuria in the spring. returning in the winter. when the soil is frozen Haryesters and la
 borers. fishermen and hoatmcu. crowd the inns in October. when their seasons work is done. Octo- Der then k the month of greatest oycrcrowding. it is the month when plague would be most likely 10 de clare itself. and as a matter of fact it is in October when the plague does manifest itself. Special ar arrangements are made for the move. ment of this floating population to
 Manchuria and back again Steam
 CTS ply then from Niuchwang 10 the
 coast of Shantung; the northern
 Chinese railways alone carry not less than No.oau coolics per annum
 al cheap rates to Ti,u'siu in Chih-
 li Thus. October and November
 are the best months for facilitating the extension of the disease.
 A the season of overcrowdine cooios in the inns lie close packed. naked. side by side, along a raised carthcn platform. or kang. warmed by heated air. or they may lie iii tiers in hunks rising from floor ,o roof ill an atmosphere that is sim ply awful Infection could find no more fertile field.
 Tn the recent epidemic the first cases occurred in the railway area at Manchouli. After rapidly claim, ing GOO deaths its progress was stayed by the Russian authorities, who moved the whole Chinese quar-
 ter bodily into quarantine. Russians speak with praise of the doci!ity of the Chinese under these conditions carried out in extreme winter They !
 praise their patience and suffering No credence need he given 10 the stories of Chinese spitting in the faces of the Russian doctors in or der to infect them. Ther" is no req son to credit the poor coolie with any such knowledge of the infect ivity of his secretions From Man chouli plague spread 10 other sta tions on the railway. and in each case was dealt with severely but effectively Finally. il reached khar. bin in the first week of NOyem- Der. and here il remained until the last week in February. Faced with an onslaught of such uneXpect- ed yirulence the local Chinese au- thorities not only failed 10 make any reasonable attempt to avert the danger-they obstructed the efforts of those who realized the peril. They
 showed deplorable ignorance, yacil-
 lation and mendacity.
 When the plague broke out in
 the Chinese town Russia offered
 to render medical assistance, but
 the offer was refused in defer
 ence to the popular wish It was
 interference with China's sovereign
 rights. rights in this case includ, ing the right to die of plague with
 out any foreign meddling. Better to lose life than to lose face, ar
 gued this amiable mandarin, who, when plague was running uncheck- ed. not single case of recovery after attack being recorded, was
 gravely telegraphing to Picking that 800 cases had been cured by Chi nese doctors by means of Chinese
 medicines and acupuncture.'