The record-union., 1897-12-14

Dr. Drake, CnleI SufSSoH VI 'hS
Southern Railway, in his recent paper
on yellow fever in the South, declares
that the late outbreak of the disease
has demonstrated anew the entire in
capacity and inadequacy of local quar-
antine regulations by towns, cities and
counties against epidemic assaults OF
smallpox, yellow fever cholera and
similar affiictions Dr. Drake says:
The numerous conflicting and, in
many instances, ridiculous quarantine
regulations, formulated by State, coun-
ty and municipal authorities, and en-
forced OftentimeS by excited and mex
perienced men, aided in some cases by
the shotgun, during the epidemic Of
yellow fever which has just prevailed
in the Gulf States; the utter disregard
of commercial and railway interests,
and in the end the complete failure to
arrest the passage of the contagion
from town to town and from State to
State, form telling object lesson,
which must convince the stanchest
supporter of State autonomy that the
Federal Government should take entire
and complete control of quarantine in
these several diseases
Illustrations of confusion and conflict
of sanitary and quarantine regulations
during the recent epidemic were to be
found everywhere in the territory in
volved. Unreasonable quarantine re
strictionS We're imposed One State
quarantined against another State, and
one town against another town. One
or two small villages in Alabama and
Mississippi quarantined even against
the world. Travel was interfered with
or wholly suspended; commerce was
paralyzed throughout Alabama Mis-
sisSippi, Louisiana and Texas, and
greatly hampered in all contiguous
States; while the movement of railway
trains in these States was either en-
tirely forbidden or limited. The United
States mails We're stopped and more
than once destroyed by local authori-
ties The requirements of State and
local Boards of Health for disinfection
were IN many instances as absurd as
they were Incompatible with each other,
and the absence Of uniformity in reg
ulations imposed unjust hardships upon
the travelling public and the railways
interested. The loss to the country
must be estimated by millions Of
dollars. The South was on the very
threshold of prosperity; crops were
abundant in yield, manufactures We're
opening up, and new life and hope were
ready to enter. In the presence of this
happy condition, a single case of yellow
fever was introduced. and the disease
was allowed to spread. producing a
panic among the people, destroying
commerce and traffic, and affecting in
Juriously every enterprise in the sec
ton. State and municipal authorities
found themselves. unable to cope with
the disease or to stamp it out, because
they lacked experience, and the ma
chinery for effective quarantine and for
the enforcement of sanitary rules and
regulations
In his declaration we apprehend that
the Doctor Will be supported by public
opinion Local quarantine and regula
tion may and do serve good purpose
within local bounds. We find that in
the control Of smallpox and diphtheria
in town or city such quarantine and
! regulation are efficacious. But when
one town attempts to quarantine
against another; when one city puts up
/ the bars against another. and there
is no intelligent and generous concert
of action, quarantine becomes inef-
fective, and besides failure to prevent
the spread of disease. there is serious
and useless injury to business.