The age-herald., 1898-10-27
QUARANTINE AND THE RAILROADS Damage to Traffic Not So Great This
 Year. THE STATE WAS NOT TIED pP
Passengers Were Carried to Any Point
 at All Times.
NO TRAINS STOPPED ENTIRELY
Railroad. Men as General Rule Favor Quarantines in Hands of Federal Authorities, and Not Controll-
 ed by States and Cities.

1 is the opinion of every railroad man ques- toned on this subject. That is, not so bad as compared with the quarantine of former years, especially that of 1S97 | Railroad travel between the different | points in the state has not been interfered l with for a single day during the summer. l Every railroad in the state has been ruii- | ming daily trains over all it's lines, though l a few of them were forced to reduce their l number because the small amount of traffic l with Mississippi and Louisiana did not | justify the running of the full number of l trains.
 This year, on account of the rigid quarSR- | tine at Memphis, and the more moderate | quarantnes of Holly Springs and other | points in Mississippi, the Kansas City, | Memphis and Birmingham was compelled | to take off two of it's daily passenger trains, | one in each direction. Last year all travel was abandoned on this line, all trains be- ing taken off.
 The trains running between Birmingham and Columbus, Miss, on the Southern road, were stopped only for a week or two at Fern Bank, on the Mississippi border, and ,.-ere the passengers were transferred to Columbus. Local traffic between points in Alabama was not interfered with. Last year, however, the trains on this line were shut off entirely.
 Travel on the Alabama Great Southern between Birmingham and Meridian was stopped only for a short while, the passen- gers being transferred at Arklet That DOT ton of the state around about York was considered the most dangerous part of the state, especially as the fever got as far as Meridian. That it was kept out of Ala bama entirely was due to the hntiring ef- forts of the health officials of the state. Neither was the travel between Montgom- cry and York very seriously interfered with Last year both of these roads were practically closed.
 The Louisville and Nashville west of Mo- bhe has perhaps had as hard time as any road in the state this year, on account of the vigorous quarantines at the places along that line. Travel was never entirely closed up, however, and passenger trains have been run out of New Orleans with refugees all during the season. The Ala bama Great Southern also hauled number of refugees out of that city, Last year the Louisville and Nashville practically took off all its trains between Birmingham and Mobile on account of the fever at Mo-
 
 their trains were run through Birming- ham all through the season without stop- ping.
 None of the other roads in the state, not even those in the extreme southern convenience on account of the quarantine, the most serious result being that some of their trains had to be taken off
 The Local Quarantines
 number of the cities of Alabama-York, Selma, Montgomery and Mobile being among the number, have had city quaran- tines, the larger cities having their agents on all the incoming passenger trains, and the smaller towns having their guards at the depot to meet all trains There has been no conflict between the local quaran- tines and the state quarantines so far as is known.
 Household goods have been about the only freights this year that were contra band, though some complaint has been heard from the big mining companies of Birmingham that some of the seclusive little Mississippi towns didn't even want coal trains to pass through. Last year the shipment of all kinds of freight was very ehNNAseAAi, oiiu AhoSh oiihCuity was cApCil- enced by the shippers in Birmingham and other parts of the state.
 This year the mails have not been inter- fered with in the least. Last year, every body remembers how all the mail from Mobile and Montgomery, the only two in- fected points in the state, had to be fumi- gated. It was taken all the way through Atlanta, where there was disinfecting station. The letters were all punched full of holes in order to let in fumes, and after a day or two delay, the letter reached it's destination in Birmingham. Mail from New Orleans and other infected points had to be treated in the same manner.
 Favors National Quarantine
 Railroad men are, as a rule, in favor of asystem of national quarantine, instead of the state and municipal quarantine. They do not say much on the subject, for railroad men are naturally very poor talk CTS. But they have better opportunities than anybody else for seeing the great ad- vantages to be derived from a uniform quarantine in the hands of the federal gov ernment, and the many great disadvantages that follow from the complex and varied systems now in vogue.
 COL, BRYAN A TRUE SOLDIER