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Show H DREAD ENEMY IS NOT DEAD AS time passed by, the winter came and the worst of it passed without any signs of the "flu" H appearing, we had begun to look upon our H experience of a year ago as a nightmare, a long while M in the past and not likely M occur again. Occasional Occasion-al ally someone recalled the difference in our pleasant. H joyful conditions this winter, and particularly during H the holiday season, with our experiences of a year; H ago. and we felt grateful for the change. In the, H pleasures and apparent securities of the present, no, H one seemed to think seriously of the chance of the H community and country being again plunged into H the abyss of gloom, anxiety and suffering we endured H last winter. But such is the compass of the human B mind. Almost in a day, and without warning, we H are confronted by the loathsome plague which last H year claimed so many victims throughout the coun-H coun-H try, and almost before we are awake to the situation. H it has spread to dozens of homes, and again we hear B the cry of the afflicted in such numbers for assistance LM that there are not sufficient volunteers to nurse them. H In point of contagion, the epidemic of a year ago B could not touch the present outbreak. Apparently H it was "nipped in the bud." so to speak, the first H cases being reported and quarantined, and also all H exposures placed under restrictions pending develop-H develop-H ments, and it was hoped at the outset that the out-LM out-LM break could be corralled without resorting to the H drastic measures of closing schools, churches, places B of amusement and of business. But the hope was a H vain one. The disease cropped up here and there H throughout the community until more than seventy H cases had developed within about a week from the HH time the first case made its appearance. In some few HH instances the dot tors were at fault in their diagnosis H and the malady was spread by people acting in per-H per-H fectly good faith. In others the exposures occurred H before the people were awake to the danger. In H others, as is always the case, there has been careless-H careless-H ness and a lack of regard for the welfare of others. HH But whatever has been responsible for the rapid HH spread of the disease in the past, the people should HH now be thoroughly alive to the situation and compre-HH compre-HH hend the virility and malignancy of the monster they HH are coping with and leave no stone unturned that will H assist in cornering the reptile. H One splendid piece of advice is to remain at home HH as far as possible. Do not mingle with other people H more than is absolutely necessary, neither in their HH homes, nor in public places and on the streets. You H never can tell when you are going to come in con- HH tact with the contagion, and it is better to be on the H safe side until the atmosphere clears considerably. HH There are a lot of remedies which different peo- HH pie have tried out with varying degrees of success, HH but thus far no specific has been found for the dis- HH ease, either in the form of a preventative or as a HJ cure. The best advice is to avoid it. If you take Hj the disease in spite of your care and precautions, go H to bed, keep warm and do not treat the attack with H careless indifference; and send for a doctor before H you are beyond help. At that it may be some time H before you can secure the services of a physician, HH for they are kept on the jump to care for all the sick. HH Last year a local baiber was made the recipient HHJ of many puns and jibes because of the confidence he HH and his co-workers placed in a little box each car- HHj ned containing cotton saturated with formaldehyde. HHj It was referred to as "Harry's rabbit-foot" and the HHj charm box, etc. Possibly it does not amount to any HH more than one's common sense would suggest ; pos- HHJ sibly the member! of this family are or were naturally HB immune. But the met remains that despite the feci HHJ thai they m itedlj exposed, shaving men who Hl weie i oming down with the disease on a number of HJ different occasion! , bavin thoie who died of the J disease, they were among the very few in the places HJ of business vii. I the disease. It may be only a bit of nonsense, and it due- seem unreasonable that HJH one could carry enough formaldehyde on his person H to destroy the influenza germs without parylizing Ins Bl own heart. But it can DC taken for what it is worth, and costing only a few cents to try, is not likely at 'any rate to do any harm, if it does no good. And in times like these, one feels himself in the same position posi-tion as the drowning man who grasps at a straw. At any rate, let us all be considerate as possible of others and not expose them to the contagion if strict and painstaking care on our part will prevent it. True, thus far the disease appears to be in a "light form;" but that is what is said of practically every contagion in its early stages of an epidemic, but experiences teaches that it grows more deadly and dangerous as it proceeds and spreals, and now is the time to "sit up and take notice" befoie it claims 1 the lives of a number of our people again. WE wonder if the Salt Lake Newspapers and the Salt Lake business men who support them and no-doubt no-doubt prompt the policy, think they are deceiving anyone besides some of their own dear benighted denizens by their muteness in relation to the influenza epidemic. Do they suppose that any of the people who were in Salt Lake City for the Woolgrowers' convention and many of whom have carried the dis- ! ease back to their various sections of the state do not know that Salt Like City is full of influenza? And yet the newspapers are silent as sphynxes on the subject. sub-ject. And what is the result? The net result is a loss of confidence on the part of the country people 1 of the state, who come to realize the fact that it is useless to look to the Salt Lake newspapers for reliable re-liable information on such questions, because the first consideration with them is one of business, and anything any-thing which if published is likely to keep people away , from Salt Ixike City, is kept in the cellar. Therefore confidence is destroyed and confidence is of itself one of the greatest business assets a community or people can have. There is nothing made by trying to withhold with-hold the facts. () |