Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 February 1902 — SPREAD OF SMALLPOX [ARTICLE]

SPREAD OF SMALLPOX

EPIDEMIC 18 THE MOST SERIOUS IN MANY YEARS. Reports Show the Disease to Be Raging All Over the World—ls Widely Prevalent in the Middle West Health Officers Alarmed, All ever the world an epidemic of smallpox more serious than has occurred for years is raging. Medical experts no longer conceal their apprehension and assert that only by widespread unity of action can further contagion be avoided. Smallpox now is more fvidely spread than at any time for a dozen years. During 1901 there was an increase of 911 per cent'in the number of cases in the ten States, of which Illinois is in the southern tier. Between Dec. 28, 1900, aud Jan. 24, 1901, only 1,070 cases were reported from this territory. During the similar period which closed Jan. 24, 1902, 10,820 cases were reported. The federal government’s report with the opening of the present year show that smallpox Las invaded twenty-three countries and every quaver of the world. Germany has been held to be the best vaccinated country in the world, but even in Berlin three cases of smallpox have appeared. In London tbe situation this winter has been so serious that at one time it was feared the coronation would have to be postponed because of. it. Thus far the disease in the West and Northwest has been mild and the death rate has been low. But the warning is now sounded that the disease may change at any time to the most virulent type. Already this change has come in the North Atlantic States, where the death rate has increased from 20 to 30 per cent. Epidemic Is World-Wide. In London, where the disease is so prevalent that smallpox insurance has become popular, there were 3,723 cases between May 1, 1901, and Jan. 10, 1902, and 897 were under treatment on the latter date. The death rate there is 14 per cent among those vaccinated, 63 per cent in cases of doubtful vaccination and 50% per cent where there had been no vaccination at all. Plague ships anchored fifteen miles down the Thames are overcrowded and temporary barracks along the banks of the river to accommodate 800 patients are being erected. Reports received from large cities in various sections of the United States show that the present smallpox epidemic is more severe than any which has visited them for years. In New York Commissioner Lederle’s figures place the death rate at 23 per cent of those afflicted. In January there were 134 cases of smallpox, twenty-six of them being fatal. In Connecticut and New Jersey whole villages are swept by the disease, and it is widely prevalent in Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia since the first of the year there have been 544 new eases of smallpox and ninety-nine deaths. At present 463 smallpox patients are under treatment at the municipal hospital and in private dwellings. In Pittsburg the municipal hospital contains only six cases of smallpox, but in the boroughs and townships adjacent to that city twentyfive cases have been reported within the last few weeks. Smallpox is prevalent, but not epidemic, in St Louis, there being about 250 cases at present. Health Commissioner Starkloff of that city says the disease was brought there by soldiers returning from the Spanish-American war. Out of eighty-one cities and towns in Indiana, lowa, Michigan and Wisconsin, thirty-eight report that they are at present free from stnalioox. Less than a

Smallpox is prevalent, but not epidemic, in St Louis, there being about 250 cases at present. Health Commissioner Starkloff of that city says the disease was brought there by soldiers returning from tbe Spanish-American war. Out of eighty-one cities and towns in Indiana, lowa, Michigan and Wisconsin, thirty-eight report that they are at present free from smallpox. Less than a dozen, however, state that they have not had eases during tbe winter. In nearly every instance there have been cases in the surrounding country districts. Of twenty-five lowa, towns and cities, five report that they are free of the disease. Of thirty Wisconsin towns, seven say that the disease has not appeared there or has been stamped out. Fourteen out of twenty-four cities and towns in Michigan claim either never to have been infected or to be free of contagion at present. In Indiana twelve out of thirty cities report the same thing. Des Moines, lowa, admits 210 cases. Chicago officials who visited there place the number from 400 to 700. Sioux City, lowa, had 300 cases during the winter, but asserts that only sixty exist now. Other cities report from thirty-five to half a dozen or less. These reports show that the disease has gained a foothold in a wide belt. Crusade Against the Plague. The Chicago health department, headed by Commissioner Reynolds and Chief Medical Inspector Spalding, is making a crusade against the disease. It aims to stamp out smallpox in a territory embracing 600,000 square miles and containing a population of 25,000,000 people. In line with this plan the medical and surgical staffs of seventeen railroads entering Chicago have been enlisted. A campaign of education is to be inaugurated and every effort made to arouse authorities of negligent towns and cities from their apathy. "Unless smallpox is checked,” said Dr. Reynolds, “a panic, of” death may sweep the country. This is not a ‘scare’ statement. It is plain truth. The people should become aroused to the situation. This danger should afid must be averted by the employment of every precaution in every infected district. “If there is co-operation and determined effort the disease can be awept out of the middle West within thirty days. But if there is not widespread and united effort the disease will run from four to ten yean. “The disease in Illinois and the adjoining States may change to the most violent type at any moment. No one can tell why the type of disease changes or when it will change.” During the early period of the spread of the disease the death rates in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York were 6.4, 1.7 and 17 per cent respectively. Had the same increase in the deadliness of the disease been felt in the territory adjoining Chicago and Illinois there would hav® been 2,077 deaths from smallpox during the last six months of 1901. Aa it was there were 200 deaths. Oklahoma City, O. T., has granted a franchise for a street car company t® construct and operate a street car system Uara.

SMALL TOWNS SHOW GROWTH. Census Figures of* Decade Compared with Those for One Previous. Director of the Census Merriam has given out a statement showing the growth of the small towns of the United States during the "decade between 1890 and 1900, as compared with the previous decade. The statement is the result of compilation and careful study of the census figures by the experts of the bureau. It shows a general decrease in the number of perosns deserting the country districts for the big cities. It also shows unparalleled prosperity in towns of 4,000 or less population. Going into detail, the statement declares that the country districts west of the Mississippi have lost more in population than between 1880 and 1890. lowa, however, is an exception. Illinois shows unusual growth. Following is the census director's statement: g “The Increase of population in the States east of the Mississippi was 18.7 between 1880 and 1.890 and 19.2 between 1890 and 1900. In the same area the increase in urban population, moaning thereby all places of more than 4,000 inhabitants, was 53.1 per cent between 1880 and 1890 and only 37.2 per cent between 1890 and 1900. Both of those statements could not be true unless the population of places having loss than 4,000 inhabitants had been growing more rapidly in the last ten years than in the preceding docade. Such ts the fact. Between 1880 and 1890 the population cast of the Mississippi and excluding places of more than 4,000, increased 4.9 per cent, but between 1890 and 1900, 8.7 per cent. “To throw further light upon this increased prosperity of the small towns during the last ten years a study has been made by the census office of those counties which actually decreased in population at either decade, making allowance for changes in county boundaries. Counties of this class are predominantly agricultural and usually have lost through migration to more favored localities the natural increase of their population by excess of births over deaths. Between 1890 and 1900 the counties east of the Mississippi river which lost population extended over an area of 90,128 square miles. The figures show that in this part of the country an area almost equal to that of New England lost population between 1880 and 1890, but gained between 1890 and 1900. West of the Mississippi the changes were in the reverse direction—that is, the area losing population was slightly larger between 1890 and 1900 than it was between 1880 and 1890—334,862 square miles, as compared with 206,598 square miles. But in the country as a whole the area of counties losing population was over 30,000 square miles less in the last decade than it was between 1880 and 1890. “Further analysis shows that a gain of population in the last decade was reported from every county of Minnesota and North Dakota and every county but one of lowa. In South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, on the contrary, there were large areas, mostly in the western part and sparsely settled, for which a decrease of population was reported. The tide of migration in 1890 had pushed up the slopes of the great plains farther than conditions warranted and in the last decade the wave has been receding, depleting these areas and filling up the rural counties of such States as lowa and Illinois. “In lowa the per cent of area losing population fell from 27 between 1880 and 1890 to 1.6 between 1890 and 1900. In Illinois it fell from 28.6 to 4.6. In other words, over about a quarter of each State the population decreased between 1880 and 1890 only to increase in the last ten years.”