Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-25

are all that require attention. The steam
boat has not the same advantages. Ii has
cabins for sleeping, a close hold, and 1t often
has passengers whose habits expose them in
a greater degree 10 infection than the class
that travel on the more expensive railroad.
II should be enough TO say that whenever
there has been epidemic here, 1t came by way
of the river, and that had the system of quar-
antine now proposed existed when the tug
boat Bee brought its Inflated human freight
to the neighborhood of Happy Hollow, Mem
phis would have escaped agonies we dread TO
recall, and loss of trade, setback" 10
its prosperity, whicb, if it could be summed
up IN dollars, would startie the most careless.
How New Orleans has escaped since the war
when Galveston, Mobile, and other places
were decimated we all know, and this escape
is attributed by the medical authorities
there to strict quarantine measures, strictly
carried out. With the streets and alleys
clean, and the system of disinfecting now in
use, New Orleans can readily deal with such
cases as may present themselves; the great
thing is the quarantine. Those who know
what New Orleans was formerly exposed to,
and how it has escaped the scourye of late
years, will acknowledge that the medical
men there are good authority on the subject,
and they preach precautIon and prevention;
they claim that to rigid quarantine and care
full disiafection their city owes its escape
from epidemics from 1870 onward. Expert
ence, observation, and science all concur to
tell US that whether epidemics come here or
not, is a matter within our own power. Let
US use those means which the benign Provi
dence that denies US nothing that is good has
placed within our reach, and we may keep
clear of the pestilence that brings agony to
the heart, and makes widows and orphans,
and leaves the poor without bread.
In the old time the inhabitants of
London used to suffer from the destructive
plague, and they used to crowd the churches
and weary heaven with prayers, when all
that was wanted was clean streets and clean
houses. This was shown when the great fire
of 1865, which burned four days and nights,
and destroyed fve-sixtas of the city, so puri-
fed it of its ancient filth that the plague has
never visited London since. 1t is within our
power to stop any epidemic bringing further
devastation to Memphis. We know what
the means are, and the citizens have only to
express their will upon the subject and Mayor
Flippin, the city council, DIR. Mitchell, the
president of the board of health, and his co.
adjutors, will all work earnestly together and
so fortify the city against infection that none
can enter it or spread within its limits. But
it will cost something. Yes, it will cost
something, but we are already SO poor and
overburdened with taxes in Mem
phis that we must meet the ex-
pense for, whatever that may be, the
expense-say nothing of grief and tears, and
sufering-of an epidemic will be a mountain
compared to it. We cannot afford another
visitation to arise from negligence; the cost
is too great. The quarantine station and its
sanitary officer will be no heavy burden, and
the disinfecting apparatus and material are
to be had for a very moderate sum. Our citl-
zens must insist upon the matter being at
tended to-; the board of health must be asked
what they are doing, and what their records
show. Negligence in statistics has already
gained for Memphis an outrageous mIsrepre-
sentation of its sanitary state, negligence
which must not occur again. We shall watch
this point, and expect to report from time to
time due activity and care on the part of the
board of health.