Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-02

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deavoring.to get those cities to adopI
some precautionary measures to keel
it from us. The commercial interests
Of those cities bring to bear a power
upon the municipal authorities tina
will break down any State or munich.
pal laws on the subject, and, as the
gentleman from Ohio remarked, We
might as well hold up a bullrush be
tween us and the plague as to declare
that the government has no power on
the subject and rely alone upon State
legislation to protect us.
If we do not adopt this law, or some.
thing similar to it, you open up the
whole Mississippi valley to the plague
during the coming season. The indi-
cations now are that in less than four
months from to-day the yellow fever
will rayage every town in the south.
western portion of the country as it
did last summer.
| wish | could bring before this
house the scenes that fell. under my OBJ
seryation only a short time ago. If |
could bring before you the fifty thou
sand graves, the twenty thousand sor-
rowing, desolated households, the hun
dred thousand widows and orphans
that were produced by the ravages of
this fell destroyer during the last
season, they would speak to this house
In more eloquent terms than | can /;
and | think there would be but few
gentlemen who would not yield a
ready assent to the passage Of this
measure.
| think'a careful examination of all
its provisions will convince any gen
tleman, however jealous he may be of
the rights of the States, however con-
tident he may be Of their willingness
and power to legislate upon this sub.
ject, that this bill ought to pass,
and pass at once, and that no harm
can result to any State, city or local
ity by its passage but that, on the
contrary, it will furnish us the only
protection which we can have against
another visitation Of the plague and
should it again make its appearance in
this country, and especially in the
locality of gentlemen who think it un.
constitutional to undertake to keep it
off, they will only be too glad to in
woke the aid of the government to
stay its ravages, without stopping to
inquire whether or not it was men
toned in the resolutions of '98 or EN-.
braced in any of the delegated pow
ers of the general government.
1t is true that heretofore our
friends residing in the Northern and
Eastern States have been spared the
ravages of the plaques that have
desolated the South. How long will
you remain so? Can you tell how
long it will be before the black death.
now desolating large portions of the
Empire of Russia, and to stamp out
which eighty thousand men have
been kept busy and the government
itself has destroyed whole towns and
villages, will reach our shores? Can
you tell me how long it will be before
some ship navigating the waters be
tween the northern seaports and the
infected regions of Russia will bring
in that fell disease? | have here a
letter upon that subject from a most
intelligent merchant of st. Louis
which | will print with my remarks.
We Of the South are not alone in
terested in this measure. Every sec
ton and locality in the country is
subjected to the same danger that
menaces US. The next visitation of
this fever may not stop at Cincinnati
and Gallipolis, or at st. Louis. Ii,
reached those places during the last
season, and the history Of the disease
is that on every return it proceeds
farther and farther toward the lakes
of the North. Its next visitation
may not only destroy all the cities in
the Mississippi Valley, butitmay reach
even the Atlantic seaboard cities.
the great commercial marts of New
York, Boston and Philadelphia. /
tell you, gentlemen, hat in view OF
the great calamity that overwhelmed
the people of my section of the coun
try only a short time ago, in view OF
the great danger that menaces you in
the future, this is no time for gentle.
men to discuss abstract propositions of
constitutional law. Ifthis government
has not now the power to take meas
TO protect the lives of It's people
It is time hat we understood it and
that we take the necessary steps IA
invest it with power not only to bro
tect the rights, liberty and property o!
its citizens, but, more than all, To
protect their lives.
Without some measure of this SORT
there, an uneasy apprehension in the
public mind Of the South that the
lever will come again will tend Ia
destroy all its industries, and ever,
Interest will suffer an almost fatal
shock. | wish | had time to dis
cuss the measure at greater length. fol
| deem it n of greater Importance
than usually engages the labors of thi.
house, and especially would | be glad
to say something Of the grateful ap
probation which the stricken people
Of the South have of the generou.
sympathy and kindness shown them
by those Of the North in the hour Of
their affection, but | must forego the
discharge Of this grateful duty until
some future time.
! beg members of this house not to
sickle about these nice distinctions
which have been discussed here. We
have been assured by gentlemen who
entertain more extreme ideas on this
subject than | do, that there is nothing
in this bill which inyades the rights
and the sovereignty Of the State. But
# %perchance it should be discovered
that we have gone beyond the legiti
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