The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-25
Orr QUARANTINE REGULATIONS.
DR.. J. c. LeHardy Discusses Them in
the SanItnrian.

I sanitary Progress IN savannah
In respect 20 quarantine ne says
With the experience Of 90 years show
ing uaat quarantine has never prevented
the return Of yellow fever 20 the United
States. and the verdict Of the Quarantine
and sanitary congresses" composed Of
our best sanitar.ans. as you wei know.
which met In Philadelphia, Baltimore.
New York and Boston m 1877. ISIS, 1883,
and 1s6O declaring that quarantine was
I utterly useless as a preventive against
yellow fever in default Of local sanitary
measures; and on the other hand that the
/ disappearance Of yellow fever as an cpl
] demic disease in Boston. New York. Phil
| adelphIa. Norfolk, Charleston and New
/ Orleans, ia the order In which they are
] named, as soon as proper attention was
I given to municipal sanitation and 20 the
/ drainage Of surrounding wet lands, is IL
not remarkable that every successive al
| dermanic board OF Savannah
should have continued TO en-
| force yearly, between the Isl
| OF May and the LIST OF November. a quar-
aHtine OF long detention against vessels
coming from ATTITUDES where yellow fever
is suspected TO exist, especially while they
have, under their control, a first-class
quarantine establishment furnished with
all the best and newest appliances for
| rapid disinfection OF vessels and their car
goes and Of the bedding and clothing of
crews, and maintain, at great expense 10
the ny. a fun corps of competent Of
ficers to do the work. Under present quar-
antine regulations every ship from the
West Indies and South America is de-
tanned two weeks or longer. one laden
with coffee, which left Rio de JaneirO in
winter, with a clean bill Of health, and
no sickness on board. was detained ninety
days! And the farce Of burning sulphur
in the hold is still relied upon as a pre-
ventve. II seems, however. that no con-
fdence is placed in either one of these
methods by those who direct them, from
the fact that when incoming vessels have
sickness on board. or have touched within
a month or two at an infected or suspect
ed port. they are Immediately sent 10 the
marine hospital quarantine station at Sa-
pelo, whore they are subjected to similar
detention and fumigation before being
permitted to return to the Savannah quar-
antine station. As the natural result OF
such a long and expensive detention at
quarantine, our summer commerce, one 50
considerable and so profitable is now to-
tally ruined, to the injury of every bust
ness interest, and to the entailing of great
suffering upon an important portion of
the laboring people who are thus thrown
JUL VI ANH AlAdA tiAfAul lllHlAL uuiliE SIN
months of the year. Efforts have been re-
peatedly made by our board Of trade and
other commercial bodies to induce the city
council to shorten the time of detention
but without avail Why intelligent men,
anxious to see Savannah prosper, should
so persistently refuse to abolish or modify
the faulty, useless and ruinous quarantine
regulations that were prompted by the
fear of yellow fever Immediately after
the epidemic OF 1876, is the question be-
fore US. Is it because yellow fever is on
the increase? Evidently not, for it is well
known that the backbone of this disease
was broken at Norfolk in 1850, no cpl
demic of any consequence having occurred
in the United States from that year I'M
I'll 1876 The epidemic at Savannah that
| year and the one at New Orleans and in
| the Mississippi valley in 1S7S-79, being as
| 1t were its death throes against the re-
| sistless force Of local sanitation. The few
outbreaks that have since occurred show
| more and more the power of local sani-
| tary measures against the introduction Of
| yellow fever as of other infectious dis
| eases.
Is 1t because yellow fever has increased
| in virulence and become more fatal-con-
| ditions generally proportional with filthy
conditions in localities where IL prevails
| that the city council perpetuates this an
| tiquated and falacious system? This can
not be- for history shows, that at the be-
| ginning Of this century, from thirty to
| forty in every hundred persons who con-
| tracted the disease died of It, while the
| mortality during the epidemics of 1876.
at Savannah, and of 1873, at New Orleans,
/ was only 10 per cent; and in its later Wis
| itations at Jacksonville and Brunswick 1t
| dwindled to per cent-a mortality to the
| number OF cases reported to be yellow
| fever scarcely greater than in our COM
| mon bilious fevers. Some other reasons
for their action must therefore be sought.
| The aldermans season in office is so
short, and his time so pre-occupied by
his own affairs mo salary being paid him),
| that he has no opportunity to study or
| ability to grasp the question, hence he
| leaves the question as well as the man
| agement of quarantine IN the hands of
| the health officer whom he considers an
expert. And Savannahs misfortune is,
| in this respect that the present incumbent
| Of the office has been IN the service for
! eight years, primarily under the auspices
of the marine hospital service. He is we'd
ded to the continued policy of that ser
| vice. in dealing with yellow fever as if it
were a contagious disease. His mastery
! of the fallacious arguments from this
point of view, urged in connection with
| the city's exemption from yellow fever
| during recent years-for which he claims
| the credit-are we'll calculated to influence
| the minds of the councilmen in his favor,
| though greatly 10 the ueulmenL OF the
| best interests of the city, not only from
the restriction of commerce. but by di-
verting the attention of the city authori-
ties from local sanitary measures.
1t was by the exercise or the health Of
ficer's influence with the city council that
quarantine was declared against Pensa-
cola and Tampa, on receipt of a telegram
from the chief of the marine hospital ser
vice that cases OF sickness existed in those
places of a suspicious character-cases
that, after examination, proved not TO be
| yellow fever.
Such precipitate action can only be ac-
counted for by the want of practical
knowledge of the nature of yellow fever,
or by a disposition on the part of those
who exercise it, to take advantage of the
ignorance of people under the stimulus of
fear, to maintain a pretentious system of
preventive medicine alike inconsistent
with sanitary knowledge and the interest
Of the people.
However, some progress has been made,
in virtue of the practical lesson-under
army egulations-referred to in my pre-
vious communication, though the memo
ny of the lesson had well nigh lapsed dur
ing the succeeding dozen years, and the
| xayac no Of