Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-10-13
BY JOHN H. KEARNES.

Safety first" is the motto OF
Charley FRANKIE, main squeeze OF the
Municipal auditorium.
When he first heard of the Spanish
flu he developed an abnormal appe-
tite for information on the subject
and, as a layman, absorbed sufficient
knowledge to print volume on the
subject.
After interviewing a dozen or
more leading physicians of Omaha,
getting advice free gratis, for which
they had paid many hard earned
dollars, he came to the conclusion
that the best thing he could do to
become immune was to take few
shots of the preventive serum pre-
scribed as a safety first measure.
After becoming a host for the
vitiated germs, or bacilli of the fiji"
he went among his friends, Dragging
of his up-to-dateness and impressing
on the multitude he was one o.. the
few Omaha citizens to beat the real
old fashioned "hu" to it.
But alas for Charley. He may
have acquired peace of mind and
may have worked himself into a
state of mind where he could bid
the disease defiance, but he is only
immune for a short time, and to
keep himself in that condition he
must take shot after shot of the
serum, in two weeks periods for the
next three months in order to land
in the zone of safety.
Serum that is used for prevention
is produced in horse and only
gives protection for a couple of
weeks, or even less-a temporary
immunity at best.
Extensively Teutonic.
y Spanish "flu" is a misnomer. 1t
should be called the German "hu,"
for, when it engages in an offensive
it is peculiarly Teutonic. 1t treach-
erously and insidiously strikes
its foe without warning. 1t
ignores all the symptomatic prog
nostications of conventional and
well-behaved diseases such as
small pox, measles, scarlet fever,
diphtheria and the mumps and from
the first attack progresses along the
lines of frightfulness and schreiklei-
THEFT.
Its German deceitfulness is evil
u denced by the fact that after three
day barrage it will declare an armis-
tice and leave the victim in nor
NAL condition for 48 hours, and
then, with true German ferocity
mass the hordes of pneumonia and
meningitis and make renewed as
sault on the weakened forces of the
surprised and trusting victim.
~ Germ Battles the Doctors.
lust as the statesmen of the
world are taking apart the Teutonic
mind and Analysing it to find what
species of madness has impelled a
whole race to run amuck in its eff
fort to murder, with the forces Of
hellish malevolence, the civiliza-
ton of the earth, so are the doctors
trying to take apart, analyze and
isolate the stu" germ and find what
element of it possesses malignant
virulence.
Years ago a Hun scientist, Pfeifer
by name, and who must have pos
sessed a sympathetic love for so
atrocious a germ, was able to iso-
late il so Il could be recognized.
He found this subtle, sneaking,
treacherous, venomous germ mixed
in with a lot of respectable strep-
tococci pneumococci and other
bacilli and recognizing spirit kind
red to the German character, he as
,umed so parental an attitude to-
ward it that he named it after him.
,elf.
Spanish 'Au" is an age-old disease.
Il is recurrent, breaking out at in
tervals in certain places and makes
q cycle of the world while in a Writ
lent stage. 1t is a pandemic disease,
and like the present day Hun, is the
scourge of the world.
lack Knew 1t as Shake Bone"
When the Mexican war was 60
ing on in this country it made a
cycle of the nation, killing its thou
sands and leaving in its wake a
memory of terror. 1t was known
In the days of Zachary Taylor as
sengue, or Shake bone" fever.
Treatment, in those days, was
heroic, if not effective. Great bolus
bills, salts and SIENNA, composition"
: lea, to start sweat and heighten
ME fever were used, together with
Wrong potations of whisky, brandy,
pr Medford rum to build fire on
Top of fire The constitution that
,ould stand the disease and the treat
ment was "a strong one-but, hap
pity for the country, constitutions
of that day, physical and political,
we're strong enough to stand the
straiu. ...-
We had la grippe in the late S0s
ind early 90s with spasmodic out
breaks ever since, and would have
recognized the present pandemic
IS our ancient enemy had not the
ing of Spain been one of the
irst victims and thus given it new
IDENTITY.
Omaha paid but passing attention
10 the disease until the Board OF
Health gave its order closing
1893. churches, theaters, moving