IMMIGRATION AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH. 



BY ALLAN McLAUQHLIN. 



[Allan McTiaughlin, surgoon, has made an exhaustive study of the relation of immi- 

 pration to the })ul)lic health, and for the purpose of his research has madt^ thorough 

 investigations into the diseases of immigrants, and their spread in the congested dis- 

 tricts of the great cities. His work along this line has attracted wide attention among 

 the medical profession, public officials and charity workers.] 



The popular belief that immigration constitutes a menace 

 to the public health is not without foundation. Newspapers 

 and magazines contain graphic accounts of the squalor and 

 insanitary conditions of the tenement districts of our great 

 cities. Recent newspaper reports and comments upon the 

 remarkable spread of trachoma in the public schools of New 

 York and other great cities add to the popular feeling of dis- 

 trust, and the opinion is gaining ground everywhere that more 

 stringent means must be devised for keeping out the unde- 

 sirable class of immigrants which augments the frightfully 

 overcrowded population of the tenement district of New York 

 and other large cities. 



In the consideration of danger to the public health from 

 immigration, three factors must be taken into account: (1) 

 The physique of the immigrant; (2) his destination, and (3) 

 the presence or absence of communicable disease. 



The first mentioned, the physique of the immigrant, is by 

 far the most important factor. Good physique was much 

 more general among immigrants a quarter of a century ago 

 than among the immigrants of to-day. The bulk of the im- 

 migrants previous to 1880 came from the sturdy races of north- 

 ern and western Europe, and not only was good physique the 

 rule, but loathsome, communicable or contagious disease was 

 extremely rare. The immigration from Ireland, Germany 

 and the Scandinavian countries is insignificant to-day com- 

 pared with the thousands of Slavs, Italians, Hebrews and other 

 immigrants from southern or eastern Europe, which now crowd 

 American-bound vessels and pour through the ports of this 

 country in an ever increasing stream. 



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