05/14/2020
From Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton) and Lieutenant Governor Coolidge on the 1918 flu
Throwback Thursday: Coolidge Proclamation on the influenza epidemic from September 1918. Full text from the Daily Hampshire Gazette article below, but first, a little context.
Massachusetts was a hot spot in the early days of the second wave of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918, with the first cases appearing August 27th at Commonwealth Pier in Boston. World War 1 was in its final stages and Commonwealth Pier held a crowded barracks of some 7,000 sailors and had regular ship arrivals from Brest, France where the flu had erupted on August 22. By September, dozens of recruits with flu symptoms started appearing in training camps and the first cases began to appear in Boston’s civilian population. The same day as this Sept. 25th proclamation from Lieut. Gov. Coolidge, 66 deaths from influenza were announced at Camp Devens, with 6000 cases under treatment. Boston had 105 deaths, and it was announced that many smaller cities and towns were beginning to close their schools and theaters. In the following days, Coolidge appealed via telegraph to the President on behalf of 4 New England states for assistance. Northampton had a total of 131 reported cases that week, with 60 reported cases at Clarke School and 20 at Smith College.
Northampton closed its schools for a total of 7 weeks. The Gazette reported that the decisive action to close schools, churches and entertainment early spared the city of some of the higher rates of infection in other Western Mass communities.
(the following as printed in the Daily Hampshire Gazette September 25, 1918)
Lieut. Gov. Coolidge Calls Upon the Citizens of the State to Aid in Checking the Epidemic
Boston, Sept. 25 --
The seriousness of the epidemic of influenza in this state was emphasized in a proclamation issued from the Governor’s office last night, suggesting various measures for meeting the situation. Gov. McCall, who is out of the state, was in communication yesterday with the health commissioner, the surgeon-general and the Massachusetts Committee of Public Safety. The proclamation, which is signed by Lieut. Gov Calvin Coolidge says in part:
“The commonwealth is suffering from an epidemic of influenza which prevails in a large number of our communities with such a degree of virulence that the public safety is seriously threatened. I am informed by the commissioner of health and the surgeon-general that the present emergency demands immediate action, and that our citizens should be made aware of the situation. The medical and nursing resources of the state have been seriously depleted by the many calls for military service, and for this reason we are unable to receive material assistance from other sections of the country.
I most strongly urge that the public authorities release nurses engaged in work not at this time pressing and that householders dispense all non-emergency service, to the end that additional nurses may be available for the more serious cases of influenza. It is earnestly requested that everyone who has had medical or nursing experience, or who can assist in any way, communicate with the commissioner of health at the state house, so that he will have information to enable him to mobilize the entire medical and nursing resources of the commonwealth. It is suggested that cities and towns so far as possible co-ordinate, under a single executive, the hospital, medical and nursing facilities within their borders.
I would suggest that the fuel administration throughout the commonwealth consider revising the existing orders pertaining to the utilization of coal, so that the public health may be protected in this emergency.
In those communities where the disease prevails to an alarming extent, I earnestly urge the authorities to seriously consider the advisability of closing the public, primary, and parochial schools, places of amusement, churches and all places where people gather in considerable numbers. The greatest precaution should also be taken in buildings where our citizens gather to labor, for refreshment, or social intercourse, and in the steam and street cars. If we shall use the utmost care, avoid needless exposure, follow painstakingly the advice which will be issued from time to time regarding the conduct of the public, the epidemic will be short lived, its spread to other states prevented and scores of our own people saved from the ravages of disease.”
Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library & Museum at Forbes Library, the public library for the city of Northampton, Massachusetts.
