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How Street Car Overcrowding Spreads Disease
“Pneumonia and Consumption Are Most Easily Contracted When You Are
Squeezed Face to Face in the Moist, Warm Air of a Crowded Car Through
the ‘Droplet’ or ‘Spray’ Infection,” Health Commissioner Goldwater Explains
\
T HE Health Commissioner of New York,
Dr. S. S. Goldwater, has attacked the
evil of subway overcrowding from a new
point of view.
He declares that the overcrowding Is endan
gering public health by spreading contagious
^Jfkdly disease germs and that It Is the duty of
'lie Health Department to stop It.
Dr. Goldwater was requested by this news-
■iaper to explain Just how, in his opinion, the
rapid transit corporations were cultivating and
. disseminating pestilential germs, and how
' the evil could be remedied. In a lengthy
interview he has dealt with every phase of
this question, which concerns the health of
every New Yorker so closely.
“In the first place," said the Commissioner,
. I want to Impress on the people of New York
,u iat the willful and unn^pessary overcrowding
W the subway cars Is one of the most danger
ous causes of disease and mortality that we
have to face. The cars are erellberately over
crowded for profit. It Is our belief that the
vitality of persons who ride In overcrowded
ind poorly ventilated cars Is Injuriously af-
ected; that the breathing, coughing and sneez-
ug of persons who are packed together result
n the .transmission of diseases by means of
he so-caJled ‘droplet’ Infection.
3ver-Crowding of Cars
Willfully Caused.
' “I speak of the subway because It Is con
venient to concentrate one’s attention on one
line, but the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Is, if any
thing, a worse offender, and there are others.
.The overcrowding of the Fifty-ninth street
crosstown line at theatre time is scandalous
and entirely unnacessary. There Is no doubt
that the cars are unnecessarily overcrowded,
for Commissioner Maltble, one of the Public
8ervice Commission, that has charge of the
comfort of railway passengers, makes this re
port to me:
’’ 'Investigation of the subway service in non-
•v^h hours, made at my request during the past
few weeks, shows that cars were crowded when
more trains could have been run, that the
orders of the commission were constantly vio
lated and that the numerous complaints re
’Heed regarding Inadequate service were
jrgely Justified. During rush hours the Inter-
inmgh company claims to be operating trains
ji the maximum capacity of the lines, and no
uore can he expected. But there is no ex-
.'use for constant crowding of the cars at non-
sh hours, and for continual failure to comply
ith the orders of the commission. Under pres
it conditions. passengers must be Indecently
"oiV'lod certain hours, hut because they are
?customed to it is no reason why they should
4^ .impelled to hang on straps when It Is not
M -pessary. *
" 'A recent tally by the transportation de-
81:partment of the commission, taken at the
uety-sixth street station on one Saturday
gdg'il and Sunday morning between 11:20V>. jn.
id 1:40 a. m„ shows that the northbound
Nils had standing passdngers In every period
w ’ weiity minutes except one. At another time
loWre were standing passengers from 10:40
. born- to 1:40 a. m. Upon a recent Sunday nlgnt
the rp was overloading from 9:20 p. m. to mid
it. Another count showed congestion from
R 'Pi to 6:20 p. m. on Sunday.’
^These are not Isolated cases, and If the com-
Sf; lission had a sufficient number of Inspectors
j count the passengers at all hours for the
' -hole system similar conditions would doubt-
- >ss be found at ether places and at other times,
!’ .idglng from the complaints received."
Measures to Be
Taken Against the Evil,
i "Just how do you propose to remedy the dis
semination of disease through car overcrowd
ing?” enquired the writer.
"At present what we demand Is that the sub
way should run enough cars to prevent over
crowding at the hours when It is able to do so.
As a matter of fact as soon as the rush lessens
they reduce the number of cars so as to keep
up the overcrowding. Their ambition Is to have
as many straphangers as possible. One of my
visitors the other day noted that the subway
provided two straps for every seat, and that
there were twenty-five passengers on the plat
form. where there should have been none. Our
| requirements amount practically to saying that
the subway should run the largest possible num-
! her of trains of the maximum length all day
long. This they certainly ought to do to mini
mize a danger that Is causing a great loss of
life In New York.
”1 am now waiting for the Public Service
Commission to act, for it is obviously their duty
to act Ural. If It fails, the Health Department
will take energetic action. I should not hesi
tate If necessary to take control of the offend
ing roads and ftfree them to protect public
health. It may he necessary to adopt an appro
priate amendment,to the Sanitary Code to meet
the emergency.
"The Health Department has very great
powers, but we realize that we cannot Interfere
with popular convenience. We do not feel we
can go down into the subway and say, ‘You
may go into this car until there are just enough
people to fill every seat, and not one more.’
That Is w.iat thoy do in Europe, but the Ameri
can desire to get somewhere Is so strong that
we mightwaise a riot. All we can flo is to de
mand tils' the c.-ndition should be relieved
when .i -5 .entirety practicable to do so.
"It is not logical that the Health Department
should pursue the individual citizen and forbid
him to spit on the floor of a car when no public
official raises his hand to prevent him spraying
into his neighbor’s face at close range the very
bacteria which are forbidden to be distributed
on the floor of a car.”
“Will you please explain simply, doctor. Just
why the danger of disease Infection Is so much
greater in an overcrowded car than in an ordi
nary car?’’
"The reason is that the Infection carried in
moist, warm breath from one person to another
a few Inches away is Infinitely the most dan
gerous kind of Infection," replied Commis
sioner Goldwater. "That, of course, Is the kind
. of Infection to which you are exposed when
you are squeezed face to face with another
person In the subway. This Is often called
’droplet’ or ’spray’ infection.
"Professor Fluegge, of Breslau, In 1890 first
showed that the great majority of cases of
tuberculosis were duo to spray Infection com
ing directly from the mouth of a diseased per
son. The moist, warm spray coming from the
mouth of a tuberculous person Is loaded with
germs to an enormous degree and all in the
highest slate of virulence. The closer you are
lo a person the heavier is the load of infec
tion, and therefore the greater the risk of in
fection. Hence the extreme danget of being
crowded against a tuberculous Bufferer in the
subway.
“Previously medical men laid much stress
on the risk of infection from germs that fell to
the ground and dried and were then blown
about by the wind. But we have now found
that many deadly^ germs lose their virulence
and even die soon after they fall to the ground
and dry up. Medical research has proved
more and more that the most dangerous cause
of infection in many diseases In by the spray
method. That Is why the health department of
every great city must consider overcrowding
■M
fc 4 \Wi
Health Commissioner S. S. Goldwater, of New York.
do not show the full Infections to which you
are exposed. We are pow remedying this omis
sion, and the Department Is catching specimens
of the most deadly germ streams In the cars.
“Dr. George A. Soper, the civil engineer whom
I just mentioned, published an Interesting work
called 'Air and Ventilation of Subways,’ In
which he gives the results of an exhaustive
series of experiments in this subject. Dr. Soper
publishes Interesting tables showing exactly
how the proportion of carbon dioxide in the sub
way varies with the amount of trafflo. His ob
servations, however, were mostly made at the
stations, doubtless on account of the difficulty
of making them in cars. •
"Dr. Soper does not specify the kinds of bac
teria he found In subway air, but it Is evident
that the pneumococcus was among them. He
mentions special studies which he made of the
length of life of the pneumococcus In the sub
way.* The pneumococcus was found capable of
retaining Its virulence In dried sputum In the
subway for twenty-three hours. This Is in
marked contrast to the findings of others who
have reported that the pneumococcus was killed
in sunlight in four Hours.
"The average numbers of bacteria which set
tled from the air in fifteen minutes were, In the
subway, 600; outside, 1,157.
"The average number of bacteria found by
filtering the air was 3,200 per cubic meter in
the subway and 6,600 on the streets.
“Dr. Soper noted that the proprietary disin
fectants used In the toilet rooms bad no germi
cidal or deodorizing value. Furthermore, they
produced counter odors of a peculiarly unpleas
ant character.
"In his summary of results he shows that
the numbers of bacteria recovered from the
dust of the subway averaged 500,000 per gram.
Testing the Disease-Laden Cars of the New York Subway
i.
Interesting Diagrams Showing How the Amount of
Poisonous Carbon Dioxide in the New York Sub
way Varied with the Season and Amount of Traffic.
Colonies of Bacteria, Including Disease Germs, Grown
on a Plate Exposed to the Air for Fifteen Min-
-utes at the Grand Central Subway Station
Air Pump, Sand Filters and Other Apparatus used by
‘ Ana'
Dr. Soper for Bacteriological Analysis
of New York Subway Air.
These Pictures Are from "The Air and Ventilation of Subways,” by George A.
Soper, Ph.D. Published by John Wiley and Sons, New York.
In cars as one of the moat serious forms of dis
ease distribution.”
"Can you prove that dangerouB germs are
present In large quantities In subway air?”
"Oh, yes,” said the commissioner with confi
dence. "Examinations of the subway air con
ducted by Dr. William H. Park, director of our
bacteriological laboratories, and also by
George Soper, the well-known engineer, have
demonstrated the presence of vast quantities
of germs, but we can measure the danger even
better In other ways. /
"The greatest danger of all lies In the dis
semination of the pneumonia germ. Investiga
tions by the Health Department have shown
that the pneumonia germ, the pneumococcus,
is present in the throats of 90 per cent of per
sons of all classes, whether suffering from
pneumonia or not. It is hardly necessary to
say that this proportion is well represented
among the citizens you meet In the subway.
These figures show that nine out of every ten
persons you find riding there have this germ
in the mouths, noses or throats. When they
breathe, cough or sneeze they spray out the
"germs all about them.
“The pneumococcus is the cause of many
diseases besides pneumonia. It Is the cause of
obstinate colds, meningitis, sinus abscesses of
the nasal passages, abscesses that cause per
foration of the eardrum, and other troubles.
When the germ is blown Into the eye it some
times produces an inflammation that may
cause blindness.
"Of course you know that this Is the season
when pneumonia begins to Increase.”
"Can you prove that subway overcrowding Is
the cause of many cases of pneumonia?’’ asked
the interviewer.
"We can prove it very clearly on general
grounds.” said Commissioner Goldwater. “It
would not help much to prove that such and
such a person traced his pneumonia to a ride
In the subway, because that would not show
the enormous number that get the disease In
that way. 1 have shown that practically every
body is spraying out the germs. The death
rate from respiratory diseases is stationary.
With our improvements In treatment in many
directions it should show a decrease, and we
must believe that such conditions as the sub
way are responsible for keeping it nip. Lobar
and bronchial pneumonia caused 10,000 out of
74,000 deaths In New York In the last recorded
year. It stood higher as a cause of death than
tuberculosis, which was responsible for 8,6b0
deaths.”
“Has the Health Department taken specimens
of subway air to prove the quantity and kind
of dangerous disease germs that are present in
it at various times?”
"Yes,” said the commissioner, “our own
laboratories and others have caught specimens
of subway air and counted the germs In them,
but they did not realize the practicability and
importance of catching the spray of infection
just as it flies from the mouth of a person
These specimens have nearly all been taken
at stations, or in more or less empty cars. They
"The largest number of bacteria found by
Dr. Soper in subway dust was 2,000,000 per
gram. Still greater numbers, he believes, could
have been found by collecting specimens of
dust with this object.
"His comparisons with numbers of bacteria
found In other places are interesting. Dust In
a Broadway theatre contained 270,000 bacteria
per gram; in a new and fashionable notel,
360,000 bacteria; In a well-known Fifth avenue
church 3-20,000 bacteria; in a tall office building,
860,000 bacteria, and in the attic of a country
house one hundred and fifty years old, 110,000
bacteria.
"Even this investigator, who was at one
time retained by the Interborough Rapid
Transit Company, says: ‘It is practioally cer
tain when great crowds are packed together, as
they often were In some stations and most cars,
that dangerous bacteria are at least occasion
ally transmitted from person .to person. An
obvious feature of this danger lies in the fact
that people talk, cough and sneeze Into one
G.
K. Chesterton Would Revise Socialism’s A
leanii
igless Speed
1
By G. K. Chesterton,
The Distinguished English Essayist.
I F the Socialists desire, as many of them do
most sincerely desire, to cure some of the
cruel unfairness of our social chaos, I beg
them. I embrace their knees and Implore them,
not to be such prigs. The war in which they
ought to be engaged is a war about bread
and blood and sleep and death—a war of mon
osyllables.
There will not be a crust more bread In a
poor man's house, or a penny more In a poor
man’s bank, or another vote given independ
ently, or another blow struck for freedom so
long as Socialists UBe expressions like "The
international solidarity of the class-conscious
proletariat." A literary style like that would
have sent the stormers of the Bastile to sleep
standing at their guns, and turned every cap
of liberty into a nightcap. Nor does 'the ex
pression express even awkwardly any reality
of this earth. It is a cheap pretense of sci
ence; but there is not even science inside It.
Men who work with their hands hate each
other, or love each other, or fear each other,
or pity each other, or are indifferent ter each
other. But standing still In the middle of the
street and feeling internationally solid is a
sensation as inconceivable to a workman as It
Is to me. I do not mean that the workmen
of one country could not applaud or even assist
the workmen of another in some battle
against oppression. I think it is very probable
that they might, if these frost-bitten profes
sors of polvsyllabism would only put the thing
the right way.
If the poor of one country thought about the
poor of another they would think of them as
people of that country. The International sym
pathy would be a national Sympathy, and,
therefore, not a cosmopolitan one. An English
laborer would not say : "The proletarian prob
lem Is very acute In Poland.” He would say:
“I think it’s a great shame the way those poor
Poles are treated.” He would not say: “The
proletarian programme Is hopeful in the de
partment of the Seine.” He would say: "X
hope those French strikers will win.” He would
not say: “The proletarian victory under the
Prussian electoral system Is somewhat unex
pected.” He would say: “Golly; there’s some
thing In those German sausages, after all.”
The working man thinks In terms of nation
ality, being a healthy man. To prefer one’s
own habits, home, tastes and memories to
widely different ones; to be surprised, agree
ably or otherwise, at the sight of widely dif
ferent ones; to prefer the familiar, even if you
admire the unfamiliar—this Is as much one of
the Rights of Man as bread Itself. You will
never get any strong or simple men anywhere
to see that a man is a voter before they see
that he is a Chinaman; or to recognize a man
as a delegate before they recognize him as a
nigger. You will never persuade men close to
such a reality as manual labor to think only
of the ticket In a man’s pocket, and never of
the hat on his head, or the boots on his feet,
or the hair on his face, or the tongue In his
mouth. You certainly cannot do it by using
one material metaphor Which is manifestly
contrary to the facts, and talking about “sol
idarity” as if we were all born stuck together
with glue.
another's faoea at ertremoly short rase* ondw
such circumstances.’
“Soper also mode a study of the smells In
the subway, which he found to be very num
erous and powerful. He says ‘odors of prac
tically every character connected with human
existence were noticeable. When people are
.crowded so closely together that their breath
and other body odors are offensive, there Is
always danger that disease may be trans
mitted from one to another.’ ”
“What are the other principal diseases be
sides pneumonia disseminated by overcrowd lit*
of cars. Commissioner?”
How We Are Forced
Into Contact with Tuberculosis.
"Tuberouloals Is one of them,” replied the
commissioner. "We know that there ere at
least 30,000 persons walking about New York
suffering from tuberculosis and we know that a
certain proportion of them must be riding In
the subway. The Health Department register
this year showed 30,222 suffering from the die-
ease, of whom about 21,000 were up and about.
In addition, there must be at least 10/100 suf
ferers not registered.
“Of course a great many persons carry the
tuberculosis germ In whom the disease has not
yet been recognized. Dr. Jones, of New York,
by inoculating the nasal mucus from ordinary
persona found tubercle bacilli in eleven cases
out of thirty-one, but this seems too high a per
centage. Dr. Straus found the bacilli in nine
out of twenty-nine nurses and non-sufferers In
a tuberculosis ward, showing how widely and
quickly the germs are scattered.
"Diphtheria Is another disease which we
meat regard as liable to be spread by car
crowding. Wp have found the diphtheria
bacillus in 5 per cent of healthy school chil
dren and In 10 per cent of those not attacked
after an epidemic had occurred In thedr
school. In families where a case has oo-
curred the bacillus has been found In 14 per
cent of those not affected. This shows how
Inevitable it is that many persons must be
walking about with this germ.
"The influenza or grip germ Is even more
widely distributed and Is the cause of very
serious diseases. Dr. Lord, of Boston, found
that 60 per cent of persons with an ordinary
cough in a non-epidemic period had the in
fluenza germ In their nasal passages. Dr. Holt,
the children’s specialist, obtained the Influenza
germ in sixteen out of forty-eight healthy per
sons. Dr. Wollsteln found the Influenza germ
In sixteen out of thirty-seven cases of pneu
monia and eleven out of thirty-four cases of
bronchitis.
"Influenza Is dangerous In ttself and makes
the sufferer more subject to the attacks of
other diseases. In infancy and old age It Is
likely to be fatal.
"The meningitis germ is another that is very
widely scattered among the general popula
tion. Dr. Charles F. Bolduan, of this depart
ment, found the meningitis germ In 10 per
cent of 160 persons who had been In contact
with sufferers, and in two out of flfty-flve medi
cal students who had not been in contact with
the disease.
Beware of the
Subway Sneeze.. '
"The whooping cough germ Is another that
must be disseminated very commonly In the
Subway. In case a sufferer happens to travel
there, the peculiar cough Insures the germ
being scattered very liberally upon those In the
vicinity. But, as in other diseases, the germ
is commonly carried by those not suffering
from it.
“The act of sneezing Is a powerful aouroe
of infection In a crowded subway oar. The
Ill-bred person who sneezes without covering
his nose with his handkerchief may scatter a
perfectly terrible charge of disease germs In
the mouth, nose and eyes of those about him
"We must bear In mind that people In the
rugh hours are often in a condition that moke*
them peculiarly susceptible to the Inroads off
disease germs. This Is especially true In the
evening hours, when tired - out by a day's work,
perhaps in overheated offices, they rush Into
the overcrowded Subway. The bad ventila
tion, which must obtain under these condi
tions, produces what is called ’crowd poison
ing,’ and this is a great cause of increased
susceptibility to disease germs. If people
could take a walk in cool, fresh air at this
time of day Instead of pouring Into an over
crowded car, it would be the means of averting
many a premature death, but unfortunately this
seems Impracticable for a vast number."
"Then you do not believe that this danger
ous spreading of disease by overcrowding cars
can be stopped altogether?”
"Not for the present, as it appears to me,”
answered the Commissioner. “The only way of
ending it would be a scientific system of city
planning by which the population would be
distributed in a rational manner and not con
gested in heaps. Then the rapid transit facil
ities could be developed to fit them. For the
present I should strongly advise those who can
avoid using the Subway in the rush hou/s\to
do so and thus lessen the evil. There will
still be enormous numbers who cannot help
using it, and they will overcrowd It Even when
the new Subway Is built it will Immediately be
overcrowded.
“But we mean at least to stop that part of
this wholesale poisoning of the people which
Is quite unnecessary and attributable only to
greed.”
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