Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-05-31

Mt the resolutions of the chamber
f commerce adopted at its meeting
n the eighth. censuring the Ten
lessee senators and representatives
DR. having failed to pass a Federal
uarantine law, and the debate up
n their adoption. If these resOlu-
ions were only the utterances of /.
Il. Hill who reported themt
hOuld give them TO attention, but
having received the sanction of
BODY so intelligent and respectable
Is the Memphis chamber of COM
nerce, / may be pardoned for sug-
hresting their errors. While | was
hot surprised at the ignorance or
malice of /. NJ. Hill in presenting
such resolutions, or the false state
|nents to which he resorted to Sc
cure their adoption, / was surprised
chat the chamber of commerce
should have acted upon any such
statements without some higher
guaranty of their truth than the as
sertiOn of J.. NJ. Hill, when the Con-
gressiOnal Record would have Civ
en- every material fact in the case.
When he said 1.-the senators ndrep-
resentatives of this State have not
unitedly exerted themselves to pro-
mote this Obiect"- national quar-
antine), he did the whole delega-
= ton a gross injustice, whether from
Ignorance, malice or partizan zeal,
j do not know, but do know that
the record shows it to be untrue.
And when he said "GovernOr Har-
riS and Colonel Young each wanted
their particular resolutions adopted
in order to make little capital.
They defeated the bills
introduced by each other, because
each wanted to make popularity,
he did Colonel Young and myself
the gross injustice of asserting that
we were capable of being actuated
by motives as narrow, selfish and
mean as those which controlled his
own conduct. There has been the
most perfect harmony and cO-opera-
tiOn i'm the whole delegation on the
question of quarantine, since it was
first agitated in December, and the
most perfect harmony between Col.
Young and myself. Each of US in
PRODUCED resolutions in our respect
i've houses at the beginning of the
December session, to raise select
committees to investigate and re-
port the best means of preventing
the introduction and spread of cpl
demic diseases. The committees
were raised and their investigations
have developed much valuable in
formation on the subject. The SEN
ate committee, of which | have the
. honor to be chairman, reported and
+ passed a general quarantine bill in
the senate in February, it went to
the house, where Colonel Young,
being chairman of the house COM
mittee, under the positive instruc-
tiOn of his committee offered the
bill framed by the house committee
as a substitute for the senate bill.
The bill failed to pass the house /;
but not for want of zeal and earn
/ estness on the part of Colonel Young
or the Tennessee delegation. On
the fOnrth of March the house
passed a bill creating the national
board of health, with power to in
vestigate, and to advise State and
. United States officers in sanitary
matters, and apprOpriating fifty
thousand dollars for the purpose.
This was the only bill that came
from the house on the Subject-the
only house bill that / have had an
opportunity "to defeat to make a
little capital" 1t came to the sem
ate within the last fOrty-five min
utes of the session, and so far from
defeating, l had it taken up and
passed pressed it forward and fol-
lowed it up to its final approval by
the President before the adjourn
ment, and the national board of
health is now organized and active
ly engaged in the performance of
its important duties. At the pres
ent extra session | introduced in
the Senate, and afterward reported
from the committee on epidemic
diseases a bill authorizing the secre-
tary of the treasury to contract for
the construction or purchase of a
steam vessel and refrigerating ma
chinery to be used in the disinfec-
ton of vessels engaged in commerce
and their cargOeS, appropriating
two hundred thousand dollars for
the purpose. 1t passed the senate
and the house and is now the law OF
the land. subsequently | reported
a bill from the same committee
establishing general and thorough
quarantine system, under the au-
thority of the United States, to be
enforced by the national board OF
health, with full power to prevent,
so far as quarantine can prevent,
the importation of contagiOn into
the United States from foreign
countries or into one State from
another. The record shows the
earnestness of the effort made to
pass it, but on the fifth instant il
was, by a vote of the Senate, and
against my earnest protest, recon-
mitted to the committee, but four
Republicans in the Senate voting
with me against recOmmittal-Cam
erOn, of Pennsylvania Plumb, OF
Kansas; Bruce, of Mississippi, and
Kellogg, of Louisiana. On the
ninth instant reported it back to
the senate modified, but still in such
form as will accomplish the main
object, and l hope and believe that
it will very soon become a law.
These are briefly the facts, and |
give them in order that the people,
who are so deeply interested in the
matter, may not be deceived by the
resolutions of, or speeches made in,
the chamber of commerce. Believ-
ing, as / do, that there was no dis
position on the part of the chamber
of commerce to do injustice to me or
the delegation in congress, / am
satisfied that if it had taken the
trouble to inform itself fully and
accurately as TO the facts, the resO-
IutiOnS of censure would not have
been adopted and sent broadcast to
all chambers throughout the south.
But l can better afford to be indif-
ferent to an unjust censure than l
could to censure others unjuStly,
and therefore shall follow my own
convictions of duty, without regard
to criticism or commentator given
i'm the absence of full knowledge of
the facts of the case.
ISHAM G. HARRIS.
Washington, May 10, 1879.
Letter to God.