11 SEPTEMBER 1920, Page 3

The task of dealing with the plague has been entrusted

by the League of Nations to the Red Cross Societies, with Sir David Henderson as Director-General. The Red Cross intends to establish twenty-four more quarantine stations and hospitals with thirty thousand beds, and to send five hundred parties to undertake " a general cleansing campaign." The work is expected to cost £3,250,000, and the Imperial War Relief Fund, at Fishmongers' Hall, is appealing for voluntary subscriptions to further this admirable effort. To illustrate the gravity of the danger, it is stated that in Poland last year there were 231,000 notified cases of typhus, while in the first four months of this year there were nearly 88,000, so that the epidemic is gaining strength. America requires all passengers from countries east of Switzerland to undergo strict quarantine at Cherbourg before crossing the Atlantic. If America feels insecure, we must not count upon our insularity to keep us immune from the modern Black Death. The barriers further east must be strengthened without delay.