Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-11-02


from Democratic journals, interested
in the health and prosperity Of the
South; and again, there Is no question
OF the power Of the States involved
THE state boards of health are hope
lessly impoteut and can do little OF
nothing. The Louisiana board il
probably the most powerful, yet its
orders receive 70 consideration out.
side tue City Of New Orleans. 1t DOES
not control single hamlet IN the
State; iis Urdpr-, is advice, have been
dehpd by con-lanles; it, very proposI
ton for quarantine conference was
laughed to 5cOni, aud its resident
ordered back to New Orleans by a
self ppoiuted health committee Of
Rayne.
The State boards are almost pow
erless, not even advisory bodies The
quarantine power is exercised mainly
by local boards, without consttu
tional or legal existence; in many
cases by armed mobs. lu proposing,
therefore better organized system,
there is no attack on the right of the
States; in quarantine matters, the
States, Judging from the present con
| dition of the South, have no rights,
and society has resolved itself back
TO It's original elements, when every
man depended upon his own right
arm to defend hmself-"the good old
times" when disease ragged over the
world and when single epidemic
swept away three fourths of the pop
ulation of the civilized" world.
We are told that during the nine
teen years of the so called State quar-
antine protection the South escaped
yellow fever, and that this fact is to
be counted to Il e credit of the sys
tenn This is an error. We had vel.
low fever in Memphis in 1879, and
some in New Orleans, aud we have
had it since in Biloxi Pensacola,
Tampa Jacksonville. Jacksonville
Miss and Decatur (Ala. } and other
places. 1t has found no difficulty in
breaking through the quarantine lines,
and several times, notably in 1888, it
produced panics which for a while
unsettled business throughout the
South. That the disease did not
spread further was due, to a consid
cradle extent, to fortunate climatic
conditions. This years experience
has proved that it is dangerous to de-
pend upon climate to protect us from
yellow fever, that it is much safer 20
have good, sufficient quarantine sys-
tenn, aud one with some powers of ex
ecution. We want a system that will
work we'll in the hour of danger, not
one that will keep out fever only when
it does not prevail III Cuba but will
work when that island is reeking
with the vomito. The present out
break has emphasized the weakness
of the 80 called State system of quar-
antine. These weaknesses have been
known in New Orleans for years, and
attention has been frequently drawn
to them. The present outbreak has
demonstrated them all the more fore
IDLY. The following objections pre-
sent Themselves very conspicuously:
l. The State or local boards either
do not know yellow fever, or conceal
it, in Difference to public sentiment.
La only one case this yeHr-New Or
leans-was the yellow fever reported
voluntarily by the local board In
M bile, Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Scrau
ton, Edwards, Galveston and Hous
ton, not only did the local experts
fail to report the fever, but in several
instances denied the presence Of the
disease after it was discovered by the
United States Marine Hospital and
Others.
2. Local interests, in many cases,
are too strong to allow the truth to he
told, and we are reverting to the old |
policy Of concealment, which proved |
so fatal. Ia Texas DR.. Guiteras was
roundly denounced for finding yellow
fever; and had he been a local ply
sycian he would have taken a great |
risk in discovering it.
3, The State boards Of hea tn are
impotent aud powerless. Their reg
ulations are set at naught by the |
hamlets, and they bave no
power to carry them out; and even
their advice is repudiated.
A. There is no union or &C opera
ton among them. There is 30
called compact, but it is without con
stitutional or legal backing, is not
and is violated every year,
5. NJ two boards pursue the same
system. The Alabama quarantine is
wholly different from that in Louisi
ana; and the Florida quarantine the
very antipode of ours. If the deten-
.ion and disiniection required at the
mouth of the Mississippi is aece. sary
Tor vessels from Central America, the
same system and precautions are
=qually necessary for vessels reach
ng Tampa from Havana, rocking as
t is with yellow fever, yet is not in
force there.
&. As 10 State board has any con
.rol over another State board-aud /
not even over its own local boards
all that we Of Louisiana. can do when
we see Florida letting in yellow fever
cases from Havana, is TO protest,
which protests are always answered /
UIfh aHApftvAa VA,lu 81 # /