Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-28
QUARANTINE FOR MEMPHIS.

QUARANTINE FOR MEMPHIS.
We called attention, few days ago, to the
fact that some of our principal merchants !
have under consideration the sanitary condi- |
ton of the city, and the precautions that
should be taken, not tins summer alone, but
every coming summer, to prevent the intro
duction into Memphis Of epldemics from
other cities lying south OF us. Since writing
that article We have learned-we were going
to say TO our surprise-that there is opposl-
ton existing against the movement for ex-
Guiding anguish, terror, famine, and death
from the city Of Memphis. But why should
we be surprised? When Egypt was devas-
tated by Its plaques there was hot, and for a
long time successful opposition against those
measures being adopted that would stop the
fearful horrors which were stalking, one after
the other, over the land. There is this to be
said for the Egyptians that, when death was
in every house, the opposition was with
drawn. But we in Memphis have had
the dark angel marching, with all his
horrors around him, from home to
home; we have heard the shrek of the widow,
we have witnessed the tears of the fatherless;
we have seen the sable professions to the
tomb passing through the deserted streets,
and have known all the terrors of the pestl-
lence. Yet here, 10 Memphis, there is oppo-
sition to the adoption of sanitary measures
having for their object the prevention of any
repetition of the terrible scenes that Will
MAKE future generations of residents in Mem
phis shudder as the gloomy page OF history
reveals to them the fearful story of suffering
in the past, and of the dread harvests reaped
by the yawning, Unsuitable sepulcher. Oppo-
sition to the adoption of sanitary measures
for the protection of city that has borne SO
much, and in every instance has seen that the
destroyer of its sons and daughters came
from without, is preposterous. In days
gone by the foe waited and threatened,
and gave warning of his coming from
the cities below US, but we took no
heed, our doors were left open and
our entrances undefended, and the
enemy, unopposed, marched in and wrought
ravage, and strewed our streets with weep
ing mourners, and awoke their echoes with
the wailings of the famine-stricken poor.
And yet we have opposition to proposed
measures for shutting out, for the future, the
sable demon of destruction that has again
and again robbed US of our best and dearest,
crippled our resources, stopped our onward
march toward prosperity, and wrecked our
commerce. Such infatuatioD, such stubborn
standing out against the plainest dictates OF
common sense, such an effort to play into the
hands of the opponents and rivals OF Mem
phs, would be incredible but for the fact that
history has told, over and over again, the
story of human folly and the recklessness of
cultivated stupidity and neglected igno-
rance Who are these obstructionists,
these enemies of the welfare of our
city, those who covenant with death
and strike hands with pestilence? They
will be known, for our city council will be
| called upon to take the necessary steps for
establishing quarantine, and then the fol-
lowers of the yellow flag must declare them
selves, when they will have to stand the brunt
of popular scorn and fierce Indignation as
they may What are these brothers of the
pestilence and comrades with the grave? Are
they men too deeply sunk in the night of ig-
norance to know good from evil, IN case sc
| clear as this, case whose demonstration Is
| the awful seal of thousand tombS? Are
they persons who ought to know but will not
sinners against light and knowledge?" Fol
such there can be no excuse, public condem'
nation will swiftly pass their sentence wher
events bring them to the front. The quaran-
tine question has been argued for generations
and after generations of experience, an expe'
rience of which the books of Moses
and the practices of ancient ports and cities
have given instances; the-quarantine is still
the resource everywhere against danger; the
guard of health against epidemlcs; of life
against death. With quarantine, we say
again, as we have done before, the tug boat
Bee would never have brought its Inflated
passengers to Memphis and landed them a
Happy Hollow, and made the city charnel
house and tenanted Elmwood with graves
On the very first occasion when. a steamboat
brought an epidemic here from New Orleans
quarantine would have saved the city; ant
how it has failed to be established every yea
from that period to the present looks like
mystery To refuse now a measure 81
imperative, so necessary to preserve tn
public health, and to rescue the city from
an evil reputation it never woul'
have had but for the absence of quarantine
to refuse such measure at this time, wit
all the knowledge we at present possess upol
the subject, is out of the question, and thos
who oppose it will gain the reputation due
enemies of the public good, aad meet wit
the scorn that indifference to the public wei
fare, and opposition to the dictates of intell
gence and common sense never fail to brin
down upon the foolish and the ill-dIsposed.