Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 121, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1919 — ASIA GREAT DANGER POINT [ARTICLE]

ASIA GREAT DANGER POINT

Is Today, and Has Been for All Time, the Home of Plague and Pestilence. Asia is the home of plague and many other pests. The facilities for travel have brought Asia and our Pacific coast together, while the possession of the Philippines has multiplied the occasions for intercourse with the far east. Thus, says the Journal of the American Medical Association, the diseases of Asia threaten the lives and health of the American population, and the situation has been aggravated by the conditions of war. With the unvarying persistence of bubonic plague in Asia, It seems timely to lay further stress on these points. The obstacles in the way of successfully grappling with the plague problem in Asia are almost insurmountable. The natives object to wholesale inoculation and rat destruction; hence the only effective mode of procedure is most difficult to carry out. Religious scruples against the slaughter of aulmlals, even vermin, are prevalent throughout India. Consequently it may be taken for granted that plague will continue to persist in Asia, and as It is extremely rife In the two great ports of that continent, Hong Kong and Bombay, it to not an impossibility that it will be conveyed thence to American ports on the Pacific coast. While there Is no doubt that our health authorities are awake td the danger, it Is well to know that the danger exists in Asia.