Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1899 — Health in the Philippines. [ARTICLE]

Health in the Philippines.

It Is unfortunately true that the climate of the Philippines Is especially severe in its effect on white women and children. It is very doubtful, in my judgment, if many successive generations of European or American children could be reared there. We must then, I think, necessarily admit that we have here a serious, though uot necessarily insurmountable, obstacle to the development of the great resources of this remarkable country. Malaria and digestive troubles aside, the health of the colony Is fairly good, and the danger from epidemic disease is comparatively slight. Smallpox is always present, but seldom spreads rapidly, as a large percentage of the natives have It during childhood, so that there is hardly material for an epidemic. Cholera is infrequent, but when it once starts cannot be controlled. The natives believe that a black dog runs down the street, and the disease breaks out behind him. They declare that it is the will of God, and refuse to take the simplest precautions. Leprosy .occurs, but is not common. There is a great deal of biri-biri in Balabac, and I have seen it in Mindoro. The bubonic plague has, fortunately, never gained a hold in the Philippines.