The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-07-26

Memphis Appeal, July 10,

o Let us look the situation OF AFFAIRS to-ua'
l. in Memphis straight in the face. Let u
u look, if possible, beyond and inquire of th'
l. future what more of wreck and ruin 1t hai
in store for us. The present looks black
!. ugly and forbidden, made so not SO much by
a facts as by croakers. The future seems tc
g be surrounded by lurid hue that domi
. mates the frightful yellow tint, the sign OF
y horror, woe and sorrow. The yellow fever
the first case of which was announced or
the ninth, now counts its sixteenth victim
1t counts more. 1t counts the present de-
4 struction of the trade and industries of the
8 community, and threatens the property
= which reprepresents the accumulation OF
the labor Of the present and preceding gen.
erations. The yellow fever is in front of
: us, but behind it may easily be discerned
the torch of the incendlary, revealing the
starving thousands who to>day have no re-
source. Never was the city in so deplorable a
condition Most of her leading men are ab-
sent Of all who under other circumstances
} would be foremost as leaders and advisers,
J but a few are now here to share the dangers
and counsel the bewildered people what to
do. Every man has made provisions for
himself and those dependent upon him, but
there has not been one word heard in be-
half of the poor, no provision has been
made for the safety Of property, not one
cent subscribed to maintain an integrity
that once assailed by hunger will be found
very weak indeed. The city government is
powerless and helpless. 1t cannot use one
dollar of the money in its treasury for
the purpose of contending with the fever
or succoring the poor and needy, and it
cannot levy tax for that purpose, and if
| A. f1 I,
county government, it will take no thought
concerning us, for if it did it would result
in nothing. The State can contribute nos
thing for our benefit; what the Federal
Government can do remains to be seen.
Our condition is seemingly without any re-
lief. The doctors are ready for work, and
many of them are sanguine that they are
to have plenty of it. We are in as bad
condition as if the sporadic cases had join
ed their forces to make an epidemic Trade
until October, perhaps November, has been |
as effectually killed as if instead of sixteen |
we had sixteen hundred cases. Those who |
have left went under the spur of panic, |
most of those who remain have parted with |
that sense of sucurity without which peace
of mind or health are impossible. All along
our lines of railroad the people are prepar-
ed to enforce quarantine, after their own
fashion, regardless of the rules and regula-
tions of the sanitary council of the Missis-
sippi valley. They will cut off all inter.
course, and save the State Board of Health
the expense and the people the trouble of
medical examinations and chemical fumiga-
ton. Already boats have refused to land
at our wharf In few days, when the
crazed have become crazier, and the idiots
more idiotic, we shall, perhaps, find our
selves hemmed in in living hell, whore to
maintain order and respect for life and
property will be found impossible save at
the point of the bayonet. We have been
warned that some towns will not wait for
the declaration of epidemic by the board of
of cases, and will act upon private advices.
The declaration of epidemic may never
come, Notwithstanding the predictions of
the over-sanguine doctors; at present we {
are as far from it as we were when Judge
Ray died. But these infatuated rural i
cousins of ours care nothing for rule or
precedent, supreme on their own premises '
they are determined to enjoy to the full the t
of q quarantine which could not q
prevent sixteen cases of yellow fever in /
Memphis. They will not allow any one C
from the region where the sporadic cases
are increasing to approach them, they will 81
stop all Intercourse, cut off all trade, and 81
perhaps deny to us even the dole of charity.
They are victims of quarantine insanity, 81
that most of them are as likely g
o have sporadic cases as poor Memphis.
They are victims of yellow fever quaran- fl
inc insanity, and there is no knowing what
hey will do next. The railroad people are &c
'ur friends, but they cannot do anything il
o help US that the quarantinists will not
PERMIT. But this is not all. Our stocks et
# groceries are very low. The demand
or them the past few weeks has been with a'
ut precedent. The Howard association tt
as but few thousand dollars to begin "
perations with, and the fund that remain W
d over from last year in the hand of the IN
rustees has almost reached zero The sit
alton it will thus be seen is full of gloom, ed
OF merely on account of the presence of te
10 yellow fever, but because of the long
ain of evils it may bring with it. Mem ="
his is once more sitting in the ashes of ha
oe and despair. Out of this condition
lere is but one avenue-fight The peo- l
e must get away from the yellow fever arl
Id the doctors before an epidemic is de- no
ared. No one who has not had the yellow
ver should be permitted to remain here. ms
lacks as well as whites, whether they will
not, should be forced iuto camps. 1t is wa
,tter to live bearing the temporary inconA ito
'niences OF camps or neighboring cities adj
an to drag out miserable existence here pr
daily dread, perhaps ultimately to die
Ie dog; and it will be cheaper to sustain he
ch camps than to pay the expenses of str
ousands Of sick, and it may be the funer-
expenses of thousands of dead. To ac- Sh'
mpllsh SO desirable and benefcent plan arn
operations not a moment should be
st. By kilograms elsewhere it will be qul
en- that DR.. Porter has already taken aga
sps looking to such a hegira. But the
ilroads will have to do better, They will tina
We to take our poor away free. We say occ
is remembering their unnumbered kind ger
sses and charities last year. We are !
orer now than then, and can pay nothing. fas
sides, we cannot expect that the world par
Il again help us as generously and lavish the
as it did in 1878. We cannot EXPECT she
1t tho world will delp people who lett
t help themselves, people who seem to wri
ve no ties, who have regard for none of ana
obligations that bind communities, giy'
10 sing loudly in chorus in the days Of l
osperity, but sing solo when yellow fover brei
nea TO test their couraga nlncL and an wild
rannce. Our trade is killed for three
'nths. We are without money, provis- ny Z
IS, or organization. We are threatened L
a rigid quarantine by the cities and cd y
7ns nearest to us; we are prey to panic, M
cannot tell when some disordered im- the
nation will telegraph a story that, as in to h
instance of the Little Rock Gazette,
| precipitate all the discomforts of a WIS
Sc quarantine, and hasten the disorders =
t are sure to follow, unless the poor are A
ven from the city and are provided for. !
at is the work to be done now. at |