The morning news., 1897-01-24
SAVANNAH QUARANTINE.
What 1t Was, what 1t Is, what II
Ought to BE.

| seapOrtS upon the South ATTAIN
tic and Gulf coast, savannah's
| prosperity depends entirely upon
her coastwse and foreign commerce. Her
/ fields, once so richly laden with the long
and silky cotton and the wavy golden
| rice, are barren. and her once wealthy
planters are reduced to poverty. The ne
! groes formerly raised and fed upon the
| plantation, now huddle in the city to live
| upon what work they can find The cap
ital invested in her railways, paid a high
rate of interest and as these were owned
by our people their earnings were spent
at home. These railroads and their work
shops gave employment to thousands of
our men. Now all this has passed into
| the hands of corporations which have no
| special interest in the progress of our
| city, so that no more work is done and
| no more money spent here than absolutely
| necessary But as an immense territory
| abounding in timber minerals and other
| valuable products, has been opened by
| the extension of these railroads and their
| ramitications, Savannah possesses greater
| facilities for traffic, than ever before. The
| high rate Of taxation, costly living and
| consequent scarcity of skilled labor pre-
/ vent the success of manufacturing and
other enterprises, thus our waterways are
| This was evident that for years our
| business men and our representatives in
| congress have worked assduously TO
| cure appropriations from the government,
and fully 100000 have been spent
| to deepen the river channel
| and facilitate navigation. The great value
| of this work to Savannah is evident By
permitting vessels of greater tonnage and
| greater speed to load at our wharves and
| carry our cotton, naval stores, etc, at
| cheaper rates. to foreign countries, it
places it in our power to compete with rival
| ports, north and south.
| This being the case, it is reasonable to
| suppose that those in whose hands we en-
| trust the management of our affairs, would
| feel in duty bound to encourage our mari
| time commerce, to remove every obstacle
which might in any way interfere with
| rapid transportation to and from this port,
| and to make Savannah as popular as pos
| stble with shippers and masters of vessels.
| But unfortunately this IS not the case.
| Ever since the yellow fever epidemic of
| 1876 our city councils, either being actuated
| by fear, misead by false representations,
| or through other causes, have destroyed
| our summer trade and stunted our i'm
| porting and exporting commerce by de-
| tanning vessels ten to twenty days at quar-
| antine, Notwithstanding the fact that the
| law only requires a. detention of g to 5
| days. The enormous expense to the ship
| caused by this long detention, the quaran-
| tine charges the destruction of personal
| effects by the methods used at our quar-
| antine, and the contumely with which
| their complaints are treated by our city
| fathers, make this port extremely unpop-
ular with shippers and masters of vessels.
| The aim of this article is to demonstrate
that the long detention quarantine so rig
| IDLY enforced against all vessels coming
| from infected or suspected ports is both
| unnecessary and uncalled for, inasmuch
| as Savannah is less liable to yellow fever
| than any other port upon the Atlantic and
| Gulf coast, and to convince our people
! that they will be far better protected
| against yellow fever, cholera, smallpox,
or the plague when the antiquated and
deceptive methods still in use here and at
| the government station shall be replaced
| by the new and scientific system of "ship
| sanitation" now practiced in all progress
| sive soaports Less than a score of years
| ago New Orleans was very sickly and sub
| Ject to the frequent visltations of yellow
| fever. But at last her people were awak-
| ened by the epidemic of 1878 to realize the
| Importance of sanitation. They formed a
| sanitary association, collected money, and
| spent 1t in cleansing the city and her sur
| race drains, in improving the method of
| garbage disposal, and increasing the sup
| ply of pure river water. To this indepen-
| dent action of her citizens the Crescent
| city owes her present greatly reduced rate
| OF mortality and her exemption from vol
low fever. Her summer trade which, like
| ours, had been ruined by the long deten-
ton OF vessels at quarantine, revived i'm
| mediateiy upon the abolition of the old
| system and the adoption of ship SANTA
| tion in 1885. Her imports valued at less
/ 0o3 that year. increased to SIS, ,OS9 94f in 1895
During this period no case of contagious
| or infectious disease crossed the protective
barriers and her population increased at
| a rapid rate
| II such results have been obtained I'm a
! city with 50 many disadvantages and such
| obstacles in the way. Savannah whose
proximity to the sea, greater facilities of
| approach, greater elevation above low wa
| ter mark and other natural sanitary ad-
vantages, should certainly accomplish a
| great deal more
There is surely no reason why, under
| proper management her imports. valued
at S652, ,625 in 1885, instead of dwindIing
| down TO $SIS'OO In 1895, should not increase
in a greater ratio thin in New Orleans
| lnasmuch as quarantine exerts such
powerful influence upon our commerce. 1t
Is evident that we are all more or less
interested in it's proper management We
| should, therefore, study this Intricate
! question carefully, so that in case we are
/ called upon to act Independently we NAV
! do SO intelligently and deliberately. To
further this end, l will divide the subject
! into three parts:
The first will treat Of Savannah's past
history IN Its relation to yellow fever and
! quarantine, The second will show how,
/ after being abandoned as useless, through
| the inhuence of the marine hospital SER
! vice, quarantine against yellow fever was
| revived and enforced at the South Allan
tic and Gulf ports only, driving their sum-
mer commerce to northern ports; also how
| the management of our own quarantine
] has been detrimental to our commercial
| interest In the third part ! will describe
/ the new system, which ought 10 have been
! adopted here long ago, since Il has been
! eleven years In successful operation at the
| Mississippi quarantine stations, controlled
! by the Louisiana state board of health.
! Allow me, before closing 70 request
| those who have not yet done So to furnish
me with such information as they may
! possess relative to our quarantine-to ex-
| ira costs due to long detention, TO losses
from destruction of personal effects. an
| noyances, etc, caused by the methods In
vogue at our station.
J. c. LeHardy.