The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-26
TO REPLY TO DR.. LIE HARDY.
THE SANITARY BOARDS INSTRUC-
TIONS TO DIR. BRUNNER.

I DR.. lie Hardy's Article on sanitary
Progress in savannah Condemned
by the Observation-Disclosures on
Ger DR.. Graham on the Detention
of Vessels at Quhrantine-HiS IN
perienee With vessels With CIeOn
Bills of Health.
The sanitary board held a meeting yes
terday morning and discussed DR.. J. c.
I LeHardy's artiole IN the August Santa
4 rian on Sanitary Progress in Savannah"
published in yesterdays Morning News.
I The sentiment OF the board was unani-
nous in condemning the article. not only
as unjust but also injurious TO Savannah
| on account the number Of al
| legged erroneous and misleading
[ statements in f.. Il was
the sentiment Of the board that Dr. Brun-
ner reply TO the article by DIT. LeHardy,
and he was instructed TO DO so.
DR.. Drummer Will prepare his article dur
ing the next two or three weeks and viii
submit it TO the sanitary board. which
Will decide whether or not it viii request
the publication Of the reply by the SAM
tartan.
DR.. J. B. Graham. for several years in
charge Of the quarantine station, which
position he resigned about a year ago,
was in Dr. Brunner's office when a Morn
ing News reporter called there yesterday.
DR.. Graham agreed with Or. Drummer
in saying that Dr. LeHardy is entirely at
sea as to his ideas of the methods i'm
vogue at the Savannah quarantine sta
| ton. No vessel was detained at the sta
ton during DIT. Graham's time as quar-
antine officer, he said, for any such pc
riOd as ninety days or for half that time.
1T was very seldom" he said, that
a vessel was detained over fourteen days
and then it IS usually sailing vessels with
rock or earth ballast to unload. This is
where the time is lost. Nearly all steam
vessels come now in water ballast. which
can be pumped out in a short time. The
time required for disinfection Is
twenty-four hours to be followed by five
days detention. AS 1t is not necessary
for the steamers to wait to get to the
wharves before being disinfected they
are seldom detained longer than six days.
Sometimes there is delay in preparing for
disinfectiOn on the part Of the ship but
a steamer is never detained over seven
days. II there Is sickness aboard or the
vessel has touched at an infected port
she Is sent to Sapelo at once"
Dr. Graham related an experience of
his at the Savannah quarantine, showing
what dependence can be placed upon
clean bills of health issued by consuls at
South American ports.
About a. year and a half ago the Nor
wegian bark Skoal put into quarantine
bound for the city, from Santos. The cap
tain presented a clean bill of health from
the American consul at that place. San
tos is known as the worst fever hole IN
South America, and DIR. Graham was
very suspicious of the vessel He ques-
toned the captain closely, but the
| latter swore positively that he had left
| Santos in good condition and had had no
| sickness aboard since his departure.
I used to receive a good many foreign
| papers while at quarantine" said DR.. Gra-
ham, "and among those which ] had just
| received was Norwegian paper. In glanc-
| ing over this paper / saw communca-
| ton mentioning the Skoal, the very YES
| sell 1t happened that my wife had a
! Swedish servant girl in her employ. / gave
| her the paper and had her read the ar
| ticle 1t was from the mate of the Skoal,
| and reclted the experience Of the vessel
| at Santos. She had laid there for several
/ months without being able to get out on
| account of the fever. Two crews had been
! put aboard of her and each crew had died
! before the vessel could be gotten out of
| port. AT last they got a mixed Portu-
| guese and negro crew and prepared to
make the voyage. There was
! German who wanted to reach
| the United States who made arrangements
| for passage for himself his wife and two
children They were taken aboard and
! the vessel pulled out from the port to the
outer bay and dropped anchor for the
night That night the German family
| was taken sick and the two children died.
The next day the German and his wife
| were taken in the ships launch to be car
| ried back to the city for treatment The
! ship came on to Savannah, but three more
men died of fever before she had fairly
gotten away from Santos. Yet the cap
tain of the Slxoal presented a clean bill of
| health and swore that he had had no
sickness since leaving Santos. When l
showed that paper under his nose and
! showed him the account of his vessels
| troubles in his own language he turned
| white with anger and modification. In
just fifteen minutes l had him behind
| tug and on his way to Sapelo.'
| That's an illustration of what a clean
! bill of health from Santos or Rio is
worth" said DIR. Drummer.
! What do the consuls get for making a
clean bill Of health for a vessel?" DR..
! Drummer was asked.
Whatever the ship captains are a mind
to pay" he replied.
1T is no hardship for those vessels to
so into quarantine here continued DR..
Graham. They lay up for months at
Santos and other yellow fever ports. Why,
do you know there are vessels at Santos
which have been there for ten years be-
cause they cannot get crews to take them
out. Ii is true. The crews die as fast as
1 they are put aboard before the vessels
can be gotten out of port. There is no
such thing as a perfect quarantine. but
with no quarantine al all. or with a lax
quarantine SaVannah's situation would be
very dangerous"