floor, in all places that contained provisions, with a 4-inch capping on the soft walls extending 2 feet into the ground and upward above the floor level. For warehouses and wholesale groceries, this capping extended upward 4 feet. For smaller groceries, restaurants, and similar places where the walls were always exposed to view, the facing was required to be of only 1 foot in height. In this way, should a rat escape from a hole above the capping and descend to the floor it could not regain its former abode. Likewise, any rat hole well up from the floor level could be easily seen and closed, whereas lower down it might escape notice. The heavy facing also protected the walls at the lower points where heavy articles of merchandise would most frequently break a veneer of cement or lime mortar and give entrance to a rodent. This capping provoked some opposition. Many of the people could not understand that mere breadth of the wall was no bar to ingress of rodents, but on the contrary furnished increased rat harborage. The very evidence of rat holes seldom seemed to offset the argument that the walls had withstood earthquake shocks and the onslaught of time, and consequently ought to exclude rats. With few exceptions, however, the majority of owners obeyed instructions for rat proofing with alacrity and good will. This district includes the docks, the large warehouses, and some dwellings. It lies along the water front. The San Juan docks are known as Pier 1, Pier 2, "Old Quartermaster's Dock," and San Antonio Dock. The two former are constructed as piers. The outer end, where ships lie alongside and discharge cargo, has reenforced concrete floor, protected by galvanized-iron roof and walls. At the end adjoining the shore are located the offices, extending the width of the dock on each side of the entrance. In making these two docks rat proof the doors were so repaired as to fit tightly and were required to be closed at night. The wooden floors of the offices were replaced by concrete, and the double walls were rat proofed by concrete filling at the bottom and heavy timbers at the top. The side of the dock connected with the land was made impervious to the passage of rats by increasing the depth of the walls by a 2-foot concrete foundation. At the juncture of the dock with the land a V-shaped piece of sheet iron extended outward over the water on both sides of the dock, so that a rat could not gain access to the dock by running along the sides. In addition to this the dock space was required to be cleared of all cargo once a week. The San Antonio Dock presented a different problem. It comprised a very large area of newly made land that, constantly settling, prevented the laying of any concrete floors. It had a galvanized-iron roof and walls, with the bare earth as floor. This place was rat proofed by a marginal wall of concrete on all sides. On the interior the floor space was divided into some 16 compartments, separated by galvanized-iron partitions sunk 2 feet into the ground and extending upward 4 feet. One compartment is required to be cleared of cargo once in two weeks. At such times the transfer of cargo is effected between sunrise and sunset, so that any rats, if present, penned in by the iron walls can not escape, and are caught and killed. This procedure serves not only to catch any rodents that are present, but is an ever-present índication of the degree of rat population in that place. The old Quartermaster's Dock has been partly abandoned, being chiefly used in the sugar season when ships come alongside to be loaded with that commodity. Being in disuse in July, the entire plank flooring was removed, leaving the bare ground. Subsequently the railroad company built concrete walls and floor. All warehouses in the Marina were compelled to put in concrete floor and walls; indeed, on account of the proximity to the docks and the water front, all buildings in this district, whether warehouses and stores, markets or dwellings, were required to have concrete floor and walls. La Perla.-This collection of small hovels was situated below the walls of the old city near the municipal slaughterhouse. Five cases of plague occurred there. With the exception of two or three food depots, rat proofing was accomplished by elevation. The food depots were treated as elsewhere. Food depots... TABLE I.-San Juan (old city), La Perla, and La Marina. Piers and wharves. 203 4 735 125 8 1,075 NOTE. Of the amount spent on rat proofing in the old city, $100,000 represents reconstructions on a large scale, far exceeding in magnitude the rat-proofing repairs ordered, though embracing them. Puerta de Tierra.-This barrio of the municipality is separated from the old city by a quarter of a mile of unbuilt-upon land except for one or two buildings belonging to the railroad company. For the most part this district is populated by a class of people totally indifferent to every law of hygiene. They live, as a rule, in squalor, and the premises, even at this date, are with difficulty kept free from garbage. Before the epidemic this was not attempted. Frame dwellings prevail in Puerta de Tierra, though there are three or four brick buildings, and since the rat proofing has been in progress several concrete structures have been erected. This section can be divided for purposes of description into the northern and southern part. The former stretches along the municipal highway known as the Carretera and along San Agustin Street. Practically all cases in Puerta de Tierra were along San Agustin Street. The congestion of houses in Puerta de Tierra is very great and frame tenements abound. Facing San Agustin the majority of buildings are food depots. These were required to have concrete floors and walls. On the first appearance of the epidemic, employees of the police and sanitary departments destroyed 50 houses. What made house raising difficult in the early days of the epidemic was the fact that there were practically no jacks in San Juan. In July, the Porto Rico Railway, Light & Power Co. loaned a few jacks to this office, and these were turned over to the poor people in these subbarrios, who raised their own houses. Altogether, there were 441 houses raised in this manner. Most of the stables were located in Puerta de Tierra. These structures in Porto Rico consist only of the floor and the roof, with supporting timbers, so it was not practicable to make them inaccessible to rodents. They were required, however, to have a concrete floor protected by side walls 2 feet in depth, the crib to stand well removed from all uprights, with a flare from below upward and covered on the outer side by galvanized iron. All grain was required to be kept in rat-proof boxes or houses. It may be stated that in Porto Rico stables were found not to be the rat harbors they are in San Francisco, possibly for the reason that grass is chiefly used as feed, with very little grain. In Puerta de Tierra the worst rat harbors, especially the food depots and many of the dwellings, were completely rat proofed by the latter part of July and early August. This work was practically all finished and Puerta de Tierra rat proof in September, though many small items of the work and repairs were not completed until November. The insular sanitation service maintained a special force of men in Puerto de Tierra, who kept the streets and premises clean of refuse and garbage, a very great help to the rat-trapping force. In all Puerta de Tierra there were 1,127 buildings; 848 of these were rat proofed, the others no requiring such measures. Table II gives classification of buildings, with nature and cost of same: Dwellings considered rat proof by reason of elevated construction....... Total (cost $80,487.27).. SANTURCE. With the exception of several small subbarrios, Santurce is the better residence part of the city. It contains comparatively few food depots such as groceries, markets, bakeries, etc., and the dwellings are well kept, the householders keeping their premises clean and free from garbage and refuse. Fourteen cases of human plague developed in Santurce, and 12 infected rats were caught. Subbarrios Gandul, Alto del Cabro, Minilla, Melilla, and Campo Alegre contain many small shacks similar to those in south Puerta de Tierra. Fortunately in these places the ground was very marshy or sandy—a light shifting sand that prevents the rodents from burrowing. Both of these factors made for low rat population, with the subsequent facilitation of plague eradicative measures. Table III gives classification of buildings, rat-proofing procedure, and cost. In the outskirts of Santurce were several districts known as Machuchal, Chicharo, and Seboruco. There were a number of shacks in these parts without floors and with thatched roofs. As much for general sanitation as for plague considerations, the owners were required to replace the straw roof by galvanized iron and build an elevated floor. About 100 of these structures were so treated. Dwellings considered rat proof by reason of an elevated construction. Total.... 142 2,961 28 39 3, 170 142 219 622 28 39 1,050 1,869 251 3, 170 NOTE.-The 251 dwellings listed "noncompliant" were so recorded because they had less elevation than that required by the rat-proofing law. Most of them had some elevation, and very few furnish potential rat harborage. RAT PROOFING PUBLIC BUILDINGS. The rat proofing of public buildings was given the same attention as private property. The interested cooperation of the different insular and Federal Government officials served to effect the rat proofing of most of the Government constructions where the procedure was needed. Under the direction of the collector of customs the customs service expended $3,092.84 in making the San Juan_customs warehouses and property rat proof. Authorization was obtained from the Treasury Department for the expenditure of $10,380.71 in rat-proofing property of the customs service in Ponce, Mayaguez, and the other Porto Rican ports. The War Department authorized rat-proofing work, chiefly in the nature of concrete stables, to the amount of $5,000 exclusive of the labor involved. By reason of the active interest of the Governor of Porto Rico, the insular Government expended $7,758.48 on rat-proofing work. The repairs to several Government buildings are still pending because of the expected transfer of authority from the Federal to the insular Government. The rat proofing of several parts of the old fortification walls around San Juan has been the cause of more or less correspondence between San Juan and Washington. It is probable that the work will eventually be done. LEGAL PROCEDURES. While the great majority of people complied with the rat-proofing requirements as soon as ordered, it was necessary to refer some cases to court. As usual, these transgressors were chiefly among the landlord class, the ones who could best afford the expenditure. Some of the defendants were fined, the amounts varying from $10 to $100; others discharged by request because of having complied before trial. The city and district courts of Porto Rico, on account of the vigor with which the judges administered the law, gave very great aid to service operations, and the ratproofing work was greatly expedited by the efficient and energetic way the cases were prosecuted by the attorney general and his assistants. In all, 166 cases were referred to court with satisfactory results. INSPECTION OF INLAND-BOUND FREIGHT. Inspectors were stationed at various points in San Juan, so that all merchandise bound for interior points of the island could be inspected and examined or fumigated. These inspection stations were at the railroad freight warehouses, the docks, the ferry station, the express office, and the exit of the highway from San Juan. All articles that could harbor a rat were either unpacked or were subjected to a sulphur fumigation. This last-named procedure was practiced exclusively at the railroad warehouse, where a large sulphur fumigation chamber was built. All cars leaving San Juan were inspected and required to be rat proof before being used. All dead spaces such as existed between double planking were made tight and inaccessible to rodents. Breaks in car floors or in the side walls were repaired, and windows were made rat proof. All cars when loaded, or if partially loaded and left standing on track over night, were sealed by an inspector. Because of the difficulty in obtaining reliable employees for this inspection work, and the urgency of seeing that different branches of the organization effectively performed their duties, one point at which supervision should have been instituted without loss of time was neglected. The inspector for cars at the San Antonio Dock and surrounding freight yard was not put on duty till July 15. This unfortunate omission may have been responsible for the infection of the Dorado case and the transportation of plague infection to Arecibo. The facts bearing on this possibility will be referred to later on. This supervision of freight was discontinued December 1. Altogether 57 rodents were taken from merchandise. Those that were probably killed by fumigation and remained within the packages might have increased the sum total. To estimate the efficiency of this inspection, the director of sanitation was requested, in October, to make inquiry of the different island health officers as to rodent infestation of freight coming from San Juan. Though several replies stated that rodents had been observed in freight and in cars from San Juan before and during the first days of the epidemic, none had been seen since initiation of inspection. The notice of rats escaping from cars in the first part of the epidemic was mentioned with some emphasis in the town of Caguas. The total number of pieces of freight inspected up to December 1 was 397,708. This embraced those that were repacked by the inspection force. The number of cars inspected was 2,683; number of pieces of freight fumigated, 15,620. Rodents taken from merchandise.... TABLE IV. Oxcarts carrying inland-bound freight inspected. Pieces of freight fumigated.. Pieces of freight inspected (including those repacked). 57 2,683 6, 075 15, 620 397,708 TRAPPING AND POISONING OF RODENTS. As soon as the service plan of organization was decided upon, it was ascertained that the local market at most could supply but slightly over 100 traps. A cable order was sent to the States for 1,500 snap traps and 1,500 cage traps of a selected pattern. In the meantime the entire local supply was purchased. In all, about 2,500 traps were assigned to San Juan, it being considered that each trapper could attend to 60 traps. Later on this number was increased to 9,000 traps. Four or five thousand were sent to different points outside of San Juan. The method of trapping did not differ from service methods used in San Francisco. For this part of eradicative work the municipality was divided into 10 districts, one foreman and four men being assigned to each. Later on, as rats became scarce, additional foremen were employed, one foreman to two trappers. Each trapper was paid a bounty for each rat caught in addition to his salary. In certain parts of the estuaries bordering on Puerta de Tierra and Santurce rats make nests, live and breed, in the swamp shrubbery known as the "mangle. When the tide recedes the rats make widespread excursions in search of food, returning to their nests, or the branches of the shrubbery, when the tide is flooding. To destroy these rats, not only were traps and poison used, but some of the employees also used rifles, going out in boats at high tide. Where possible the shrubbery was cut down. In the first week of July in the entire city 72 rats were captured, a daily catch of about 10; in the second week, 294, a daily average of 42. The number increased daily up to the latter part of July, when on July 28 the maximum catch was attained-178 rodents. A diminution in the rat catch commenced the first week in August and continued steadily, so that in September it had dropped to about half; in October and November it had fallen to one-fifth, the daily average for the week November 1 to 7 being 28. The lowering of the rat population was effected by the combined rat catching and poisoning, the success of which was due to rat proofing. The steady decrease in captured rodents was most marked in Puerta de Tierra, where earliest and most careful attention was given to rat proofing. A separate record for each district was not commenced until July 10. In the week July 10 to 16, 95 rats were trapped in Puerta de Tierra. During the last week in July the catch for this district was 205. On September 11, when the rat catch in Puerta de Tierra had fallen to 22 per cent of the July maximum, the last two infected rodents were trapped in that barrio. This decrease is all the more accentuated by the fact that the trappers were week by week becoming more experienced, the number of foremen in September being doubled so that the supervision was more strict, and the rat bounty was increased from 5 to 10 cents, with an offer of $1 for any infected rat taken. All these factors would naturally operate to case an increase in the number of rats trapped, so that from a comparati ve estimate it would seem that the percentage of reduction was really greater than is indicated by the actual number of rodents caught. The last case of plague in the municipality occurred on September 13, when the daily rat catch in the entire city had fallen to 50 per cent of the earlier maximum catch. Between the early morning hours, when the trappers turned in their catch, and the afternoon hours, when the traps were baited, the men distributed poison. Arsenic and phosphorus poisons made in the insular chemical laboratory were used. Six hundred pounds of poison were thus distributed between July 1 and January 1. Passed Asst. Surg. R. H. Creel, who was in charge of plague suppressive measures in Porto Rico, submits the following report: ERADICATIVE MEASURES OUTSIDE OF SAN JUAN. Carolina.-In the latter part of June human plague cases occurred in the town of Carolina, a small village about 14 miles from San Juan. On June 26 a case, clinically positive, was reported. The patient died on June 27. On June 28 another death from plague occurred in the barrio of Loiza, some 3 or 4 miles distant from Carolina, on the side of town opposite from San Juan. The residence in which he had developed symptoms and died was a small shack out on the hills, well elevated and far removed from other habitations. Investigation revealed the fact that the man had been in Carolina overnight on June 22 and had slept in a house where subsequently case 3, Carolina," developed its infection. This case was confirmed by animal inoculation July 5. The third and last case of plague in Carolina sickened July 16, died on July 18, and was bacteriologically confirmed on July 18. In all, 7 infected rats were taken from Carolina out of a total 350 examined. The local health officer in Carolina, pursuant to orders from the director of sanitation, immediately attended to the mechanical cleaning of the town, removal of rub |