New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-01-24
T1MMANY And QUARANTINE.

| In their determination not to surrender
particle of Tammanys power or patronage The
delegates Of that society in Congress have prob
ably prevented the passage of any scrviccablt
quarantine measure at this session. They have
received their orders and will employ all then
resources to carry them out. a bill rcmOdellcd
to suit the purposes Of Tammany was passed
in the House yesterday but it not the
Senate bill, so that 4 prompt conference and
adjustment are not likely TO be secured. Each
of the two bills will now 60 to the foot of the
calendar in the branch which did not originate
| it, and there seems to be only small chance
left of remedyng 4 most dangerous condition
of affairs.
For this indecent affront to expert judgment
and popular opinion Tammany is primarily
responsible. u would be hard to conceive of
a more wanton and shameful exercise of in
fuence and authority. The task of defeating
quarantine reform was undertaken by Tam
many for tho sole purpose of keeping DR..
Jenkins in possession Of an Office which is Use
full to the or8anization and profitable to him.
Not trace of any higher motive can be dis
covered, and nobody is deceived by the pre-
tence of one. Tammany is willing for the sake
of retaining It's power over passengers and
merchandise arriving at this port TO leopard
human life from one end of the country to the
ether and to put the common welfare in im-
| minent peril. That is the plain truth which
no clumsy DISCUSSES can hide. And the action
| is deliberate. The men who ordered this thing
| done and the men who have Obcyed orders
have proceeded with full knowledge of the
situation and the probable consequences.
If the Health Officer of this port were man
of wide knowledge, skill. experience and
repute, whose fitness for his place was uni
versally acknowledged. the attempt to retain
him in office at the sacrifice of thoroughly
adequate National system of quarantine would
be unwarrantable and cruel. But so far from
being such an official DR.. Jenkins is the pre-
else opposite. This is not the careless asser-
ton Of partisan and incompetent witnesses.
After a searching investigation, prosecuted in
a spirit of absolute fairness and candor, COM
mittee of eminent physicians, among the fore
most men in their profession in character and
at,ainments, declared that Dr.. Jenkins was dis
qualified for the arduous and delicate duties
devolved upon him. The report of this com
mittee was accepted by the Chamber of Com
merce of New-York the foremost mercantile
association in the country. The judgment of
these investigators and observers, who are too
keeny alive to the perils which threaten their
own possessions to be influenced for Il moment
by personal preferences or antpathlcs, even
if they felt no higher sense of responsibility
for the common welfare. has been accepted by
the country with remarkable unanmty. Out
side the selfish and dOcile circle which is con-
trolled by Tan,many Hall there is practically
no opposition to National quarantine. From
Legislatures, boards of trade and health
scientific organizations, individual experts and
numerous communities Of intelligent persons
has come the demand for the establishment OF
comprehensive system of sanitary protection,
organized and controlled by the National Gov
eminent
Outside of the dcbased imagination of the
Tammany leaders not trace of political preju-
dice has entered into the discussion. The
Federal authority will be welded by the Dem
ocratic party after March 4, but the conviction
Of Republicans everywhere that National quar-
antne is an indispensable condition of safety
has not been shaken by that fact, nor has it
been used aS-an argument among Democrats
themselves The necessity and the obligation
transcend all such considerations. An cpl
demic Of cholera far more deadly and extensive
by the highest sanitary authorities to ravage
Europe this year. 1t can be kept ont of the
United States only by incessant vigilance and
skill and fidelity a, every point. The country
realizes its danger and the peculiar loss and
misery which an invasion Of the pcstilence in
the year of the Worlds Fair would produce.
But because Tammany controls the admins
tlation Of quarantine at this one port through
its control of an incompetent and discredited
Health Officer and cannot endure the thought
of relaxing its grip upon a single mOrsel of
patronage and plumber it strains every nerve
to keep the whole land in peril. Thus far it
has succeeded. 1t may seem incredible that
such scheme of audacous scfishncss can
finally prevail. But it certainly will unless a
pressure is brought to bear upon members of
Congress which they will not dare TO resist.
There is power in the constituencies which
can now be applied efrectually. But if that
irresistible influence is not exerted promptly
the Tammany leaders will have their way and
the whole country will bear the consequences.