The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-10-10
THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC.
Necessity For q National Maritime Quar-
antine,
To the Editor of the Press:

which the country has had during the
present threatened invasion of Cholera
| should not be fruitless OF results for our
| future security against the inevitable
repetition of like attacks from the dis
ease nests of Europe. 1t will be in line
with all previous history of epidemics of
this character to expect the recurrence
in perhaps more violent form next spring
with isolated attacks here and there dur
ng the coming winter. Our vigi lance
| cannot be relaxed because of the appar-
ent subsistence of what some delightfully."-
uniformed optimists characterize as the
| Cholera ''scare''.
All epidemics of pestilcntial diseases
have small beginnings, and it is just as
possible that the accidental admission of
few trunks of infected baggage belong
ing to some innocent looking Russian
immigrant arriving here during a re-
laxation Of our quarantine, may prove to
be the focus of a serious epidemic, as it
is possible that the accidental scattering
VI u AOW OCCSO IA biC Dull Will lOoutb ALI
the full crop under equally favorable con-
ditions. 1t is not necessary for one to
be an alarmist to be prudently preparing
for future and inevitable danger. So long
as it is the public policy of the United
States to offer itself to the world as a
catch-basin for not only the oppressed
of Europe, but the expressed Of Europe,
Asia and Africa, it is obviously unfair to
expect the medical profession to protect
the public health unless better facilities
are provided for dealing with these
strangers as they enter our portals. By
the most strenuous efforts on the part of
patriotic statesmen few restrictions
have been slowly added to our immigra-
ton laws to sift out the chaff from the
supposed wheat of this incoming horde,
and while it has been provided that con-
tract laborers, paupers, criminals, insane
persons and those suffering from a
chronic disease may be excluded, yet it
has only been by an assertion of emf
nent domain, SO to speak, that the fed
eral government has been able to place
its powerful hand upon the flood gates of
disease bearing immigrants and Indirect
ly check the sources of supply for a
limited period during impending danger.
Having been in my Official capacity long
familiar with the national quaran-
tine laws, and lately through temporary
special duty at the headquarters Of my
service in this city, where all that the
government has had to do with the chol-
era invasion was formulated and directed
l feel competent to speak upon the actual
and lamentable lack of power which the
general government possesses to deal
with a subject of such national import
ance. The Constitution is silent upon
power to maintain a federal quarantine
although it has been urged by some,
who think that much stretched instru-
ment is capable Of infinite tension, that
the power of Congress to "repel invasion
(Section S)could be invoked to do duty
against an onslaught of disease germs!
Under this same section the power of
Congress ''to regulate commerce with
foreign nations and among the several
states resides the competency of the
general government to enact quarantine
laws, which is one of the regulations of a
foreign commercial traffic. This section
is the foundation of the present Quaran-
tine Act of 1878, under which the general
government is now acting. But its hands
were practically tied up blythe objections
of extreme Estates Rights Senators and
Congressman from that section of the
country where that doctrine is so te-
naciously held. The powers of the gen
eral government to quarantine were made
strong enough, provided it did not con-
fiict with or impair any quarantine laws
of states or municipalities. This law was
therefore a compromise of the constitu-
tional doctrinaires, and the result has
been that in this, as in every other, cpl
demic, since its passage the general gov
eminent has had to sitidly by until the
magnitude of the epidemic has over
wheimed the limited forces of the local
peal to the national establishment after
the damage has been done; or else try to
work in concert. Every man knows that
two heads cannot do else than hotch-
potch work under these provisions. I'm
der this impracticable relic of connstitu-
tional hair-splitting our maritime quaran-
tine is in a condition of divided response
bility. Every Atlantic state, Georgia
and Virginia excepted, has State Board
of Health, each supreme in it's own terri
tory and subject to no common restraint
or unity of action. Such chain is no
stronger than it's weakest link. The en-
tire border of maritime states with the
exception above noted) are to be credited
with efficient sanitary laws made more or
less effective by physicians and lay
men of special requirements in this
branch of knowledge; but it must
be obvious that if Massachusetts
or8Delaware for example) has q weak