Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-06-25
The Yellow Fever Commission.
New York Star

The Yellow Fever Commission.
New York Star.
The bill to provide for an oficiil
and authentic and conclusive inquiry
into the virtue of incubation as q de-
Tense against yellow fever is now ia
the way of becoming a law. 1t had
previously been set aside in the House
through the opposition--inexplie4ble
then as now-of a representative of a
State that has suffered most ~conspicu-
ously from the dread scourage but
Senator Eustis has succeeded in put
ting it on its feet again by passing it
through the Senate, and it now lies on
the Speakers table subject to call, and
may at any moment be brought up in
another appeal to the patriotism and
intelligence of the House.
We take this occasion to reDew the
expression of our interest in the meas
ure and of our hope thatit will receive
the support of a majority of the men,
bers OF the House. 1t is not a cues
tion into which party politics can or
should enter. 1t relates to human life
and to the prott ction of commercial
interests so vast as to defy computa-
ton. One needs only to look upon the
dreadful record of 1878 when the
country was ravaged by yellow fever
from the Ohio river to the Gulf, in or
der to assur himself that Congress
can not afford to neglect any means of
averting the recurrence Of so terrible
a calamity. The thousands of lives
lost during that awful summer and
the paralysis of business which touch
ed every commercial interest in the
Uniol--these dread and evil memories
Use up to warn US against the folly Of
inviting fresh disaster.
If the bill involved any vast ex-
pense, or if it were open to the sus-
picion of jobbery, we should be the
first to Insist upon the most rigorous
vigilance. But this bill, which has in
view a result worth untold millions to
the country, provides for rather less
outlay than the average congressional
funeral, and it creates "a salary-and
that of a temporary nature-for only
n person. Two of the members OF
the Commission are to be officers of the
government, and the third is to be a
yellow fever expert of acknowledged
tminence, appointed by the President
and confirmed by the Senat'. The first
two cost the Treasury nothing addi
tionsl. The third, who must needs be
a physician of large experience and
practice, will. in all probability lose
money by acc .pting the position. So
much for the financial aspect of the
case. AS regards its practical and
scientific features, it is, or oughc to be,
enough to say that the Inquiry was
unanimously recommended by the
most important medical body that ever
assembled in this country, tc-wit: the
Medical Congress of the United States
and the Boards of Health Of the diff
ferent States, sitting j,intly at Wash
ington last December.
II was urged before the committees
of Congress by all the leading meui ;al
officers of the government, and il has
been sanctioned by scientific opinion
everywhere. 1t has been opposed from
only two sources, the National Board
Of Health, which is a mort u d .ol-
Germ, with no record but a bad one,
with no functions whatsoever, ana
with no existence save on paper; the
New Orleans Medical and Surgic, Il
journal, which to the knowledge of
the writer, is edited by three young
physicians who have never seen Il vel.
low fever epidemic professionally,
who were in their ~swaddling clothes
in 1878, and whose course is con-
demned by intelligent public opinion
at their own home.
There is, in fact, everything in ia
vor of the measure, and noting wor-
thy OF a moments consideration by
sensible men against it. If some mem
Der of high standing and marked abil-
ity will take it in charge and, with a
few words Of explanation, submit it
to the House, we believe that it will
pass with something like unanimity.
Visited by a Cyclone.
IlENTnnNI ~ I'm. - nit -