Excerpt from Maryland Medical Journal, Vol. 57: Medicine and Surgery; March, 1914

After years of struggle Baltimore is provided with 36 beds, 18 of which may be used for diphtheria and 18 for scarlet fever. Sometimes an overwhelming number of one or other of the dis eases makes it impracticable to care for more than one of the dis eases at a time. In Baltimore. In 1912, there were 950 cases of scarlet fever and 1036 cases of diphtheria. In a certain propor tion of these proper isolation could be carried out at home, but in the crowded homes of the poor and in the modern apartments the isolation of such dangerous infectious diseases is impossible. No provision whatever is made for the care of negro patients. When one considers that a very large proportion of the servants of this citv are negroes, most of whom live in small. Overcrowded houses, under the most unsanitary conditions, and that they go back and forth from their own homes, where there are frequently virulent infectious diseases, to the homes of the intelligent and educated citizens, where they are in close contact with the entire family, and especially the children, one cannot but wonder at the apathy of the average Baltimorean. It should be the duty of the health department to remove all such cases to a place where they would no longer be a danger to the community. This, of course, cannot be done unless the city provides adequate hospital accommoda tions for both white and black, and not only for the very poor, but for the well to do as well. There occur in Baltimore every year cases in boarding - houses, in hotels, in transit through the city, and the like, a great many cases of scarlet fever and diphtheria which tax to the utmost the ingenuity of those who have to deal with them. There is, with the exception of the meager accommoda tions to which I have referred, absolutely no place in which these patients can be cared for and thev are thrown upon the charity of friends or strangers.

In 1904 Dr. Rosa Engelmann of Chicago secured information concerning hospital facilities for the care of diphtheria and other contagious diseases from 25 of the largest cities in the United States. In most of these cities more or less adequate provision was made for the isolation of smallpox, just as Baltimore makes ample provision for the isolation in care of persons with this dis ease. But when it comes to other infections, which are a constant menace and which actually do much more damage than small pox, it was found that IQ of the cities made no provision what ever for the care of infectious diseases, and there were only three cities which had more than 100 beds and only five cities With more than 55.

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