El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-27

] that devoted to the fight against dis
/ ease and death. When the army paci-
! fed the people. moving from one con
: quered districts across the junsles to
the next, ana a little later to another,
until peace finally came by force
] everywhere. it found that its work had
+ just begun. The forces OF filth, lndlI-
/ ference. ignorance and lack of hope
: had to be cOmbatted. Rampant dis
/ ease had to be grappled with The
I army fought this greater ughL turn
: ing II over to other hands with the
{ Inauguration of the civil government
I and the victory is still to be won. just
I as it still is to be won here at home.
l When the army forced its way into a
typical native village, and an active ad-
vance guard offered the main body q
! breath in comparative security. what
| breath Is comparative security, what
| did it find2 A community thrown to-
! gether as cyclone Bamboo houses
! huddled in a chaotic heap, without
| form or order If the municipality
/ boosted thousands of people, or even
J many hundreds q few irregular lanes
/ from 20 to so feet wide between two
/ rows of low sheds claimed to be streets.
/ Fruit and vegetables lay exposed TO the
; sun, dust and Insects BuCOlic jaw
/ Waggers sat around among the pro-
/ dUce, just as they do in rural settle
! ments the world over. except that
/ there they squatted barefOOted on the
! counter.
Houses on stills.
Behind the streets" the bamboo
. residences" usually not more than
I three feet apart. sometimes touching
one another. were perched on sticks
! above slime and stanEnant pools where
the family pig and the family dog
| spent their dirty days Above. in the
one or two rOOmed nuts. sOused veter-
ans of many a tropical storm, lived
I families ranging from four to 10 in
number, eating. sleeping, bathing to
#Fnar- Frr1n hot. D.
Refuse was thrown out jauntily and
allowed to rot there. Babies died by
the thousands and adults by the hum
dreds.
Not Better in Manila.
Conditions were not better in the
capital city Of Manila There was no
sewer system, very poor waterwOrlz.
dirty streets, filthy yards. green eyed
boys, and a vile mOat Public santa
ton was almost unknown. Garbage
was put ont in the streets every night,
where it stayed until midnight when
the nstless garbage tenders drifted
along behind a melancholy horse to
gather up what the dogs and cats
might have missed. The gentle GUS
tom Of throwing refuse out the win
dows prevailed in such highly inter
esting districts as the walled city, with
its streets averaging 90 feet in width, [
embroidered on either side by jaEEeO !
stone sidewalks about two feet wide. /
An epidemic OF some sort or other [
and dysentery were as common as I
colds in this country in the spring 4
time.
Army Takes Charge
This is the condition the army 4
faced all over the Philippine islands.
II was met with customary energy ana /
resOurcefulness- In Manila a central I
board Of health was established In 4
the provinces Officers and enlisted men /
were detailed as sanitary inspectors {
and whole squads were turned loose
At first the cOuntry's face had TO be |
washed by force. In the mind Of the !.
average Filipino, before the light OF a !
better understanding broke in, this
ruthless tampering with his beloved /
ways shattered even his rights as a /
human being This invasion of his /
house, this constant Fostering Of shovel /
gangs, this plastering with carbOlic !
acid and lime, and this list Of thou
shalt nOtS brought home to him even
closer than the military conquest the
tyranny Of American rule. The
Filipino opposed. even fought. and still
regards with Indifference, every at
tempt to give him better chance TO
live.
Epidemics RavaEe Islands.
Cholera and smallpox have been the /
most active epidemics to ravage the 7
islands, but tuberculosis, dysentery,
malaria and beriberi silently but steau
ily take a frishtfuI. percentage. FIFTY
percent of the babies die before the
are a year old 1t is estimated that
one of every six FilipinOs is afflicted /
with tuberculosis
Asiatic cholera has swept over the
Islands many times. When the AmeII-
cans took hold Manila was one Of the
worst plague spots in the far east the
epidemic of 1SSS-S9 wiped out as many
as 1000 victims a day. The scOur-c
which ragged in Manila and the island
of Luzon from March 20. 1902. to March
s, 1903. was the cause OF 5511 cases
and 1886 deaths in Manila, while IN the
several provinces there were 160,67l
cases and 1O5-075 deaths
People Fight Authorities.
me people fought the authorities
every step Of the way The outbreak I
of 1905, which began in April, was I
much easier to handle by reason Of the
organization Of over 200 provincial
boards of health, the usefulness Of
hundreds Of Filipino sanitary inspec-
tors and a shade Of cooperation on the I
part Of the people Nevertheless, the |
deaths were: 22,75S In 1868 there
were 1882 cases. in 1901 d total of
6649 cases, and last year a mere hand
fuL
Smallpox Wiped Ont.
Smallpox is thrOttled now. In the
first six months that the Americans
directed sanitation more people in
Manila were vaccinated than in the
preceding ten years. In 1903 the vac
cinatiOn of everybody in the Philippine
Islands began. The job is almost
In 1907 DR.. Heiser found
of smallpox in a certain seven prov
inces which formerly had veraged |
5000 deaths a year from this disease.
More than 100000 vaccinations are
being performed annually and the
grand total now is nearly 10000, 600.
Prior TO American occupation the
deaths from smallpox We're about 40
600 year. Now the total is a few
hundreds.
Bubonic Plague Driven Out.
BubOnic plague. whose annual vic
TINS in India sometimes mount to the
hundreds of thousands. and whose
black hand clutches nearly all parts
Of the orient, is now almost a stranger
in the Philippines. The last plague
case to originate in the islands was {
on April 90 1906. Such scat
-ering cases as there have been since ]
then, usually from two to five cases
per annum for the entire archipelago, .
have all been brought into the country
from Malaysia or China. In keeping
down plague DIT. Heiser and his as
sistants follow the methods suggested
by the Indian Plague Commission,
which consists mainly in rigid quar-
3ntine and rat determination.
The hospital work of the insula-
bureau Of health is an important fea-
lure. 1t is fittingly typified by the
new Philippine General Hospital in
fc Of T1 hos he