Show t X aa 1 A V i I 1 10 4 ow 1 5 Z 44 64 6 N Z 4 WORK OF quarantine W N t AT NEW YORK P it ov t Z K t id t at it Z t Z t lut lu t k 4 i Z WWW sped special letter f ah A an epidemic of 01 smallpox raging on the other lido side and immigrants landing at new york in one day who might carry the disease from maine to california the city cites a fight against contagion becomes of national interest under the guna guns of fort wadsworth far down on staten Is and new york harbor lies the antine station with its patrolling tugs a and nil its batteries of scientific apall ances ready to grapple with invisible foes it was my good fortune to be a euest guest there some weeks ago and I 1 found it gool goal fun to be quarantined when the process la Is not compulsory silting at breakfast on the morning of my arrival we were disturbed by a hoarse bonk honk from the tugboat at the wharf that meant that a liner bad arrived and was realy to be boarded we bade breakfast a hasty goodbye good bye buttoning our coats as we hurried down to the blip slip there in the offing lay a great north german lloyd liner that loomed up big and black and shipped off to the detention island where they ther tay stay until all ail possibility ot of further outbreak of disease has ceased meanwhile their ship has been scrubbed and scoured again and finally a clean cipan crew in a clean ship are sent on their way regenerated II 11 not rejoicing large crews on passenger steamers cannot well ie be disposed of in this fashion but are shipped direct to island where the hospitals are located and where a bigger disinfecting plant Is ready tor for them thence the well ones are ar taken over to 11 hoffman offman island where there are great brick dormitories for their accommodation here I 1 was shown a it collection of cultures 1 of different as sorted diseases sufficient to have wiped out the population of new york city in about three weeks had they all been disseminated asiatic chat era bubonic plague typhus fever yellow fever smallpox and diphtheria were all growing here cheerfully and industrially in little tubes of at gelatin solution under a doctor a eye from time to time the effect of a few of thebe troubles Is tried on some sf 4 bliest SIGHT 0 V lik N D panting scarcely yet slowed dou do tram from her race across the atlantic and still steaming in tn the frosty air our little tug danced and bobbed over the crisping waters till we bumped against the icy sides ot the Kron prinz then with a roar of greeting from her captain we climbed up a tricky rope ladder to her dacks the first and second cabin gers are never inspected on these ships unless illness la Is reported so the captain led us forward at once to the way that goeth down into the bowels of the ship where we awaited the steerage passengers who were to pass in review here was the immigrant for you pure and simple here one observed the raw unta american at first hand A little select sample of babel came pouring up out of the steerage ways it gave one the oddest sensa tion to see these strange people such a swarm of them huddled out from those lower circles of the steerage in ferno in the unaccustomed daylight 1 1 I e were Po policies lacks do hemmans hem ians jews germans Platt deatsch and tyrol italians there were some in rags and some in tags and some literally in vel yet vet yet gowns all were jolly and laugh ing and good natured but this waa was especially true of the bohemians the motley of dress was as its atti striking king as the medley of tongues ton jues very noticeable among them were ere some who dressed comparatively well in distinctly american styles trese were war all of at foreign birth but they had lived in this country before and were now returning from a visit to their old homes tho difference between these and their fellows fellow immigrants was most striking they were all a pretty decent look las ing set for the most part and the men especially seemed well built buit and active intelligent fellows I 1 was told that the better class of emigrants from the continent are to L found on the north german lloyd at adem A large part rf of those on the wilhelm were hungarians Hung arians hungarians who claim abraham as their father how bow ever they were fairly well clad when a pest ship comes into port the inspectors visit it and it if it is a small vessel they take cere care of it then and there the NN aldsworth ads worth runs alongside the lick sick are carried down to the hospital in a tug the crew go board aboard the wadsworth with ail their dunnage and the ship Is thoroughly steamed with sulphuric acid gas or formaldehyde by means of at pipes which are run on board from the gen era tore meanwhile the crew are put through a process that greatly surprises their skins they are steamed and bisin fectea and run under hot and cold showers gitil they feet feel that their bones have all 11 been taken out and scrubbed their clothes are boiled unless injured easily their good clothes and other belongings are put into the big ovens and kept there several hours at a heat juit just below the melting point of buttons then these chef e garments find their own ers era again and the honest tars who by this time have reached a state of haa tend sa 4 soapy exhilaration are t trustful berse or vagabond dog or in tn unsuspecting guinea pig with the idea ot of producing an antitoxin or a virus to be used tor for inoculation the pig may die but science lives la in his death and the state la Is saved with regard to the efficiency of the aock done at quarantine in prevent ing spread 0 of disease dise asp there ran be little doubt although it la Is entirely possible for a case of contagion to slip by in spite of the vigilance of the in the value of the work la Is as much in fn its moral effect on ship captains and owners as in the immediate acta acts of inspection the captain who Is allowed to proceed with only a casual looking over knows very well that if he deceives the doctors on the present trip it will very probably be discovered covered dib latr on and then hie his lot will become a hard one As a result the ships ship a officers themselves are apt to come up to the scratch it they have any illness on board the three doctors take turn I 1 Is boarding I 1 as it Is called and there Is seldom any seri serl oua ous attempt made to elude their vig vir banc and the quarantine station ii to wnm K t ok 4 A x N A walling to 0 o enter rater the harbor itself evidence that the state bu has bt be gun to realize in seeking freedom from disease that eternal vigilance Is the price of liberty |