The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-12
THE NATIONAL QUARANTINE.

The opposition in the House of Repre- sem
tatives at Washington to the establishment
Of a national quarantine comes mainly
from the Tammany members OF the New
York delegation, who are unwilling TO forego
the plumber that is raked in every year by
the Health Officer and his assistants. To
strengthen the hands of these members,
dinner is shortly to be given to Mr.. Jenkins,
at which il will probably be demonstrated
that he is an ideal Health Officer. On the
other hand, tie New York Academy of
Medicine raised about a month ago a COM
mittee 10 examine the subject Of quarantine.
Tie committee reported in the last week in
January. The following is an extract from
their report:
We found The quarantine establishment at This
port utterly insufficient for dealing with any
emergency in which more Than a single large emf
graat passenger shin Infected with cholera should
present Itself. Wefound that the facilities which
did exist or were eXtempOrized were not admin
iSlered in such way as TO inspire confidence. In
spite Of the suffering, inconvenience aud loss
which were inflicted upon citizens and others en-
tering this port cholera nl1dc us appearance IN
SEA eTaj places in Nelc York city, but a spread
Of the disease through The city and country was
prevented by the effective measures employed by
the Healin Department
The academy asked the members of the
profession in Boston, Philadelphia and
Chicago to appoint delegations 10 act with
their committee. In Chicago, where the
subject is of vital interest, as an outbreak
of cholera would be fatal to the exposition.
a meeting of leading physicians was held
Saturday week, and the sense of the profes-
sion and of the public was thoroughly ex-
! ressed. A string of resolutions were
passed, Of which the following was the
pith:
Resolred. That Il is the opinion of the phy-
sicians OF the State OF Illinois here assembled
that an emergency exists which In their opinion
makes Il Imperative that, for the safety ana well
fare OF our country, the present Congress enact
sUcn laws as VIII give the country security
against tile threatened Invasion Of Asiatc
cholera. That It is believed. can be best and
perhaps only secured by national quarantine
laws which shall be applicable 10 the enti,e ter
rltory OF The United States.
1t was shown to the meeting that last
years experience demonstrated the made
quacy of the quarantine, isolation and dis
infection under the State laws of New y ork :;
and il was not uureasonably inferred that
the facts shown to exist at New York prof.
ably exist in a greater or less degree at all
entire iron tier Of tile United States, north,
south. east and west. The necessity for a
quarantine controlled by anauth0rity whose
power may not be limited by State lines
WAS thus shown. and a suitable appeal was
made by the meeting to the Illinois delega-
ton for support for the measure now before
Congress.
1t is not easy 10 discern from what por-
ton Of the country the Tammany members
can hope TO obtain assistance in their at
tempt to defeat the national quarantine.
Certainly in this State the public would be
much surprised to find any mem Der of our
delegation opposing a national quarantine
1t is one of those questions on which pee
pie are apathetic until an emergency arises,
and then they rush into all sorts of ex-
tremes, and, in their panic, blind themselves
to the laws of humanity. Slowly, steadily,
inex0rably cholera is reappearing al tie
vulnerable ports in Europe, as the physi-
clans said il would. An infected passenger,
an infected bale Of rags may bring it across
the Atlantic at any moment, and then local
boards of health will have to grapple with
it, as the Board Of Health in New York did
last August Which is best. To take the
chances or to adopt a comprehensive and
effective system Of self-defense?
Some medical men, like DR.. +. w. Reilly
Of Chicago. call Asiatic cholera bugbear,
and hold that the disease is dying ont in
this country as a sanitary factor. 1t Is
probably true that the mortality from
cholera is less than it used to be. when the
faculty had not learned how to deal with
it; but pesIilence which swept Hamburg
as cholera did last year can hardly be de-
scrbed as a bugbear. 1t may not be what
Dr.. Reilly calls sanitary factor" bnt it
kills good many people when il gets a
f00th0ld, and it is not much consolation 10
their relatives to reflect that even more
deaths would have occurred in the last
generation. 1t is less than eight years since
it nearly depopulated Andalusia in Spain,
and less than year since il converted pTi-
yate houses into hospitals in Astrakhan. A
very few deaths at an American seaport
would put quietus on the Worlds Fair in
Dr.. Reilly's own city. and he would find it
difficult to overcome the panic by assur-
anees that the disease was not "a sanitary