New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-11-22
REMOVAL OF THE QUARANTINE.


Some two or three years ago, impressed
with the necessity Of removing the quarantine
station from its present location on Staten Island
to spot more dstsnt and less likely to prove
detrimental to the health Of the City, the Legas-
ture purchased of the General Government site
upon Sandy Hook Island for quarantine estab-
lisbment, and appropriated the sum of $4,000
for the erection of proper buildings thereon. To
enable the Commissioners of Emigration to carry
out this design, the consent Of the Legislature of
New. Jersey was requsite but inssmuch as that
august body have for many years past failed to do
anything beyond legisathg for the extension of
the Camden and Amboy interests, this consent
has not yet been accorded.
The vast number of emigrants that come to
New-York and the condition in which they ar
rive ia such as to imperativey require that all
should undergo limited quarantine. Ithas been
proved that in too many cases the emigrsnt who
was appart ntly healthy whenhe passed the health
officer, was seized with ship fever, or some other
disease, within As hours after landing. This evil
has been successfully obviated by causing pas.
seDgers who arrived in an apparently healthy
state, during the sckly season, to be brought
ashore at quarantine. their persons cleansed their
dirty clothing washed and dried, and nutritious
diet substituted for their hard sea fare This
course Of treatment has saved the City of New
York, for two years, from being flooded with
people within whose systems lurked the latent
seeds of infectious diseases ready to terminate and
spread within few hours after landing. Very
large numbers Of emigrants fall sick on their way
10 the West, from the various causes of which we
have spoken, and the counties which take care OF
them bring in an annual bill that oots up to nearly
100000 The period the development of the
latent disease in the majority of these cases,
shows that quarantine Of As hours would have
brought it out so that il might at once have been
cured.
The removal Of the quarantine to Sandy
Hook Island would serve doubly beneficial end.
BY the erection of suitable buildings every emf
grant could be landed, the sick separated from the
others, the well properly cared for and enabled to
make decent appearance, and the City saved
from the liability to infection. BY this course,
too, the emigrant might be protected from the
fraudulent operations of the army Of harpies
whose doings, in former article, we took occa-
sion to expose in detail. The Commissioners
OF Emigration, through their agents, might
ascertain from each emigrant the route he
wished to pursue, weigh his luggage and furnish
him with tickets, at the proper rates. to his deS-
tination. small additional tax upon the emf.
grant would pay for all this. The railroad and
steamboat companies, freed from the false neces-
sty of employing runners against each other,
would gladly bring the emigrants who were to go
by their several lines free from the quarantine,
in comfortable steamboats,, and send them d.
rectly upon their journey; while, the cost of en-
ployng an army of runners and bruisers being
dispensed with, they might afford passage cheaper,
or provide more comfortable accommodations.
That this plan ia the most feasible yet proposed
for the mitigation of the gross injustice prac.iced
upon Immigrants in this City by baggage-smssh-
ers, runners, boarding house keepers, forward
ers, and the legion of thieves and rufians who
batten upon their substance, and that it is well
worthy of adoption we feel assured.