The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-08-22


terested in the quarantine station at
the port of New York, for immigrants
passing through 1t scatter to every
state and almost every city and town.
Quarantine work in most ports of the
United States is in the hands of fed
eral authorities, but in New York the
state still controls Recently there has
been much discussion of turning this
over to the government, as Boston did
a short time ago Speaking from his
experience with the federal health Of
fcers in the Philippines and other
plague-infested regions, ex-President
Taft is an eager advocate of the fed
eral plan. The following is a digest of
a paper prepared by Mr.. Taft for the
New York Academy of Medicine and
reproduced here by his personal per.
mission 1t is especially timely because
of the heavy immigration expected at
the close of the war, some of ii no
doubt from the countries through which
typhus and cholera have swept
Exclusive service the Suvey Press Blu
reau).
For many years 1 have been inter
ested in the subject of preventive medi-
cine l have had official responsibility
with respect to its investigation and its
work.
The Spanish war, though we may de-
plore war, did in some respect great
good. 1t brought the American pro-
fession of medicine into active study
of tropical diseases. 1t brought the
army medical corps, the naval medical
corps and the public health service of
the federal government into situations
that stimulated their activity. And I
venture to say that the work of all
these corps since we went into Cuba
In 1898 has reflected the highest credit
on the American profession of medi-
cine. For in this time there has been
greater progress made in the discovery
and treatment of tropical diseases than
in the hundred years before America
had responsibility for health in the
tropics. The discovery with reference H.
that little busybody, the mosquito.
through Drs. Reed, Lazier and Gorgas,
was worth all the money, certainly, that
was expended In the Spanish war.
A War With Cuban Yellow Fever
The truth Is that the Cuban war was
war with disease. The international
nuisance that Cuba had become was
largely due to the yellow fever and
to the dangerous proximity to that
country fro mwhich ships came con
stantly to our shores.
The suggestion has been made that
the United states governments health
bureaus had not a large enough ex-
perience to be trusted with quaran-
tine in New York. / want to run
through with some of our experiences
to see whether that is true.
We did away with the yellow fever
mosquito in Cuba through our army
medical corps In Panama we tackled
the malarial mosquito. In the Philip
pines we had plague, smallpox, Deri-
beri and cholera. We had there Dr.
Richard Strong, now professor of trop.
zeal diseases at Harvard. who did sc
much in China; DIR. J. A. Perry and DIR
Victor G. Heiser of the public healtf
service, who took charge of the en-
atlre health of the Philippines and con
Quoted the quarantine at every port
And when one is a quarantine office
In the Philippines. in the neighborhoo,
of China and the far orient he has [,
be, If l may use the technical expires
sion, ION the job
000,00 people in the Philippines. Som,
critic will remark that there We're onl'
100000 inhabitants in the Phillppin,
Islands. True, but some were vacci
mated twice We had 10000 cases
year then; now there are only a few
hundred. In some of the provinces Their
were 5000 cases year. After everyon
was vaccnated there were no case
at all.
Then beriberi This disease 1t Is said
we do not understand in the fedora
government. Why, we We're treating !
when was in the Philippines and hav
been at 1t ever since. They think the,
have discovered now what the troubl
is-polshed rice. If those who max
rice the chief part of their diet woul
eat rough or unhulled rice they woul,
not get the disease. II this proves L
be the cause. there is certainly grea
nope that we can prevent great de
struction of life from the disease.
We had cholera in the Philippines-eve
an epidemic of it. This was due chief
to the difficulty of keeping the peopl
away from the river, which was the waite
supply of the city. We stationed cavalr
along the river banks to keep the peopl
back. We introduced the cholera serur
and DR. Strong applied 1t. We put in
new water supply and sewage system
- pumping sewage into the sea; and at Las
made Manila as healthy a place as ther
is In the tropics
Plague and Leprosy
We had a plague out there We learne
something from Japan and institute
what they have long had in Japan-crl
sades against rats.
Then there is our federal experient
with leprosy. When we went there ther
was one leper hospital In Manila al
other in Camernes and the treatmer
OF the lepers in the outlying district
was most cruel, We took a census of til
lepers and found that there were 100
or 1900. Then they were gathered t,
gether and taken to beautiful islam
and given houses and farms Now the
are as happy as people can be who ha,
that disease.
Yellow fever. Major General Gorga
then DR.. Gorgas, was working away G
ne problem while I was visiting Panam
.orgas worked as you know, to goe
purpose. He made discoveries about II
mosquito that likes swamps and lives
proximity to human beings. We burne
down part of Panama in trying to fun
gate 1t and had to pay damages but the
were worth 1t. We got out the fever
Malaria. Seventy per cent of the n;
tves have it. When I went down the
first 1t seemed impossible that any pro-