El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-08-25
TEL PASO AND THE QUARANTINE.

1
board,
Mr.. E. c. Pew, member of school
board,
DR.. M. o. Wright.
How many million dollars this qua
rsntine has cost the state of Texas
We will not try to estimate. 1t Is esti-
mated here that Ell Paso alone is losing
twenty-five Thousand 70 fifty thousand
dollars per month because of II. The
Health Officer may, indeed, strive to
belittle this phase by saying that it is
Zone side, that Of the commercial ele-
ments, and the railroads." To THE We
reply. fret, that In any aspect the COM
mercial and railroad elements cOnsti-
tute q very large and Important side;
And secondly, that In this case there
is no other eide. The other side does
not exist except In the Imagination or
self Interest Of the Texas Quarantine
Department. The only ''other eide"
that could be considered in this connec-
Of Texas; aud IL is proved by the whole
course of events since last March, when
she first alleged case of bubonis plague
was reported In San Francisco, that the
awful peril from Frisco which has
lowered over the Texas Quarantine
Department for all of these months,
10 . phantom, . creature of she imagf-
nation.
The modification" of the qusran-
tine restrictions upon which the State
Health Omoer lays 90 much stress do
not meet she case. We want not mo-
didoation but abolition. Much of the
injury, indeed, cannot be uadone BY
any action now possible. This quar-
antine has definitely turned the tide
Of travel away from the southern route
and sent IL over more northern rou ties.
Il 10 we'll known that when onoe thus
detected, travel does not readily re-
turn to lie former channel, even when |
the obstruction which caused the de. |
Election 10 removed. So long as 1t is
published to the world that Texas
mainsaine this quarantine, 90 long the
tide of travel will continue to run away
from Texas, even though the indivi.
dual traveller who starts from some
other point than San Francisco may be
told that he has no reason to fear de-.
sension. Travellers fear . quarantine.
We have definite Information that peo-
pie from Southern Californis and |
other points outside of the district |
Guaranteed against, have taken q |
northern route because of the vague,
underlined, but nevertheless controlling |
fesr that in some way the quarantine |
might cause them trouble. The very
word quarantine is potent to turn the
traveller away. The only effective
relief for the situation is to restore
public confidence by raising the quar-
antine absolutely and wholly. Then
the work of recovering the detected
tide OF travel and business may begin.
We wish to emphasize the character
and extent OF the Investigations made |
10 San Francisco to determine she ex.
tent of the danger. The Governor of
California, U. 8. Judge w. w. Nor
row, Senator Perkins, Surgeon-Gen.
eral Wyman, the business and mercsn-
tile organisations of San Francisco, the
praoticing physicians of the city, In
dividusl citizens whose Families are
employing Chinese servants and are
subjected to daily exposure II the
plague exists there, the newspapers of
San Francisco, with their enormous
facilities for ferrssing out the truth
all these and many other Investigators
have pursued she avenues Of informa-
sion to the very end, and then deliver
ed the verdict that there,has never been
any thing TO warrant the plague scare
raised by the City Health Department
of San Francisco and still nursed by
the Texas Health Officer.
We beg you, sir, to believe that In
usirg terms which approach peril
ously near the boundaries of psrlia-
meotsry speech, We mean no disre-
spect to you. IL we we're to Employ
the terms that are suggested by the
maintenance of these quarantine re-
strictions. we should go far beyond
the bounds of parliamentary language.
The indignation, the sense OF injustice
and wrong, under which our people
are smartinR, have reached large
proportions. and the language in
which the State Health Officers ac-
tion is denounced in private conversa-
ton here Is not to be quoted in writ
ing or print.
We will not undertake to bring and
maintain against the Texas Quarantine
Department such charges Is have
been brought, and apparently sub
stantisted, against the motives OF