The age-herald., 1898-02-04
The Quarantine Problem.

tHe VudFdftine rTUUitIIis
 The Mobile quarantine convention has been very much anticipated by report of a bill, together with an elaborate discus sion of the quarantine problem, from the committee on public health and national quarantine. Senator Mallory dissents from the conclusions of the committee but those conclusions bear the indorsement of Senators Vest, McEnery, Quay and Gal-- finger. The two first named are demo- crats, and the last named two republicans. The action of the committee is free from doctrinal points or partisan bias.
 The report presented by Senator Vest conclusively shows that, under decisions of the supreme court already rendered, con gress has the power to control the opera tion of state quarantine laws when in their opinion they injuriously affect com- merce among the states; and whenever congress enacts a general quarantine law all state laws in conflict with 1t are abro- gated.
 But the committee thinks the steps lead ing up to a radical change in this respect should be taken slowly and by degrees, lest the south be left exposed next summer to another outbreak of yellow fever. The committee have therefore amended the bill of Senator Caffery by imposing additional duties upon the marine hospital service, and by giving the president of the United States additional powers in the case of widespread epidemic The section that may be combatted by those over anxious as to state powers reads as follows
 s'Whenever yellow fever, cholera plague or typhus fever has passed the quaran- tines of the United States, or in any num- tines of the United States, or in any man. ner any one of these diseases has gained entrance or has appeared within the limits of any state, territory, or the District Of Columbia, the quarantine regulations of the United States, prepared under the direc- tion of the secretary of the treasury, for the purpose of preventing the spread of such diseases from one state, territory, or the District of Columbia into another state, territory the District of Columbia, shall be supreme and have precedence of state or municipal laws, rules or regulations, and the president is authorized to enforce the same and to control the movement of vessels, railway trains, vehicles, or per- sons so as to prevent these diseases from spreading from one state, territory, or the District of Columbia to another state, ter ritory or the District of Columbia, and to prevent unnecessary restrictions upon in- terstate commerce; and whenever in &C., cordance with the rules and regulations made as herein authorized to prohibit or permit the movement of vessels, railway trains, and vehicles, or transportation of persons. prohibitions or permits have been made or granted, any person violating said prohibition or permit shall be deemed gull ty of misdemeanor, and shall be subject to fine of not more than s1 900 or impris- onment for not more than twelve months. or both, at the discretion of the court: and shall be reported to the United States dis trict attorney for the district in which the offense has been committed. who shall thereupon institute necessary proceedings for the recovery of the penalty herein im- posed.'
 The Caffery bill as it came from the perceded all state quarantine regulations: but the bill as amended interferes with the police powers of the states only when the interests of interstate commerce are at If the amended bill had been in operation last summer the marine hospital service would have taken complete control of the fever cases at Ocean Springs, in the state of Mississippi in order to secure freedom of commerce passing to and from Mobile in the state of Alabama, and New Orleans, in the state of Louisiana.
 The bill of the senate committee is the horse sense of the situation; and the Mo- bile convention people will do well if they will order their secretary to read 1t, and then they will do better still if they will fndorse it and at once adjourn, leaving the thirty-seven subjects they have met to discuss untouched and unsettled The people do not want discussions; they want the bill that Senator Vest has just laid be- fore the senate.