The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-01
4 NATIONAL QUARANTINE.


 think that placing the regulation oi quarantine in the hands of the Gov. ernment would be an interference with the reserved rights of the States. but we do not look on that as tenabie ar gument. We doubt if there is more consistent ana persistent advocate oi States rights in all the South than The Advertiser Is. but we do not look on this as an occasion for insistence on that doctrine.
 We know that this same objection has been brought time and again against commerce, but we also know that such laws are now not only generally acquiesced in but are endorsed by most people who have had occasion to study them and their workings. To protect the health. Of millions of people against q deadly epidemic Is of vastly more importance than is the regulation of railroad rates. desirable as the latter Is. Epidemics like yellow fever are the common enemies of the American peo- pie Though it is usually confined to the Southern States of the Union 1t has prevailed in the North and East with deadly effect. and 1t Is not impossible that 1t may again reach much higher iatitudes than it has of late years.
 real danger which threatens a large portion of the Union should not be neglected because it's control and l suppression might be taken as an in- truslon on the rights of one or more Of the states, There has never been an epidemic of yellow fever which has not brought with 1t contention and confu- sion among the health officers and the other ofaciais of the different States. It matters not how intelligent or efii- cient the state officers may be 1t is in- possible to maintain a uniform system of quarantine in all the cities and States which may be interested. Tn every instance there are differences of opinion, not only as to the disease it. self, but as to how 1t shall be con- trolIed or suppressed Some States and cities will have regulations which bear with unnecessary hardship on other communities, and there will always be quarantine ofaeers who either do not understand their duty or who fail to execute it. If we had Federal quar- antine system. there would be uniform ity in the rules as we'll as in their en- forcement We would be rid of some of the drastic, illogical and often un- just regulations which now prevail in some places. and which are almost as objectionable as the disease is.
 Another great evil and danger which would be avoided under Federal super vision would be the setting aside of io- cal considerations. In the words Of The Chicago Tribune;
 It may be the good fortune of some cities to have health ofacers who are as experienced and capable as any in but tise latter win not be influenced by motives -skLch may control the former. If a Federal health officer had been in charge at New Orleans ne wouia nave there was yellow fever there. even If 1t did interfere with. the banana trade than the local authorities dld. If an ofscer of inc National Government had known of the presence of yellow fever oS,S in NsT not nave ss thought M of the com uaercial conseQuences of an announce ment. He would have thought only of the health of the people ot New Or ieana. of Louisiana, and of neighbor- ing States. He would have told the truth at once.
 We are not making any charges against New Orleans or any other city, but 1t is q matter of fact that the ex- istence of yellow fever in more than one instance has been suppressed be- cause of the fear. or the fact, that gem eral knowledge of 1t would seriously affect the financial and business inter- ests of the city. We do not think that such tactics would be allowed under national quarantine and we know that they should not. When a, case which is certainly known to be yellow fever is discovered it should at once be taken in charge and the public informed of 1t. The experience of Montgomery in the Minhinnett case Is conclusive evidence that such policy is best, and that 1t Is but fair and just to all the country 
 that might be endangered.
 Recently The Philadelphia Ledger had a commendatory editorial comment on a lecture delivered in New Orleans by pr. Joseph Holt, who favors open ness and fairness on. the part of the authorities in such cases. The Ledger takes the ground that whatever tran quillity communities have enjoyed by the failure of authorities to announce the presence of an epidemic in It's in- cipient stage has been dearly paid for In the subsequent spread of the dis ease. which might perhaps have been prevented had the people been warned to take precautions. There is no doubt about that fact, nor is there any doubt that the presence of an epidemic in a community has been used terribly to its disadvantage by the concealment policy"
 This is the correct view. and this is one of the reasons why we favor na- tional quarantine. If we could believe that any vital right of q State would be endangered by giving the general Government the power to guard and protect the health and the lives of the general public we might hesitate to ad- vocate the policy of national quaran- tine. but believing as we do that Gov