New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-22
THE QUARANTINE INVESTTG 1TION.

THE QUARANTINE INVESTIGATION
The State Senate has authorized inquiry into
branch of the public service by a committee,
which, If not rightly constituted and intelli-
gently directed, may do great deal of mis-
chief. 1t ought to be committee of experts
III double sense; of course, it is certain not
to be. The health and the commerce of the
city are the two interests most involved in the
management of Quarantine and the commit
tee ought to be composed, in part at least, of
medical men and merchants whereas it is GER
| tain to be made up of the lawyers and farm
ers who mainly compose the Legislature But
if the composition of the committee be not en-
tircly correct, the course of the inquiry may
be made so by the exercise of a little common
sense
There has beer no investigation of the
Health Office at Quarantine for nearly ten
years That of 1871 caused by complaints
of merchants that they were subjected to gross
Overcharges in fees by the Glowing and
Lighterage Company" which had secured con-
troll of the Health officer. Great abuses were
shown to have been committed against the
shipping interests the heavy fees granted to
the Health Officer by law were found to have
been oppressivey increased by Overcharges of
the Company to which he had given mon
Opoly of the lghterage business in the BAY;
vessels free from any form of contagious dis
ease were detained at Quarantine for the regu-'
latiOn period of one month, if their captains
declined the services of this company; while
other ships, from infected ports and even with
cases of infection on board were passed. if
they paid the Overchargcs of the "Ring." 1t
shown that while thus dcspoiling the mer-
chants the health of the city was ENDANGERED
by this inefficient management, and the inquiry
resulted in the resignation of the Health
Officer and the breaking up of the "Quarantine
Ring"
Under the management of DR.. Vandcrpoel
the immediate predecessor of the present Health
Officer no complaints from merchants were
heard, and the city was kept carefully and
successfully guarded from infectious diseases
coming by way of Quarantine. We have heard
of no complaints coming from any source
against the present incumbent, and it is to be
inferred that no grounds for any exist since
the Committee is authorized specially to in
quirc if the Quarantine Station cannot be made
sef-supporting by dvcrting portion or all
the fees of the Health Officer to its mainte-
nance. The legal fees of the incumbent are
large; under the former administration which
was investigated they aggregated IA small for
tune each year, but that was the consequence
of maladmnstration. The inquiry, while it
reformed the abuses of the Ring" and re-
moved the Health Officer, did not result in the
reduction of the fees; and this is point very
well worth serious inquiry.
| These fees a direct tax on the commerce
of this city, and of this city alone for the
benefit and protection Of the whole country
Every vessel arriving here pays n direct tax
to the Health Officer for the examination of
the condition OF passengers for every part of
the country. And while this tax on the ship
| ping of a single port is for the benefit of the
whole country the State pays all the expense
of maintaining the station, and gets no part
of the tax, winch goes to the Quarantine
or Health Officer. This would seem at a
| glance To be unjust all around. The country
benefits without cost the State bears all the
| expense with only fraction of the advantage
| derived and the heavy tax paid by the mer-
| chants goes to the individual who happens to
| be the Health Officer. And the latter has such
arbitrary powers that, if disposed to be cor
rupt, he can make the burden oppressive.
The proper adjustment of this complex and
unfair condition of things will require n great
deal of delicacy and tact To divert the fees
wholly to paying the expenses of the station,
thus placing the Health Officer on a salary.
might have Il tendency to lessen the interest
and vigilance OF even an honest guardian of the
city's health, though there would seem to be
no good reason for making this position an
exception to the rule of salared Offices. To
divert the fees in part only is to tempt cor
rupt Health Officer to abuse the power he has
and Cypress commerce. To continue the tax
on the commerce of one port while the whole
country benefits by it, is manifeStly unjust
Possibly in the end we shall have to revive
and carry out the old scheme of putting the
Quarantine Station on the same footing az the
Custom House, and depend upon the National
Government to make it sclf-sustaining or to
levy the needfu tax to support it on the
country at large, which benefits 10y its main
tenance.