The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-03-14
SPREADING MEASLES.

The February Century contains an
Interesting story entitled Across ST.
beria." The writer. q mother, returning
to the United States from Petrograd,
pictured the waste, inefficiency, and
general impossibility of community life
under such conditions such as now pre-
vail In that city. The suffering and
privation in Siberia and the trials OF
travel through that great waste were
wildly depicted. From the descriptions
OF events 1t was clear that in swapping
the car for the bolshevist the Russian
people had jumped from the frying pan
into the fire.
One part Of her story, for reason
apart from the general argument, was
calculated to catch the attention Of a
health man. AS the author and her
family approached the Chinese border
1t was noticed that one Of the children
was sick. When they arrived III a
chW1a she had a high fever. and they
were desperately worried"
They travelled all night in Manchuria
n reached Hardin about Is hours
from the Russian border. They drove to
the hotel. The mex morning the nurse
told the writer that the baby had
measles. She had known it for several
days. They wanted competent medical
help, SO they got up next morning and
took the train, reaching Chang Chung
late that night. They took another train
1880 WV LAAa "a Afoti 'oyS ~
reach Seoul, Corea. From there they
went to Yokohama.
The child was probably infective for
the last day or two in Russia, then all
the way across Manchuria to Hardin,
from Hardin to Seoul in Corea, and po-
sibly all the way to Yokohama, Japan.
! have heard OF the man who spread
the measles from Arkansas to oregon,
but this lady saw him and raised him
q rev. A proper regard for the rights
of her fellow man demanded that she
stop as soon as she had reason to think
she was spreading measles. Certainly
he had no right to travel beyond Har-
bin.
We read OF a trip paid by a United
State ship to the Friendly islands in
the southern Pacific. The visitors left
measles as a pleasant reminder Of the
visit. Before the natives got through
with 1t measles had killed $4,000 Of
them. After that 1t tool the mission
aries a long time to convince the ma
tives Of the Friendly islands that we
were a Christian nation. or If we were
that they should be.
The Chinese are supposed TO egard
the Foreign Devils" as somewhat in
humane. The Japanese do not love us
too well. ! do not know what the
Coreans and the eastern Siberians think
of us, but | can imagine that if 10
days after his measles-infected and
measles-spreading child Travelled from
Siberia to Japan en- epidemic of meas
les followed in her wake and IL the peo-
pies OF those countries should learn how
1t came about they, too, might look
askance at our missionaries.
1t would not a k much Of an epidem-
fc of measles to kill more people than
have been killed during the revolution
in Russia or, for that matter, during
the entire war. AS a killer, when meas
les Is working among a people without
much government, it has the kaiser
backed off the board. Fortunately for
us it is not likely that the Siberians.
Chinese. Coreans. and Japanese will
know VIII ere their infection came from,
just as this lady does not know who
infected her child. Blu that does not
decrease h gravity OF the crime, for
such 1t was.