The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-06-18
Drs. Eishr & Bragg,
DIR. SWEARINGEN.
Another Letter to the Louisiana Health
Board.

Another Letter to the Louisiana Health
Board.
HEALTH DEPT OF TEXAS.
AUsTIN, June 8, 1866.
Hon. Joseph Holt, NJ. D., President OF the
Board OF Health OF louisiana:
SIR have the honor to acknowl~
edge your communication of the sec
ond instant.
In the printed circular addressed you
May q, omitted my autograph, and
YOU have been pleased to regard the
omission In the light of dIscourtesy
extended to you personally and Off
tally.
L beg that you accept my assurance
that no discourtesy was intend.
The mistake occurred to me after
mailing the paper, but thought 1t too
trifin9. when grouped with the very
important subjects presented, to be
seriously considered.
Your very able letter would have
been more satisfactory had you met
the issue squarely, and discussed our
differences in quarantine instead of
laws of etiquette and charges of in
consistency.
You might aifssee, without injury to
the cause so strongly advocated, have
omitted the mildly put, but none the
less ungenerous, insinuations that
other motives besides an earnest desire
TO protect the public health had in
spired my former letter. 1t was IN
necessary to produce written dOcu-
meat from DR.. Salomen to show that
1 had approved the plan submitted by
you to the Conference of Health Off
GERS of the Gulf States. The proceed
ings of the Conference bear evidence
of the fact, and in my official report to
the Governor Of Texas, had this to
say concerning it:
1.-The following plan was presented
by DIR. Joseph Holt, President of the
Board of Health of Louisiana, to the
Conference of Health Officers of the
Gulf States, and unanimously en-
dorsed by that body:
81. The discharge or passengers,
crew, and cargo, at the Mississippi
Quarantine Station below New Or
leans. w. s-t.-
j "2. The pumping out of bilge wa
Ter and supplying its place with fresh,
Ire water.
BY the aid of exhaust fans con-
with the steam tug, to force
e air from every part of the
with the same power drive
Jok and crev1ce germici.
thoroughly wash the hold of
- 1Ssal with a solution of bichlo-
ride of mercury.
50. After fumigating the cargo in
the warehouse, another crew of &C
clinated men return it and accompany
the vessel to the city, while the old
crew and passengers will be detained
long enough to cover the period of
incubation"
ft The above was not an exact copy of
the plan submitted by you, but it GER
tainly embodied all the essential points
as understood by me. You positively
stated that the crew of ship from an
infected port should be detained at the
quarantine station, while an acclima-
ted crew of stevedores, with the cap
tain, should take the ship to the city.
To leave no doubt on that very mate
rial point, l will reproduce few
sentences from the report of the
Committee on Maritime Quarantine
(prepared / believe by your own hand)
and approved by the Conference OF
Health Officers before referred to'
Page 81 of published proceedings:
I'VE will understand better the
particulars of treatment when we
have described the course of a sailing
ship through quarantine, no record OF
sickness on the voyage, cargo of
10000 bags of coffee, yellow fever ep-
idemic in Rio, from whence she
sailed.
'.She is brought alongside the wharf
at the upper quarantine station" etc
'sThe crew with all her effects is at
once taken ashore, where in a room
provided, everything they carry, ap-
paral and baggage, is subjected to
powerful distinction. They are then
received at comfortable, commodious,
boarding house, prepared for them
there to undergo the prescribed de-
tent1On." "ln the meantime full
corps of acclimated stevedores are
busily engaged in breaking out the
cargo and transferring it TO the ware
house. after few hours the hatch
eS are removed and pure air is driven
in to facilitate clearing the ship of its
fumes" "She is then reloaded, and
with her captain on board proceeds at
once to the city, there to be idischarg-
ed only by an acclimated crew." "Her
export frelghts must be ready" "She
Is at once reloaded and starts on her
voyage" "If the term of detention
of her crew has not already expired
she touches at quarantine to take on
such as have engaged to reship, and
puts to sea" ~
/ discover no ambiguity In these
quotations, and if it does not mean a
detention of the crew of vessels from
infected places at the quarantine sta
ton, and the substitution of acclima-
ted crews to bring the vessel to the
city and discharge her cargo, 1 am
unable to comprehend its meaning.
Now let me direct your attention to
thenew system adopted by your Board
to take effect after June 10th.
~. CLASSIFICATION OF VESSELS.
81. Vessels from non-intected
ports.
{ "2. Vessels from suspected ports.
Vessels from injected ports.
"a. Vessels which, without regard
to the portIof departure, are infected
vessels of the first class to be sub.
mitted to thorough maritime SANTA
ton at the quarantine station without
dofonti0n nf oithor voccala or rorcOps