New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1855-07-14
on ARANT1NE.

ia the nature Of quarantine would but look ~
l,he subjeot from = more elevated point Of view,
hey would find that such institutions have for
their object not merely the conservation Of hll-
man life, but the maintenance Of commerce and
its preservation from those suspensions and los
ses which the presence fpestilence always brings
ID its train. II this opinion Is Q correct one,
generally considered, it Is peculiarly SO as re-
CARDS New Orleans.
Our import trade with foreign nations is COM
parativaiy small That portion of it which
comes from Europe, We are chiefly indebted for
TO the wants Of that quarter of the globe for our
cotton, tobacco, breadstufs, provisions, etc., to
obtain freights of which vessels come here
chiefly in ballast, a few bringing partial car
goes or European immigrants The remain
ing, and much the more inconsiderable part of
this trade is maintained with. o few ports of the
West India Islands, one or two ports Of Mexico,
Bio Janeiro and a few other South American
ports, most Of which are, at nearly all times
and seasons, the home Of the deadly yellow
fever M
But the elements of our commercial impor-
tanoe are derived FROM very different sources.
The products Of the sixteen States and Terrific
ries wateret. by ts4o Mississippi, Missouri Ohio
and their tributaries, are brought here pre-
paratory to- their shipment to all quarters Of
the globe; while the manufactures and produce
Of the fourteen Atlantic States which are re.
quired BY the people Of the West and South
vest, reach them via this city, and furnish pro
fitable employment to the immense steamboat
interest on cur western rivers The transaction
| of these TWO great branches of our commerce.
amounting to not much less than 5000 900 600
annually seldom communicate infectious dis
eases to onrEcity. 1T is, only through theagency
81 the most ineonsiderable branch Of eur foreign
trade the value Of which is comparatively in
sgniicaIt that we are thus SO frequently
| afflicted. Yet when an.epidemic breaks out in
our midst, consigning thousand TO untimely
graves, and tens of thousands to irreparable
woe and wretchedness, our trade with the States
Of the interior and the Atlantic stops as if
STRUCK with palsy, nor does it revive from the
shock until the work of death and deselation has
terminated. sN ~
The cholera Of ls4s, 40, and the yellow
fever Of 1858 and 1854, were indisputably i'm
ported into this city. These three epidefnies
swept from existence twenty five thousand Of
our people, Frustrated all business during their
continuance, and left behind them effects which
are still visible in q diminished population, q
|sdepreeiation in the value Of property, and a
general dependency as to the future. Now.
certain as ii Is that these epidemios originated
abroad, it Is to our mind no less certain that
they could have been kept out Of this city, and
consequently out Of the country above and
around US, through the agency Of faithfully
administered quarantine. Calculate the amount
Of all the expenses that 3 quarantine would in
iict on the commerce Of this city for fifty years,
and they would not form one hundredth part 81
the loss which it sustained in money alone by
these three epidernics a
The origin and spread of the apidemics refer
red to, had the effect of convincing the people Of
this State Of the expediency Of adopting those
precautions against the transmission of pesti-
lential diseases which are universally practiced
elsewhere Hence the quarantine law Of the
last Legislature. But no sooner is this law put
into operation than that combination Of inter
ests and prejudices which, for the last thirty
two years, has prevented New Orleans from
ayailing herself Of thepower granted her by the
State toprotect her people from the introduction
Of foreign disease is arousedinto hostile action.
And now, because the public safety requires
the detention, Of from one to ten days, of vessels
from ports whereyellow fever incidentally exists,
weiare told that the first oct Of the next Legis-
nature must be the abrogation Of the quarantine
system.
The active and influential .fesp may feel CON
fdent that, as on all similar occasions in. this
misruleda and unfortunate city. thepaasiye many
will INCREASINGLY allow their name and author
ity to be.used to their own injury; but, fortu-
nately for the people here and elsewhere above
us, thequestion as to the future existence or non
exstenceo Of the quarantine system is to be deter
mined By the State. In common with ourselves,
thespeople Of the country parishes have suffered
from pestiienee but unlike US, they have not
been deluded OF mystifed as to its origin. Nor
issit the people.of this State only who are in.
terested in this question. Mississippi, Tennessee
anu Arkansas, will be heard in relation To q
quarantine here: their interest in which NAV
pc estimated by the losses they have SO fire.
quentiy sustained from the wans Of one, True,
the people Of these States can invoke no law to
enforce their opinions on the subject But they
have those potent claims upon our respect and
consideration which. result from their being our
best customers The population and productions
of these States are rapidly increasing, already
the losemotiyesis approaching their doors from
various quarters, inviting their business. Ex-
tcept through the agency Of the ausraatine, the
increase Of their intercourse with us will he
attended BY corresponding increase in their
liability to pestilence,4 We submit the question
which arises, then, to those more immediately
lnterested-4and they constitute the great mass
of our mercantile community --how far it would
be to bring the people Of these States to
the belief, either that our city is irreclaimably
the homo OF pestilencs, or that the chances of
the existence Of an annual and deadly disease
here and hence wherever we .trade--are pre-
terred to the inconsiderable restraints of Quar-
antlne, Looking at the progress in aerieul.
ture and Internal improvements, which a few
years will bring about in the Southwest, the
people of New Orleans should reflect before
they commit mistake, which this same South.
west will be very likely TO characterize AZ n
crime. A fewin New Orleans may still contend
hat We do not contract yellow fever from
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