Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-04-07

will be a welcome accession to the best
circles Of Memphis society.
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AN impression has gone out and
been sedulously fostered that if the
National Board of Health does not
get held Of the 100000 appropriated
by Congress as a contingent epidemic
fund, it cannot be used at all. This
in line with the drift of the recent
proceedings at jackson, Mississippi
This is part of a general scheme to
p;Olong the existence Of the National
Board OF Health, an organization that
expires by limitation on the End Of
next June. Congress, after a thor
ough investigation, deliberately de-
clined to continue the fancy board in
power. The President, in the exer
else Of a sound discretion, directed the
necessary disbursements last year to
be made b. the Marine Hospital Ser
vice, branch Of the government that
has been in existence over seventy.
FIVE years and is thoroughly organized.
This gave great dissatisfaction to the
adherents of the National Board of
Health, and we see now how
they are seeking to in
Auence public opinion and direct
the action Of the President. The
national board was a wasteful, extrav.
agant, lily managed and insUlent af>
fair from the start. Its pompous sec.
retary announced in the spring that
yellow fever would be all over the
NJ sissippi valley by the next Aug
ust. The yellow fever did not come.
but the business of the country was
Injured millions of dollars. An
other exploit of this board was
the building of the steamer
8enner at cost of $4,000, a top
heavy, numbering craft that was the
laughing stock Of all practical steam
boatmen. Three fancy iron launches
we're built at the same time at a cost
of $4,000 each. Two Of these sank of
their own weight, but one has
been preserved by careful handling.
The expenses of the board were
enormous. Doctors employed in the
infected districts where the head men
could not venture, were paid as
high as ten and fifteen dollars a day,
and other employees in proportion
The Marine Hospital Service being
already organized, could distribute
this fund as necessary, without
employing an additional army Of
fancy officers. AS the New Orleans
States Of yesterday truthfully and
poinlsdly says:
The Chairman Of the House Com
mittee on Appropriations in the last
Congress declared that thorough in
vestigation of the expenditure OF
money and disposition Of patronage by
this Board were simp y disgraceful,
and we defy any upholder of the Ma
tional Board to disprove the charge
that it sent off a number of yellow
fever sensations from this city, need
lessly alarming the whole Mississippi
valley. and iofiicting immense damage
upon our commerce.
We have no doubt that there are
worthy gentlemen who sincerely be.
lieve that National Board of Health
would be a national blessing. But
there is no fact in the career Of the
present concern to justify any such
belief, while there is no doubt that
the Marine Hospital Service is fully
competent to perform all the duties
and much more economically, which
were devolved upon the National
Board.
Under the auspices Of the Marine
Hospital Service there is no reason
why all the State Board and sanitary
organizations should not work in
peaceful harmony. Let that branch
Of the service be represented here and
at every other port, and we venture to
say that all the wrangling will be
ended.
There is no doubt that the Marine
Hospital Service would make one
dollar go further and do more good
than three in the hands Of the
National Board of Health.