The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-11-12
Blue Urges Steps 10 Protect Cities From Bubonic PZugu
BLUE
TELLS OF WAR ON PLAGUE
Man Who Saved New Orleans From
Scourge Modestly De-
So SCrlbeS Work.
DISEASE Is SPREAD BY RATS
No City Is Immune From Deadly Dis
ease. Which In All Tiipes Has Been
KNOWN as 1.-The l'iague''-State
Authorities Should Keep Up Fight.

authorities should kcep Up Fight.
In tolling of the fight. in which lie
was chief instrument and leader,
waged against the recent outbreak of
the bubonic plague In New Orleans, DR..
Rupert III. Blue. surgeon general OF the
United States Public Health Service,
said last night ut the meeting OF the
Southern Medical Association in the
Jefferson Hotel that the outbreak found
The city unpreparcd to combat the
dread disease.
The result he said. was TO delay
eradication. And how about the other
cities on the Atlantic seaboard: The
fact that they are open TO this great
peril has been known for ten years.
The best Way to combat the disease
is to prevent IL. The State boards
of health should be prepared, be pre-
pared now, to meet the emergency
should II ever arise
Colonel Blue said that tho disease,
mt ono time or another, had made It's
appearance in every habitnble portion
I. OF the globe, and that it was the worst
& ana most devastating of all the plaques
that had ever visited the earth. 1t
was once In Egypt, and may have been
one of the seven plaques OF that coun-
Try in early times.
TELLS OF ANTIPLAGUE.
CAMPAIGN IN NEW ORLEANS
Colonel Blues address was on the
leans, and was illustrated with lam
tern slides showing the means which
the United States Public Health Ser
vice bureau and tho combined health
boards of State. city and county took
to rid New Orleans OF the danger.
81 "The word plague he said, means
but one plague. the greatest of all the
ages. 1T swept Italy in the time OF
Boccaccio. and was known as the
black death. II was known in Egypt
more than 400 years before the Chris
tan era. 1t is referred to IN the Book
! of Samuel, fifth anu sixth chapters. 1t
visited London in 1855, when $4,000
people died of it In one year. Even
though medical science had made some
: sort of a beginning then. charms and
lamentations We're resOrtcd to i'll an
effort to drive out the Dcstilencc, so
fearful were it's ravagcS. In 1894 the
plague broke out in North ana south
America, and II has been known in
Z nearly every habitlblc portion OF the
globe. 1t is alarming to ind that 1t
has obtained n permanent foothold I'm
Brazil. Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela"
PLAGUE HAS APPEARED
IN VARIOUS SECTIONS
Colonel Blue told of the raracos OF
the plague in MrNico in 1892 TO 1893.
when ESQ cases were reported, and of
it's appearance among the Chinese IN
San Francisco In 1900, which was it's
first appearance in the Unitc0 states
appeared i'll San Francisco again, and
all classes suffered. Out of leo cases
'seNenty-seven deaths were reported.
In 1907 the plaque appeared in Seattle.
and u year later the cpizootic plague
made its appearance among the ground
squirrels on the coast of California.
lie rocitcd other facts concerning the
outbreak OF the pcstilencc In other
parts of the United States, pointin.;
out that city was immune The
h,ap S..t.ir Ia,
that {. conference OF the nations was
held in Venice. ana measures were
taken to safeguard every port. Another
conference was held in Paris in 1903
and forty governments were represent
ed. In 1902 Pan Amcricun confer
ence WAS held, and ii was recommend
ed that every government represent
ed should notify the other of the out
break of the plague among its owl.
people. This convention was followed
by another in 1909, when it was re-
commended that every means for the
sanitation of seaports should be taken
that all buildings, especially those IN
which foodstuf was stored. should be
rat-proof, that il should he made OBJ
IigatorN That the people should use
only galvanized iron garbage cans.
that owners Of vessels should rid tLcii
ships of rats ut periodic intervals, and
would be provided in all Seaports III,
conference recognized TO the full its
o.
poor organization and lack 6f funds
prevented full compliance with the
I recommendations. Colonel Blue, said
however. that the United states had
officers stationed ut every point OF
emigration. which he termed the first
line OF defense against The entrance
OF the plague.
APPEARS IN RATS
AND SPREADS THROUGH TLEAS
The speaker described how the
plague first appeared in rodents and
was spread among them and from
,hem TO humans by the flea. II has
hecn clearly demonstrateq, he said
that the pestilence spreads from rat.
to huminls, aud that the rat is ~ con
slant and terrible source Of danger
The infection may be kept alive III
rats from year 10 year before IT fin
ally reaches q human being.
The need OF getting rid OF rats,
he said. lis apparent to all"
Lantern slides showed In interest
ing fashion how this modest man. who
never used the first personal pronour
in all his talk, conducted the work oi
whole country OF the most ravaging
pestilencc which las ever visited tho
earth and which history still records
rs the plague
George II. Simmons. general man
Is aser of the American Medical Asso-
citation, delivered All address on ''rht
Work of the Council on Pharmacy and
Chemistry: It's Effect on Medical Prog
ress.'' He said thnt the fight against
Fraudulent proprietary medicines dur
ing the, last ten years had been Very
successful, ana that the activities OF
patent medicine proprietors III seek
ing to advertise their wares through
The medical profession had greatly
lcssened.