The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1881-05-19

a,A mla.m and mslafia, eio., but "a \ well
o.,abllsbea fac. that tho book theories ara es
paueh,, and tina, I. is only experience 10
handling tho disease and 10 watching 'he
pbases and eccenlricities that makes tho
pbyscisn successful and intelligent yellow
fever practitioner and authority Yet
eiph. of the eleven members
Of this board live either IN
New York, Boston or Washington CITY, some
of those living in Washington City being
army or navy surgeons, while another one Is
a professor at the university of Virginis, the
other two living, one in New Orleans ana
Tho other In Memphis. These gentlemen are
all. no doubt, learned, as the word goes, 10
their profession and are, beyond peradven-
ture Intelligent. Last year this nauoh"'
hoard was nj war with tho Louisiana stale
boara of health, every member of which was
Al expert in the pathology and the treatment
~ vollow fever. Why, it was
folly to presume that phys'cisns
prac,icing in Boston, New York. Washing
ton City, or holding positions in the army or
navy of the United States, brought together
ma a national board of health, would not
know more than any little state board OF
health, ;would not be ssnhedrim OF concen-
trsted medical lore and judgment and the
temerity of the physicians OF the Louisiana
state board in daring to differ with ms
board, in daring to say thai they knew what
yellow fever was and now 10
treat it, was audacious IN Inc
extreme, something unheard OF anu
n,or strous We reaG that DR.. Sangrsdo
denounced every physician as an empSrlc
and a humbug who did not bleed his patients
TO exhaustion and drench them with not
water. When the question of the creation
of this National board of health came up IN
congress, it was strepuously opposed IN oo'n
houses by several members Thereon on ING
ground that it would be an Interference win
The rights of the states to regulate and COLI
troll their own affairs that it was but another
step'towards the Capitalization of power In the
General government. We thought then and
think vet that this point was we'll token, but
bv that .pecious argument apparently sup
ported by constitutional provision that the
federal government shall regulate and con-
troll all matters of commerce either foreign
or between the states, by means OF which so
many wrongs and iniquities have been COM
mitted. the bill creating this board became
a law, and as it is prefxed with the woro
"nstionsl,;' every man is expected to bow 10
the board as though it was Geslers cap
and be who does not is traitor. Inc
troubl, with the times politically, Is the ten
dency to that word national aud all 1t slgni-
fies. We even have national race courses,
"national' base ball clubs, national steam
boat lines, "nationsp guards 10 the militia
of the states and national" this and
aoatiossl" that ad nausesm. We expect to
see some papers characterizing the resigna>
ton of Mr.. Conkling as national calsm-
ity, while others perhaps will speak OF 1t as
q" nstional" blessing. OF that affair, how
ever, we have nothing to say here. We
tbisk this national board of health an en-
tirely unnecessary institution Ii entails AZ
expense upon the country that gives no
return. The states under the fe;'eral consti-
tution have the exclusive right to
regulate their own affairs, and they
are entirely capable of it. They can protect
the health end ther lives of their citizens
from epidemics, inva.ions, quite as effectually
as any national board can do it. and the peo
nile of the states are certainly more interested
in seeing thatit is done than any national
hoard can be. Whenever the people of Tex
"a think their coasts and borders ought to be
ousrantined they are going to quarantine
them whether the nalionsl beard says nay or
YEA. If they cannot get any other kind they
will establish the shot gun quarantine, the
most effsctual because tho most
unreasonable and unreasonisg Of oil quar-
autines. Nothing will stop people from sci
protection, and when men believe that the
health and the lives of their wives and
children, their mothers and sisters, as well
AS their own, are endangere d, ana tnSt quaf-
anime will afford protection, they are going
to have quarantine. The thing then resolves
itself into matter of self protection, and the
question of commerce and trade sinks into
utter insignificance. Furthermore, this ma
tional board, with its proclsmiions, its
bulletins, its oracular assertions
its learned pronunciamentos begeis scares and
epidemic panics, and create the very mis-
chief that ought not to be created. II is no
doubt well enough that there should be a
health bureau under the auspices and direc-
ton Of the general government, for the col
lection of health, or rather OF disease stHtli-
tics, for the dissemination of the sanitary
legislation Of The states and discussions OF
sanitary questions, tut one man could attend