Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-03-11

New YORK ClIy, March line ~.
plus germ cannot be Americanized. It
is one European product that must be
kept out of the well-worn melting pot;
one danger which cannot be accepted
and absorbed even by such an undis-
eliminating nation as ours. Immigrants
may be compelled to suffer hardships;
travellers be Inconvenience; and steam
ship companies lose money, but the
typhus cootie must be prevented from
entering the country.
Everybody is agreed as to this; only
there are various disagreements as to
how it is to be done, and the nation as
a whole seems to be painfully slow in
making up it's mind.
Already 40 cases of typhus have &C.
cured in New York City and it's har-
Dor, with several deaths as a result.
Nearly every ship arriving from q for
eign port carries infected immigrants,
while thousands of others, suspected
of the same condition, will continue to
sail for this country as fast as there
is steerage space to accommodate
them.
Yet the New York City Health de-
partment has been severely criticized
in some quarters for adopting prompt
| and rigorous measures to bar typhus
vermin, and only in the past few days
have the federal health authorities been
given permission to act in the matter.
The importance Of the typhus dan
Royal s. Copeland, health commission
er of New York City, told the reporter
in brief interview the other after
noon. Some people are inclined to
think that we have raised a rather
needless scare, but that is because thew
are unacquainted with typhus. They
do not know that it is one of the dead
liest scourages to which mankind is
victim: They do not know that more
men died Of typhus in Serbia during
the war than were killed in battle.
Ihey do not realize that one infected
immigrant, released in this city, might
spread plague that would cause a
million deaths in the space Of a few
weeks"
Or. Copeland was the first person
to recognize the fact that typhus
emergency existed. As soon as the
first cases were discovered, he noti-
tied the immigration authorities and
stationed fumigating squads at the
Battery to inspect immigrants arriving
IN the city from Ellis island. Many
were found to vermin- infested and had
to be put through the de!ousing pros
cess. Others carried bundles and suit
cases containing infected clothing.
Chaos at Port.
This caused a great deal Of conster-
nation at both Ellis island and Hoff-
mans island, the quarantine station.
where the immigrants had been passed
without question. The health authori-
ties at both of these places Immediate
y started making special inspections
for typhus infection. which naturally
required much more time than the or
binary health inspections. They were
delayed in their work by the lack of
proper facilities. Ships, with steerage
passengers who had to he examined,
began to pile up in the harbor, and thus
arose the present congested condition.
The federal authorities have recent
ly taken over the state quarantine
station at Hoffman's island, but mas
much as the facilities have not been
increased, conditions are not notice
ably improved. Reporters are not per-
mitted to add to the general chaos
at Hoffman's island, but from the
stories Of returned travellers, one
learns that the immigrants have a sad
time there.
1T was early morning and fright
fully cold when they came for the inn
migrants on our ship in small tug
boat narrated an American woman
who arrived on French ship the other
day. 'They began to transfer the
infected or suspected immigrants at
once, but not without fight. because
the French officials objected, saying
that the immigrants were perfectly
clean. The poor people, having come
Eu al
were not prepared for a cold climate
Their clothing was distressingly scanty
and they trembled with cold Those
who did not get typhus probably got
pneumonia later. Mothers were drag
ged away from their children and all
bundled into the tug. Many Of them
could not speak English and did not
understand what it was all about. They
kept them over there at Hoffman's