The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-24

The National Quarantine Movement.
| There is not any room for doubt that there
is a very strong sentiment throughout the
country in favor of placing quarantine in
control OF the national government. The
! New York Chamber of Commerce, after
| having the matter thoroughly investigated.
| and after giving IL very careful and candid
consideration, arrived at the conclusion.
which it expressed in resolutions a day or
two ago, that q national quarantine would
| be greatly TO the advantage OF the whole
country. There is feeling, of course, against
! enlarging the authority of the national gov
eminent in any direction, but in
! this matter the prevailing belief seems
! to be that the only way to have a
! uniform and effective quarantine is to give
the national government the control Of 1t =.
It is admitted by all who have given the
subject thoughtful consideration that state
guarantees do not give the country as
great protection against contagious and in
fictitious diseases as a national quarantine
would, because some of them are very de-
fective, and there is no uniformity in them.
The quarantine regulations at one port are
very different from those at another. and
as there Is great rivalry between some Of
the ports the tendency at those ports is TO
so lessen the quarantine burdens in the in
terest Of commerce that their guarantees
afford very little protection.
Under a national quarantine system all
the ports would be treated alike. One
would have no advantage over another, aud
-, ia
a full understanding of the requirements
necessary for an efficient quarantine serv-
ice. Men trained for that service would
have charge of it and all the ports would be
under the direction Of a central authority.
In the interior cities very little confidence
is felt in the guarantees at the ports There
are several reasons for this. One is that it
Is believed they are controlled by politi-
clans, and hence, are inefficient, and an
other is that what is regarded as safe
quarantine at one port is regarded as very
unsafe at another. Shipmasters are una
bic to become acquainted with the quaran-
tine regulations that prevail at some Of the
ports, and, therefore, are subjected to great
deal of unnecessary expense and annoyance.
The chief port Of the country is, of course,
New York. The quarantine phYsici there,
DIR. Jenkins, undoubtedly did the best be
could during the prevalence Of the cholera
in that port last summer, but the country
had little confidence in him. Just as soon
as a well defined case OF cholera appeared
in New York there was feeling Of inse-
curity throughout the county. 1t was said
that DR.. Jenkins was a creature of Tam
many and would do whatever the Tammany
organization wanted him to do. The truth
is he was a very faithful officer He was
not very familiar with quarantine work
and made some blunders.
There is no desire, Of course, to belittle
the work done by DR.. Jenkins. The only
purpose is to show that the system that calls
for a state or city quarantine at every port
of consequence does not accomplish the OBJ
lect aimed at. If a case Of cholera should
appear at New York or any other port
quarantine against that port would be
declared by all the interior cities. and its
trade would be stopped for a greater or
less period.
The country should have a national
quarantine, and should have agents estab-
lished in Europe to inspect immigrants so
as to prevent those suffering from contagi-
Gus or infectious diseases frora coming to
this country. This cannot be done under
the present quarantine system.
The marine hospital service could be
readily enlarged so that it would meet all the
demands of quarantine. 1t already con.
tains great many men who are extremely
valuable for quarantine work.
The advantages Of national system over
state system are so great that it is ex-
tremely probable that the pressure in behalf
of that system will be very great during
this session of congress.