Life — January 1, 1914 — page 28: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“EEE What Do You Think? We are Constantly in Receipt of Important Letters Which are Too Long for Our Limited Space. Brevity is Desirable Information Wanted Epttor or Lire, New York. Dear Sir: As a friend of dogs I am writing you for information. Please pardon me for being personal at the beginning, but I don't know any other way to make myself clear. I have loved dogs so much and had so little fear of them that when my pup bit me I had to telephone to a doctor to find out how to cauterize the wound, This is the first time in my life that a dumb animal ever showed cither fear or anger toward me. The family, friends and physicians, insisted that I begin the Pasteur treatment the day I was bitten. I refused because I objected to spending fifty dollars to put strong medicine into my system to cure something which I did not believe ex- isted—rabies. However, as the dog was so vicious, I thought it best to have her killed and sent her brain to the city chemist, who reported that the dog had rabies at the time she bit me. Still doubting, but to please the others, I con- sented to take the treatment. I now find myself asking a number of questions, to which so far I have been unable to find an answer. If you can’t give me the information I want, will you please tell me where to get it? There are so many wild and weird stories about rabies be- eved by people that it scems to me it's time to begin educating the public, in this locality anyway. First—When there have been a num- ber of cases of true rabies (two people dying from it), isn’t it the business of the city government to sce that all the possible sources of infection, that is, ownerless dogs, should be removed? Second—What is rabies, anyway? Third—What causes it? Fourth—Is that awful fear of it which possesses so many pcople a survival of some primitive instinct? Are there any recorded facts about the disease which justify that fear? Fifth—What is the Pasteur treatment? It is making me so ill that I think I am justified in asking this question. Does it leave many people who take it in a worse condition than they were before they take it? Sixth—Are there any proofs of this— that there is an “understanding” be- tween the laboratories of the Pasteur treatment and doctors and druggists? I merely have a “hunch” about it in this case. Seventh—Why is the retail price so high? What is the wholesale price to the druggist? Eighth—Are doctors correct in their statements that the rabics germ can stay in the system for a year before developing ? Ninth—If you know anything else about rabies, please send it to me. I expect (if I don't die from the treat- ment) to write some special feature stories for the Sunday papers, and I want facts. Isn't it queer that the only discase of which I have nevér been the least bit afraid, in fact have always thought it & superstition of “ po’ white trash and niggers", should be the only one that I would contract ? Hoping for an immediate reply, I am, Your friend, as lover of dogs, Dyatpte B. Jouxsoy. Fort Smitu, Arx., November 27, 1913. Naval Sir: It was in the Ladies’ Home Journal. 1 think, I read that one of the delightful features of Lire was the inconsistency of its columns and the editorials of Mr. Martin. In view of this fact, what I have to say may be in the nature of a joust with a windmill. Last August or September, while the officers and crew of the South Dakota were sweltering off Guaymas, Mexico, and drilling morning and night to pre- pare the ship for target practice, I came across one of Mr. Martin's editorials on the Mexican situation. At least it read like him, It was written from the su- burban point of view, a point from which the vision is limited in one direction by the price of sirloin steak, and in the other by the probability of the 7 :48 train's arrival on time to-morrow. I conclude it was his. The editorial read, in substance, that the beaches were inviting humanity (meaning the people of New York City), that the baseball season was in full swing (meaning that McGraw was per- forming for the multitude), that water- melons were ripe, etc. (I am quoting from memory). It ended with the sage observation that there was more to do than to worry about Mexico. While 1 was reading this illuminating article, the U. S. S. Yorktown, two hun- dred miles to the southward, was guarding American lives and property at Topolobampo, one of the hottest and rottenest little holes on the West Mexican coast. While we, with our ice machine, found life almost unbearable, its crew had to put up with all the hard- ships of life on a “ spitkit" on tropical service. I have the last copy of Lire before me, in which attention is drawn in a pointed way to the alleged fact that one- sixth of the Yorktown's crew deserted in San Francisco Bay. Does it not seem inconsistent that Lirr should affect to be interested in the number of desertions from a naval vessel, while it placidly ignores the condition that brought it about? Very respectfully, Ernest G. Sate. San Dieco, Cauir., November 19, 1913. Bill (stout and easy-going) : “DON’T DO IT, OLD MAN—SHE' 1 EXPECT TO MARRY THAT GIRL OVER THERE. LL WIND YOU RIGHT AROUND HER LITTLE FINGER.” comicbooks.com