The Washington herald., 1912-07-28
RAT-PROOF CITIES URGED
TOPREVENTBUBONICPLAGU
DR.. Rupert Blue Gives Views on Stopping Onw]
March of Dread Malady- Danger of Disease
Sweeping American Cities.

py ouoohAN fANoe
Why. my dear sir, every one OF our
maritime cities Is menaced at the pres
ent time by the dreaded disease. Plague
Is in a sense a commercial malady
dogging the highways of overseas traf-
fic. and its first outbreaks are always
at seaports or great trade centers."
So said DIR. Rupert Blue. the newly
appointed head Of the Public Health
Service-the man who, not long ago.
cleaned the plague out OF San Fran
cisco.
I'VE have had as yet no cases of
plague among human beings in any of
our Atlantic or Gulf Coast cities. But
how about tha rats? 1t is not at all i'm
possible that there may be plagueslck
rats in some of our seaports. Plague.
you know. is a disease of rats pri-
marily. and is from them communi-
Gated to people.
There is no time to be lost. The
health authorities in towns along our
seaboard should go right to work and
find out. by catching rats and exam
lining them, whether or not the infec-
stricken specimens are discovered.
prompt measures must be taken to
wipe out the rodents wholesale. II IS
the only way to escape an epidemic.
Spreading In Porto Rico.
DO you realize what is happening
at this very minute in Porto Rico?
Plague has invaded the island. and Is
spreading there. There have been
thirty cases at San Juan, with eleven
deaths In several other towns and
villages the disease has made its ap-
pearance So serious is the situation
that / have placed a plague expert. one
of my old San Francisco officers, In
charge of the work of eradication. A
METEOROLOGICAL laboratory has been es-
tablished for the examination of cap
tured rodents, and trained men are
busy cleaning up and rat-proofing the
infested districts.
Plague comes from the Orient. 1t trav-
els in ships. Crossing the ocean. II has
been advancing steadily by the Islands OF
the Spanish Main toward the Atlantic
and Gulf coasts Of the United States.
Now 1t has arrived in Porto Rico. We
are not sure that II has not got farther
that II has not already established it
self right here among US.
1T is not a situation to be played with:
Once let plague become epidemic In our
cities, and years will be required TO
wipe il out. Immense expenditure OF
money will be demanded for its suppress
sion; but this will be trife compared
to the losses incurred through Interrupt
ton of commercial traffic. Probably you
have little notion OF the widespread SUI
fering that would be caused by the en-
forcement of quarantine against even
one OF our large centers OF population
Must Make Cities Rat-Proof.
I'VE may soon find ourselves Obliged
To make our Eastern cities rat-proof, as
San Francisco has already done In her
own behalf. To get rid Of rats, two
chief methods are adopted The rodents
are deprived of shelter. and are Kept
from access to food. These methods
which are carried out through the rat
proofing Of buildings. sewers, and
wharves, and by systematic protection
of garbage and all kinds of edible sup
niles. are supplemented by wholesale
poisoning and trapping. lncidentsly'
cats should be encouraged.
THE chief natural enemy of the rat Is the
homeless and hungry cat-not the sleek
and pampered house cat, but the mean
and scrawny brute that howls at night
and has to get its living where II can
The services of such cats in marrying
rats breaking rat Aehiii4AASS' oh-
turbing their breeding places. are Valu-
able beyond estimate. During the his
toric epidemic Of plague in London, an
effort. inspired by ignorance. was made
10 kill of all the cats. and. as result.
the BLACK Death blazed out like con-
fagration in a high wind
Come. from China.
Apparently the original home of this
frightful maIady is the Yunnan Province
Of China, which may be regarded as a
perrnanent storehouse OF plague infec-
tion. Thence, so far as can be asceE-
tanned, have come all Of the great and
destructive epidemics of the disease
since the beginning OF historic times
From that region started the epidemic
OF 1884, which in the city of Canton
alone killed $4,000 people. Two years
later it reached Bombay. soon spreading
all over India, where al the present time
half a million human beings are dying
Of plague annually.
"Ry this time, in all likelihood, plague
would have gone a long way toward de-
stroying the commerce of San Francisco
but for the work Of the local and Fed
eral health authorities. who, aided by
thousands OF intelligent and enterprising
citizens undertook to destroy the rats.
This work was begun in 1907, when there
were fifty deaths from plague in the
city, and was carried out SO thoroughly
that in a few months the epidemic was
brought to an end. There has been no
plague in San Francisco, either In hu-
man beings or in rats. since 1908.
Killed 2S,OOO,OOO Persons.
The destructiveness Of plague may
be judged from the history OF one epi-
demic which. starting from China in
1884. killed 100000 people in Europe
f(nearly one-fourth Of the total popula-
tom within the few years following. 1t
is caused by bacterial germ. bacillus
pestis. which was discovered by Yersin
at Hongkong in 1894. Primarily an
ailment Of rats, as I have said. 1t Is
carried from rat to rat and from rat
to man by the bite of the rat-fiea- The
fieas deposit their eggs in the nests OF
the rats, and the latter hatch them with
the warmth of their bodies.
Rat fieas bite people. Usually they
prefer to bite rats: but when the plague
sick rat is dead, and his sixty or eighty
'boarders' have left his cold cadsver and
camped a few days without food, in
crack of the floor. or in a pinch OF dust
in a corner. they will bite anything. A
white man or Chinaman tastes Just
the same to them.
IN India the rat catchers OF the san
ittary service died at frightful rate