Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1903 — What Might Have Been. [ARTICLE]

What Might Have Been.

The spread of smallpotia Rensselaer is aow completely stopped, Ahaaks to boldly meeting the situation, and adopting vigorous measures to stamp it oat, by quarantine, and dspriviug of new material, by general viooiaatioa. B it what might and would have beeu, had the disease been Ip slip abig bitauseit was mild xn character; aud the aivisi of those wao wanted it "kept as quite as possible” o»eu heeded, is well illustrated by the oase of Kuightstown, R -veHr or two ago. There it started in, very mild, of the n called it ,‘*Ouban itoh,” and tue papers said little or nothing about it for fear of hurt ing bu-uaes*. aai the inevitable result happened: The disease soon assume 1 the malignant form iif&lwiya takes wiiea Allowed to proceed in a populous community unchecked, and pretty soon the psople of the towa awoke to the faot that their inhabitants were dying like sheep in a pit; and <seath. iu its mist horrible and loathsome form. No formil quarantine was declared against the town but it quarantined Itself. For weeks and months the street's were deserted, and Dr. Hurty saw cornstalks several feet high growiug batween the rails of the deserted trolley traok. Also saw a sign posted in the street. "No Hunting Allowed on this Farm." 1 The experience of Knightstown was only what a number of other places in the state had which /adopted the do nothing, and keep it quiet polioy. ~— Rensselaer people oan not be too thankful that a wiser polioy was adopted here, and that the oontagion baa been stamped out at the start.