New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-21
Mr. Schwnrzs services rendered gratuito,sy
the brewers and tie
QUARANTINE STATION.
OPINIONS OF HEALTH OFFICER SMITH


OPINIONS OF HEALTH OFFICER SMITH.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND INFECTIOUS DIS
EAsEs-THE DOCTOR RETICENT on THE QUESTION
OF MAKING TIE STATION sEIF-SUPPoRTING.
The State Senate passed resolution Tuesday for
tho appointment of committee to ascertain
whether the Quarantine Station at Ncw-York could
not be maze self-supporting by diverting to its
maintenance portion Of the fees received by tho
Health Officer. Yesterday TRIBUNE reporter
visited Health Officer William NJ. Smith at Quar-
antine to obtain his views on the subject The
forthcoming nvestgation being mentioned by the
reporter, the doctor said " have thing to con-
ceal in the matter. l desire to have as full an in
vestigation the gent cmen need. so far as nv
Office is concerned"
The reporter asked whether DR.. Smith thought
that his Office could be made self-sustainirg bv the
diversion or some of his fees fer that purpose. In
reply the doctor first made the following statement:
The city has Lecn SO long free from disease that
1T becomes Obvious of the usefulness of the Quar-
antlno Station here. The Station has grown up
under the best Sanitarans of our day, whose
methods / am carrying ont with vigilance and
energy. They have established here such Quar-
antlmc that the president of the National Board of
Health said of il last year: The Ncw-York Quar-
antlEo Is The model quarantine of the world.' The
City of NcwYork and interior localities are Deepen
dent IN large degree for their prosperity on the
vigilance exercised by the Quarantine officials here.
mean 10y that, that If an epidemic started III New
York, business men would lose millions of dollars.
N
in far Western communities. People hesitate to
come to an infected city. 1T doesn't generally
to people that the Quarantine exercises this care
and supervision for the protection of their interests.
few years ago, a, single furry in yellow fever
occurred Ill New ork and al hough there only
tWo or three cases foreign ports heard OF it and
of the vessels going from here quarantncd
grain was destroyed. In consequence of the effect
of such rumois the prevalence of any epidemic
would be great misfortune for the people Of New
York.
Take another vicw" continued DR.. Smith.
This is the greatest port for the admission Of inn
migrants i'll the world, over 5000 having passed
tins port last year; and every year % per cent of
the lm'nigrants that come to America pass
through Newly York. The consequence is that the
interior communities are protected by the vigilance
of the officers. particularly III re aon to smallpox.
One year ago | was conscious that smallpox must
pass here III its latent condition. | appealed to
health officers IN the interior to watch passing trains
of immigrants at Buffalo, Chicago, st. Louis and
other focal points for the earliest development
Che disease that had passed in its latent con,li-
tion. have appealed TO the steamship companies
IN published articles asking thom TO be watchlul of
the loIgIng houses nj the ports OF departure, III
order that immigrants might not lodge in infected
places and have urged that medical officers should
Vacclhale all unprotected immigrants on coming
aboard vessels or within twenty -four hours after
their arrival on shpboald. Recently had a meet
ing OF all the passenger steamship lines urging this
measure IN protection OF communities through
which immigrants pass or in which they lodge. |
nave continually Urged on medical officers OF ships
the utmost vigilance in the early detection of dis
ease and when they have been derclict have felt
compelled To punish. not them but tho cumpanics
and at the same time protect the country, by quar-
antnlng whole loads of immigrants 500 or 900
at once, where smallpox had been left to run
IN the stccraCe III the infectious stages. | have
also continually urged upon the steamship com
panlcS the making of better hospital accommodate
lions Instead of having hospital in the crowded
stccragc with little or no ventilation, have urged
that they should place the hospital on deck, with
ventilation from above from which infected
atmosphere cGuid reach the passengers. | have in
some instances threatened, If hospitals erected
in the stccrage when ii contained infecio dis
ease, that would quarantine all the passengers"
" AMI now Doctor. what do You think of making
the ONCE sell sustaining 10y means OF some of your
fees - said the reporter
u have just mentioned some Of the uses of the
Quarantine station at the port of Newly ork, al
though not 10y any means all of them. ! speak of
them TO show that the State of New FORK has great
interest III sustaining the very generous establish
mcnt she has planted here What measures may
he necessary best calculated to do this is tor
me to Judge"
" But what is your opinion ?"
- only know hat there is great probability
that any effort on the part of the Sta'c In tax the
been established in the cases of harbor masters and
port wardcns or the per capita tax passcn gers,
VIII have the same result III the resistance of per-
sons so taxed to amy law that imposes tax on
commerce."
~ hat do you think of having the Office of
Health Otcer made an exclusively salarIed office 7"
II the State prefers 10 make ii a salaricd office
shall not object. Ii will never make by that means
a NOR" perfect systcm of quarantine than has been
made by my predecessors and, | VIII presume to
say, by myself, in adopting aud carrying out the
methods ana measures which had already been in
"Thcy say, doctor that your fees and pcrouisitcs
amount TO 100000 annually. Is that figure
correct ~
"It's absurd"
Is $4,000 nearer the truth y
Well. you see the expenses here very consid-
cradle. Last month | paid ont 5000 and tho
Ncw-loTk ls unlike any other in the United states
and the State can afford to sustain it. | do NOT
men who have been and who Will be at the head Of
the department"