The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-03-22

project is attended with some little difficulty. and nuzzles
our legislative Solons at Albany almost as much as the
kindred scheme of finishing the canals without any money
Or TutbilIs bill imbodies the general sentiment on this
subject better than any other. He desires a Vigorous
end elective quarantine but II must not be 10 I'd on
Staten Island, nor Coney Island, nor Barren Islend, nor
Long Island, nor within a mile Of the shore of ether of
them. 1t must either be In the air or ON the TEA and.
as a practical man, Dr. Tuth'l prefers the latter.
There IS too much child's play about the management
OF this affair. II We need a quarantine it must have a
location and pliyate rights and private convenience
must be made TO yield 10 that Of pubic necessity. Ii Is
absurd - permit the wishes or the interests of a handful
of individuals TO override the safety and the welfare Of
the public at large. AS a matter of course, nobody wants
a Quarantine establishment at the door of his house or
alongside OF his orchard or garden. To a greater or less
extent it must be a nuisance. But the same objections
hold to building a prison, a hospitel, or q school house.
Somebody must be put TO inconvenience by them and,
If the State Is quietly to stand one side and allow itself to
be overcome by the individuals whom its action may
aggrievc, it can never have any public establishments
of any kind. All this has been foreseen and provided for
in the constitution. The State Is expressly authorized to
take whatever private property ii needs for its own use,
upon making the owners proper compensation therefor.
Such a power Is absolutely necessary, ii the welfare of the
people at large is of more consequence than the interest
of individuals. This principle covers the whole question
of quarantine. If it is clear and decided that we need a
quarantine TO protect this city, and the State and coun-
try at large, from the effects of imported pestilencs, then
1t Is the right and the duty of the State to select a loca-
ton for ii, and establish and maintain il there and that
selection should be made SO as best to secure the public
welfare, with the least possible cncroaclment upon pi-
vate into tests and private rights.
Inc upper end of Staten Island is not a proper place
for quarantine. There are strong, valid, and Irresistible
arg cments in favor of removing it from that locality.
Tue laud is too valuable for such usts, the population is
too dense, the communication with this city is too fire.
quent, and the establishment interteres too much with
the comfoit and convenience of great numbers of the
people. These are all good reasons for desiring, seeking,
and insisting upon its removal, though they are no rea-
sors at Ell for burning down the buildings and turning
the hospis II inmates into the open air. They are good
reasons also why the legislature should authorize and ac-
complish the removal of quarantine, and select fer it
some other locally where the Inconvenience will belcss
serious; for it is quite absurd to expect to get any place
where its establishment will involve no Inconvenience at
all, end the attempt to fulfil SO impossible o condition
will orly end in leaving the quarantine just where IL is.
We have very little doubt that Coney Island is, nextto
Sandy Hook, the best spot in the harbor for quarantine.
1t is q sandy, barren, uninhabited island, two or three
miles from any considerable settlements accessible to yes
sells, and available in all respects for the uses of such an
establishment. Why, then, should it not DO appropriated
to this ~purposeg The only reason we have ever heard
assigned Is, that the people of Gravesend, n little village
in the vicinity, are opposed to it, and that the inhab-
itants Of Yong Island, generally, have am abstract and
romantic dislike of having such an Institution on their
frontier. 1neir feeling is precisely the same as that of
the people of New Jersey in regard to Sandy Hook, and
rot one whit more reasonable.
The legislature cannot do better than to appoint a com
mission of able, disint competent men from the
interior or western part of the State, whose characters
will command universal confidence, and clothe them with
power to select, appropriate, and purchase a site for the
quarantine, and 10 remove that establishment from Its
present location without delay. AS things are now man
aged, the thing never will be accomplished, and will only
be made a football for lobby agents and ~wrangling poll
ticians. Something should be dine, and the only way to
effect that result is to clothe scnJo y with power to do
it. 1Ae project Of building an island on the shoals, for
the purpose of a quarantine, we consider mcoashine. Any
attempt to fix the limit and cost of such an undertaking
would be utterly hopeless. The State might expend half
a million of dollals, and then find herself compelled to
spend two millions more to render this available. The
jobbery of such a work would be enormous, ruinous and
disgT oeful. Tnere is plenty of land already created, adj
mirably adapted to the purposes of quarantine, and neor-
ly useless for any Others. all that IS necessary is decs-
ion, independence, end public spirit enough on the pals Of
or Stat, authorities to TAXI Il and appropriate it to this
ura .#".HH.#N